Almost Done

Not much to add at this time.  We're almost done with the painting.  Need to finish little details tomorrow(Sunday).  Monday we're taking a road trip north past Port Douglas to the Diantree Rainforest and Cape Tribulation.

Tuesday we're moving on to Sydney.  We're not taking the bus, it's 40 hours.  We're flying, less than 3 hours...

We've had a great time here at Trinity Beach.

Here's a couple of funnies...  I don't usually get much of a tan but from all the outside painting, I have  one now.  Here's my tan line.  Note the paint on my face.

And, you know how wives can con you, right ?  We we're going to the mall to get these sandals for Grandma.  Uh huh, sure.  I sit down to wait for Teresa to get back with them and she also picked up a pair of UGG slippers.  There is a method to her madness which we'll talk about next week.

Happy New Year, everyone !!!

Merry Christmas

We're feeling very fortunate here in the Whyte house in Cairns, QLD, Australia.  Of course we miss all our family and friends but one of my favorite sayings is "You don't have to shovel sunshine" and we get plenty of it.

I said Whyte house because that's where we are; Rob and Naomi Whyte's house.  They have entrusted  their house to us while we paint.  I say "we" because Teresa does a lot of support tasks but has yet to pick up a paint brush.  And that's ok by me.  We're a great team in that way; I make a mess, she cleans it up, I need my drop cloth moved, she jumps and moves it and I never have to slow down.  So far I think we have put on over 60 litres of paint, inside and out.  I'm estimating to be pretty much wrapped up with the outside by Boxing Day, 26 Dec.  Word is we're really starting at Rebecca's place  after we finish here.

Anyway we do more than paint.  Everyday we swim in the bluest ocean you have ever seen.

We took a trip up to Kuranda to see the Barron Falls.  There hasn't been any rain for a few weeks so the falls were a little slim, but still pretty, and a nice hike.  Last night we went to a local school where they were singing Christmas Carols.  This little elf was so cute.

They have a big box hardware store that looks just Home Depot called Bunnings.  We end up there at least every other day.  The have avoided Wal-Mart but they've got Kmart and Target.

Anyway, we're good and thinking of everyone.  Merry Christmas to all.

Love Bob and Teresa.

Done Actually

Great week in Cairns.  Boutique Collection invited us to their Christmas party.  We had a good time and excellent food.  The party was supposed to include go karting.  As everyone arrived they grabbed  a beer or glass of wine.  Turns out that's a no no.  No drinking and karting.  Anyway we met a nice group of people and had a fun evening out.

Was nice to meet and chat with Jessie and Grant.

Finished the bulk of the painting today.  Couple of detail items to finish up.  We're headed over to Rebecca's this afternoon to get a feel for how much painting we ca do there in eight days.  we're moving over there Monday.

Green Island and Great Barrier Reef

Today we took a tour on the Great Adventure of Green Island and The Great Barrier Reef.  The stop on Green Island was ok not long enough to get involved with anything.  The reef was incredible.  The reef is one of the seven natural wonders of the world.  It is about 1,800 miles long, has about 400 different species of coral and 1,500 species of fish.  Very impressive.

The Great Adventure catamaran we were on was very well run and the hot and cold buffet lunch was scrumptious.

The underwater pictures were taken from the semi-submersible sub but we did snorkel for an hour or so around the same area so we got to see the same sights.  My water baby loved it !!!

Trinity Tuesday

Got a couple of pictures I was too pooped to post yesterday.

Jason emailed that it seems like a lot of work.  Well, yes and no.  Yes it can be a lot of work.  The actual expectation is usually 4 hours per day for 5 or 6 days.  Sometimes I have a hard time calling it quits.  I mean, done working by noon.  What do you do for the rest of the day ?  In fact I told Teresa the other day I was getting a little bored with too much play time.  Can you believe it ?

So, we're painting again, but more like 8 hours, which we can both handle.

We take lots of walks and see a lot.  Crashed a beach wedding, too.

Trinity Beach

We spent the week doing 4 - 5 hours daily of yard work at the two offices of Boutique Collection and one of the executives' personal residence.

This morning we moved into one of the other executives' home and they moved into one of their rental properties.  Why, you are wondering...

Painting, painting, painting.  No stripping but a little mud in the cracks.  Yep, the whole house, inside and out !!!

So far I figure we can do most of the inside in two weeks and maybe one more week for the outside.

Sadly, not really, we had to vacate the Amphora.  We're still only half a mile from the beach which we strolled on this evening.

So, we're good, just busy.

Cairns - No Rain !!!

What is the right description for a feeling that has excitement for what's next and trepidation for the unknown and then sprinkled with a little melancholic sadness for departing ?  I don't know either, but I'm sure both Teresa and I felt it as we said goodbye to Mya and then Brian dropped us at the ferry to continue or journey.  We had a wonderful yet productive almost 2 weeks on Magnetic Island with Brian and Mya.  We also spent a fair amount of time ( always at meal time, go figure ) with their scholarly neighbor Scotty.  Thank you Brian and Mya for the wonderful food and experience while staying with you.

Not to pick on Teresa but the picture of the book and the view of the ocean exemplifies most of her non-work time activities.  She loved it !!!

We fed the Lorikeets, colorful little buggars.

We made it up to Cairns about 5.30 on Monday.  No rain the whole way.  We had a message on our phone to contact our roomie Ronan, but with my non-existent French and his broken English we had a tough time hooking up.  But we eventually made it.

So we're here now.  We're staying at the Mantra Amphora resort.  One of the Boutique Collection properties.  Really nice.  We are on the third floor overlooking the sign, looking directly at the ocean.

It never gets old does it Brian ?  We even heard a Curlew last night.  No wallabies eating the plants here though.