27/3/26 – 2/4/26
Well, what can I say, its not often you get to leave the kids behind with Granny and Grandad and spend 6 days in cairns, catching up with old Nhulunbuy friends and enjoying some quality couple time. We had such a great week in cairns with the added bonus of catching up with my mum! who flew up for my graduation.
First things first, it was an early getaway on the morning of the 27th but with no kids in tow it made getting to the airport a breeze. We also enjoyed breakfast before passing through security and immigration with only 10 minutes before we boarded our international flight….Simple!
We treated ourselves to a haircut each and an Annies iced coffee before heading to Kerry and Duncans house to cook dinner. It was great to catch up with Kerry, Alia and Jack, unfortunately Duncan was working in Brisbane so we missed him. We made the most of their beautiful new house in cairns, utilising the pool which was slightly cooler than their one in Nhulunbuy however was still measuring around 32 degrees!
The weekend rolled around and we headed out for a walk on the beach with Kerry. It was lovely to see their new neck of the woods. We also took the time to do the tour de pool and catch up with Courtney, Cooper and Addie who had just had their new pool put in! Courtney and Steve were so kind to let me stay with them whenever I had to come to cairns for Uni residential schools so it was lovely to see them again. The afternoon was spent catching up with Melissa who was passing through Cairns on her way south for the school holidays! Kerry had booked us in for some social pickleball where in true Nhulunbuy style we held our own against the cairns mob….Raelene and I however had somewhat acclimatised to NZ weather as we were finding it damn hot!
Sunday the weather was a bit iffy, Raelene and I caught up on the blog before us all deciding to get out of the house and cycle to a nearby gin distillery and brewery to while away the afternoon, The Gins were delicious!
My mum Jenny flew up on Monday, Raelene and I headed out to the airport to surprise her and pick her up which was lovely. It’s so awesome that she has flown up for my graduation tomorrow, Thanks Mum! That night we headed to Trinity beach tavern to have dinner with Courtney. We even joined in on a bit of Trivia however the level was pretty difficult and we lost interest, and came dead last! We dropped mum back into town and made the plan to see her early tomorrow for my grad.
With me in my Dad’s pants, belt and shoes (thanks for bringing them up mum) and one of Duncans Bali shirts – and Raelene in a beautiful dress of Christine’s (Thanks Christine!) we headed off to the city. I headed into the convention centre to get my “Harry Potter robes” sorted and caught up with a couple of old classmates prior to the ceremony starting. We got the obligatory photos and then filed in for it all to begin. I must say I was happy I came back for it, it was. great ceremony made even better by catching up with my old social work buddies…probably could have done without all the pomp and ceremony however. The rest of the afternoon was spent celebrating with Raelene and Mum over a delicious lunch and a bottle of bubbles (Thanks Mum!) then catching up with fellow grads and classmates for a couple of celebratory drinks. Finally it was great to head out for dinner with more old Gove mates, Kara and Josh! It was such great day and we were happy that we had made the effort to to come across and join in the celebrations. It has certainly been tricky to juggle a career changing uni degree over the last 4 years so It was good to have a day celebrating the achievement!
With only one more day in cairns left I headed into town to catch up with Mum for a coffee before dropping her out to the airport. Kerry, Raelene and I then braved the rain and wandered into Hartley’s creek falls for an explore. The walk was pretty and the swim in the falls at the end made it all worth it, we were all petrified of crocodiles lurking under the water though but there were ! We spent the last night with Kerry, enjoying a slow cooked lamb roast and trying to come up with the next plan of when the girls could have their next reunion. Just to throw a crazy spanner in the works however was a phone call from Granny stating that Arthur had fractured his ankle while at Ninja Land! He had been jumping on a trampoline and given himself an avulsion fracture of his Left ankle. The had been at the clinic with his all afternoon! Poor old Arthur, thankfully he wasn’t in too much discomfort. We were lucky enough to obtain some medical supplies from ‘pharmacist Kerry’ which we would bring home the next day. Kerry, thanks again for having us stay in your home and even steak your bed! we really appreciate it, It was great to catch up, see you at the next one!
An early start the next morning and Raelene and I were back to NZ in what felt like no time at all. Susan came to pick us up from the airport and we all drove back to Springfield to see the boys. They were all so happy to see us and Arthur even showed off his new swollen ankle! A huge thank you to Grant and Susan for looking after the boys for us so that we could go on our little sojourn to Cairns. It was a very special time.
The night we returned we all enjoyed a concert put on by the boys. Raelene and I even got up and showed them what the heel and toe polka was all about! A great time away but also nice to be all back together again.
