Saturday, June 03, 2006

Sniffing and Sneezing

Upon returning back from Cairns almost a full week ago, the clan has been struck by a flu virus, affecting each and every one of us in some form. Poor Baby Will has also been sickly, whimpering his cries instead of screaming. Rest assured, he's had constant care and cuddling by equally sickly individuals to help him get through. I've rarely left the house in four days, preferring to lie under the covers and wait for my brethren to return from their various outings.

The Koussers are going to return home on Monday, able to enjoy the rest of summertime in sunny and warm San Diego. Peggy and I have three more weeks before we get to go back to California, but cannot wait. By then, we'll be all healed up and ready to rage.

posted by ncawthon at 6:26 PM

Monday, May 29, 2006

Creature from the Shagoon Lagoon

After a leisurely drive across the North Queensland tablelands, we've arrived in Cairns, where Peggy and I will return home this afternoon. This morning was full of sights and sounds on the road, seeing huge fields of termite mounds, an organic coffee plantation and majestic waterfalls. Cairns (pronounced like 'Cans') itself, however, has much to be desired.

A small backpacker town that hosts an international airport with direct flights to Japan, Cairns positions itself as the gateway to the barrier reef. There are ferry trips to various islands and atolls lasting only a few hours or as long as an entire week. This is similar to Port Douglas, where we are staying, but seems to be geared more towards the international set rather than the local Aussies as we have found.

A main feature of Cairns is the 'Shagoon Lagoon', as the locals have dubbed it, which is a giant public swimming pool / community center. It is named as such because of the large population of backpackers who publically re-consumate their previous evening's drunken consumation. In addition, the level of exposed mammary activity from the Scandinavian and European females is another highlight on anyone's day planner. We look to increase this level by one-half when it is time for Baby Will to feed. Other than this 'perk', Cairns is essentially a tourist town full of souvenirs and crap.

Update: the Shagoon Lagoon is closed for repair, causing the backpackers to spillover onto the surrounding grasslands, now dubbed the 'Fawn Lawn'. The family is a bit disappointed, being all dressed up in their swimsuits with nowhere to frolic.

posted by ncawthon at 2:24 PM

Sunday, May 28, 2006

A Run Through the Jungle

Today we cheated death several times in the greater Cape Tribulation National Parklands area. Along a casual rain forest drive, Thad spotted some ruckus going on in the bushes, we popped the car in reverse and discovered a pair of wild pigs foraging in the forest. Then, when on a elevated boardwalk walk, Peggy sensed a distubance in the bushes to our left, to uncover a common tree snake. Peggy, although quite adept in her animal knowledge (smartest person she knows, in her words) did not recognize this snake as harmless. She took a 20 meter detour around the little guy and was visibly shaken the rest of the walk.

To push our luck even further, the gang did an evening river cruise where we went hunting for crocodiles. These prehistoric creatures were found languidly basking in the fading sunlight by the banks of the river. We saw two crokkies in total, having spotted a small youth, as well as an elderly male that had only two teeth and a few chunks missing from his snout. The guide was certainly a wise sort, having known quite a bit about the local birdlife. He spotted three different types of kingfisher and a python thrown in to boot. Although the croc number was low, he made up for it by the garden variety of sightings.

A quiet night in for the Kousser / Cawthon contigency, altough there may be some cane toad racing on the bill.

posted by ncawthon at 5:58 PM