Cairns & Port Douglas

The Sea Temple Resort in Port Douglas.

We bought King Prawns right off the fresh off the boat in the marina while we waited for the Rhapsody to arrive. They were huge and tasted FABULOUS!

Shauna and I in front of the apartment~.

The gang chowin' down on those Prawns! YUMMY! 6 kilos - think that's enough??

John pointing out the view from our apt. I couldn't believe how gorgeous this place was!

This was actually on the way up to Port Douglas from Cairns. We stayed in Cairns the first night then took a coastal drive about 1/2 an hour to the next port.

Where we had dinner the first night.

This was the pool at The Sebel Reef House at night. The lights made it look unbelievably blue.

From the top of one of the balconies at the Reef House.

The view from our room at the Reef House. Another beautiful resort!!!

This was the view from our dinner table before dark.

Just wanted to share a glimpse of our weekend trip to catch up with the Rhapsody in Cairns & Port Douglas. We had a great time visitng friends, and I looooved being able to surprise John by being on the dock as he got of the ship in there! He had NO idea and it was wonderful!

Now we're back in Sydney and we spent the day visiting the Blue Mountains which are about an hour from here. They were AMAZING!!! I've never seen anything like it in my life!! Mountains and valleys - sand rock, old coal mines, "the 3 Sisters" that we're said to have been turned to stone, and the world's steepest railway and cable car rides! Awesome! haha :) I haven't downloaded the pictures yet, but I promise to get some up ASAP.

I'm also really excited about going to church tomorrow night. Dad emailed and reminded me that Hillsong Church is in Sydney!! I didn't even THINK about that. SO, even though I won't be here for the Sunday service, they have a Wed. night college worship service that I'm going to tomorrow. I'm SO EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!!! I've always been in awe of their praise and worship and now I'm gonna get to see it first hand! Bring it on Jesus b/c I'm ready to be blessed!!!!! WOOO HOOO!!!!

What else...not much. Hopefully the Sydney Opera House will be open for a visit tomorrow morning...back to Bondi Beach on Thurs. and then maybe a little shopping that evening...and the zoo on Friday so I can see a Tazmanian Devil! Then Saturday we pick John up from the Rhapsody and he and I head over to Perth, WA and I meet the family!!! dum dum dum..... (that's the danger tones if you can't tell...haha)

Say a prayer for safe travel! I can't wait to see everyone again. Another month - it'll fly by just like these last few have. :)

More to come! Blessings~*

Guess who's not home yet!?!?!

Trevor with a Joey at the Koala Park Sanctuary.

Yay I got to pet a kangaroo!!!!

The koalas were even cuter!!!

Precious!!!

Villa, Vanuatu - Bein' crazy at the resort we found!

Our last night of Ballroom Fever!

Bondi Beach in Sydney.

Well, if you haven't talked to my parents yet, then I guess you've noticed that I'm not home and it's after Nov. 11 (my sign off date). I am still in AUSTRALIA~! It was a somewhat last minute decision because I didn't think it would be possible for me to afford it, but honestly everything just kind of fell into place. I had been talking to a few people in other depts. on the ship that were trying to get their tickets changed so that they could extend their stay and enjoy more of Australia. I was told that there was no way to do it, but after a few phone calls and emails to the company and airlines I found a way to change and simply pay the change fee and not buy a whole new ticket!! Honestly, I probably got a dummy that wasn't supposed to do it and just didn't know any better, but either way I'm thrilled and so far things are going wonderfully here!

Right now I'm staying with my friend and colleague Trevor and his family. He is the F&B Manager on the ship and signed off the same day I did. I couldn't have a better tour guide for the area!. I've been shopping, seen all the most beautiful beaches, cuddled with kangaroos and koalas, and had some of the most delicious food I've ever put in my mouth! All I can say is WOW! On top of that, he surprised me with a trip up to Cains and Port Douglas which just happens to be where the ship was going this cruise. So, I was able to surprise John and some of our friends by showing up at the docks as they got off the ship! We are staying in these UNBELIEVABLE resorts! I mean, so nice that I could never afford to come back here in a million years! I promise to upload pictures as soon as we get back to Sydney so that everyone can see them because you will be SO jealous! hahahaha :) We're only going to be here until tomorrow though and then it's back to Sydney for more fun!

Then, John will sign off the ship on Nov. 22 and we are both flying to Perth (which is on the other side of the country!) to see his home and meet the family! I'm really excited about the opportunity to see both sides of the country because a lot of people have said that Perth is the most beautiful part of AUS and no one ever goes there since it's soooo far away.

Our last weeks on the ship were great! We had lots of down time to enjoy the ports and the shows continued to go well. We had a lot of families on board including Mom and Paul and then Simon, Teegan, and Meda's (all dancers) parents. It was really nice to have someone to perform for b/c a lot of the Australian guests love the shows, but aren't much for cheering us on.

It was really hard to say goodbye to the cast. Some of them have truly become very close friends of mine and I can't wait to take trips to visit them and/or see them again in rehearsals. I've spoken to most of them via email and everyone made it home safely with all their luggage in hand after 20 to 27 hours of traveling!

Other than that I'm just enjoying Trevor's generosity here in Australia. I miss everyone terribly!

I see or hear things all the time and think - Gee I wish so & so was here to see that! I hope things are still going well and home. Fill me in on things where you guys are!

Blessings~*

Kristian