Cairns photos - trip to Port Douglas and diving

Gus had trouble with his impacted wisdom tooth and had to visit a dentist - Steven King!!



Here are some photos of Keith and Kim's yard.




Pictures of our dive trip with TUSA Dive:







Our meal out at a Korean BBQ restaurant. There were hotplates at the table to cook the meats:

Brisbane - more photos

Here is Maria's new place in Anerley:

Arrived in Cairns

We flew from Brisbane to Cairns on 12 September and are staying with Keith and Kim Cardwell for 5 nights. They live on Brinsmead, a quiet suburb of Cairns about 15 minutes from the airport. They have 3 ponds in their back yard with goldfish, angelfish etc but also have a cane toad problem! Flocks of finches come to their feeder.

I met Keith on the USQ Masters on FET5600 in semester 3, 2004 and we have kept in touch since. Joan, Jo-Anne, Keith, Cathy and I were the active members of that course!

Keith has arranged for Gus to complete his advanced PADI starting with 3 night dives in a lake tonight then out on the reef tomorrow (I'll be snorkelling but not in the dark!). Kim is a personal trainer and also does first aid classes and diving classes. Keith and Kim run a diving training school: http://www.fnqdive.com.

Photos to follow!

Meal at Summit Restaurant

Jo-Anne, Len, Gus and I met up with Joan and Neville Schefe for a wonderful meal at the Summit Restaurant on Mount Coo Tha, on Sunday 9th September. Here are some photos - there was a panoramic view of the city at night behind us...

Visiting Kris and family in Brisbane

Kris was another fellow student on the USQ course and we were invited to their house last night for a BBQ. The meal was lovely and we met her husband, guest student Natalie and their pets including a white and ginger cat called Nelson! Family and friends will remember our dear old cat Nelson who lived for 16 years (1973 - 1990). NB Gus's T shirt says 'Toowoomba - where the bloody hell is it?'

USQ Graduation

Meal out at Weis Restaurant. We had a celebration meal on the Saturday evening - Cathy & Steve, Avinash & family (his Mum, sister and sister's 4 month old baby Talin), Peter & Sandra Evans, Kaye Cleary, Birgit Loch, Gus and me. The seafood smorgasbord was wonderful, we kept going back for more! The baby was alert and happy all evening and we got lots of cuddles.

It has been a wonderful day so far. We had to assemble at the Town Hall between 7.45 and 8.15 to collect our robes. The last few days here have been cold and rainy but today the sun came out and the sky was bright blue with a few fluffy clouds. At 9.30 the Town Crier rang his bell and announced the academic parade to celebrate USQ's 40th anniversary and the procession set off through the streets of Toowoomba, led by the town crier, the USQ Big Band, the Faculty (staff) and finally the graduands. The traffic was stopped for us as we made the 600m walk to the Palace Theatre.

On arrival we took our allocated seats with our guests seated behind and the dignitaries on the platform. There were several speeches and the presentation of an honorary doctorate to Mary Wagner (www.wagner.com.au/), a musical interlude then the presentation of awards. I was the only person being awarded a Masters in Flexible Learning - Cathy Grahame (from Melbourne) took Masters of Education and Avinash (from Mauritius) Masters of Educational Techonology.

After the ceremony there were tea and cakes in the church hall, then we queued for the graduation photos.

Staying with Jo and family in Carindale, Brisbane

Jo-Anne and Len Bowman kindly invited us to stay with them each side of our graduation trip to Toowoomba. We stayed 2 nights, then had a 2 night trip to Toowoomba followed by another 3 nights at Jo's. We met their family, daughter Kate (who stayed with us last New Year while travelling with her friend Kimberley) and son Zak. It was so nice to meet Jo at last, having originally met whilst we were studying on FET5600 in semester 3, 2004. We hired a car for our week's stay and got out and about seeing the local area and downtown Brisbane. It's a beautiful city - we particularly like the Southbank area with flowers and rainforest walks beside the river. Jo works at Southbank TAFE and showed us their new building.

Ken, Francesca and Dougal in Balmain

We reluctantly left the farm at Wollombi on Monday 3 Sept back to Thornleigh, then once the rush hour was over Shannon took us into Balmain to Ken and Francesca's. Ken worked with Gus at Craigroyston last year when he was in Scotland on a teacher exchange. Curry meal and drinks, walked to local pub for a couple of pints. Tuesday, we walked into Balmain and down Darling Street to the ferry stops, took ferry to Woolwich and back (just for the ride and the views). Decided to avoid city centre while Geroge W Bush is in town for APEC conference!

Weds 5 Sept flight from Sydney - Brisbane, Virgin Blue. Very efficient, checked in at machines then queued for bag drop. Journey time only 1.5 hours, over in a flash!!