Celebrations

Happy birthday, Carlene

Maureen, James, Carlene, Rex

Denise, Barry, Pauline, Les

Saturday, 7 July 2012

Yesterday was Carlene’s birthday, so to start her day off, Les downloaded “Happy Birthday” by Patsy Biscoe onto his iPad and we played this (rather loudly) through her bedroom window at 8.30 am, much to the amusement of all the neighbours. We combined to give her a small party for morning tea, complete with sponge cake and candles.

During the afternoon, we were surprised to see the Killacks drive past and spent a pleasant couple of hours catching up on family news.

Then we went out to dinner to celebrate our wedding anniversary this week and Carlene’s birthday. We had selected a restaurant on the Esplanade in Cairns and enjoyed a very nice meal and some very nice company. James and Maureen from Canberra joined us as well and we had the pleasure of being looked after by a lovely young lady from France. As we left the restaurant (at the very late hour of probably 9.30!), I was invited to dance by a local indigenous male, who did seem to be very happy and I was able to quickly pass him on to the next tourist. Then, as we were crossing the road, Les seemed to have disappeared and we then realised a group of locals had him in a headlock and were taking him to have a few beers and a few girls!

This morning was very overcast and very, very humid. We decided a nice long walk was needed, so drove into the Esplanade area again and parked right at the end – then discovered it was 2.5 km to the lagoon and return. The tide was nearly in and it was easy walking along the pathway and boardwalk, with a flock of sleepy pelicans providing a photo opportunity for all the tourists. When we arrived at the lagoon, the local Saturday market was in full swing, so we had a browse before returning. Some large, blow-up balls were giving plenty of amusement to the youngsters, who climbed inside and had to roll the balls around a course. Unfortunately, the ice cream shop didn’t open until noon.