mortiz044

What a great night we had in Palm Cove last night at the Surf Club where Carlotta was performing! Many would remember the LES GIRLS revue that started in Kings Cross and took their performance to many places across Australia.  Shortly after joining Les Girls, Carlotta became their witty compere.  I first remember seeing Les Girls at the Rolling Surf Cabaret in Caloundra sometime in the 80's.  I remember back then laughing until my sides hurt and it was no different last night.  Carlotta is now 75 and still as witty and politically incorrect as ever.  In fact she opened the night by telling anyone that can't stand her incorrectness to get the F.... out now! I didn't find anything she said or did to be offensive and as she said, why do we all have to be so politically correct.   We seem to have lost our Australianism somewhere along the line.  As she also pointed out nothing she says could ever be worse than what has been said to her as a Transexual. Most of the night was spe

Our life has certainly slowed down after a very hectic October, and we're loving it!  Easy afternoons lazing in the pool have been the order of the day.......... until.... the pool heater stopped working!  You may laugh at this, after all we live in the tropics,  but our overnight temperatures drop dramatically and cool the pool to an un-swimmable (is that a word) temperature.  Hopefully it will be fixed before Christmas! So what have we been up to.   We've had a couple of trips to Cairns for shopping AND we did manage to fit in a trip to the cinema to watch Bohemian Rhapsody.  We loved it!  If you are a QUEEN fan you will also love it.  I know that plenty of critics have given it a low score but believe me when I say you will come away a "happy chappy" singing "We are the Champions" or "Another one bites the dust" and you know what, I still remember where I was and what I was doing when I heard that Freddy Mercury had died.  I was just so sad.  Wh

.....well attempting to conquer! Our friend Joan has been obsessed with climbing North Cape Belford ever since she has been visiting Elim Beach.  One of the things that stopped her was actually getting to the base of the mountain as it entails traversing around about 10km of sand dunes.  That little problem was overcome by Philip and I offering to tow the buggy up to Elim Beach. Elim Beach is an easy drive north of Cooktown and it started it's life as a Lutheran Mission in the early 1800's.  Now the mission is based in Hope Vale.  Elim Beach is well know for it's beautiful coloured sands and hundreds of tourists visit here each year to photograph (and climb) the sands.  The only camping ground is owned by one of the Aboriginal Elders - Eddie - and if you take the time to talk to him he will regale you with some incredible stories. We arrived at Elim Beach mid afternoon on our first day and after setting up camp we made our way towards the beach and our first glimpse of the

Wow.  I still can't believe that we had a week in Sydney.  The time went so fast.  Many months ago I saw Cher being interviewed by Graham Norton and she was talking about her upcoming tour to Australia.  I immediately went to the website and booked tickets.  Of course you can't go all the way to Sydney and just have one night there!  There is just so much to see and do.  As it turned out our trip coincided with the Royals (Harry & Meghan) visit down under for the Invictus Games.  Sydney was abuzz with tourists and paparazzi! We booked into the Pullman Grand Quay (a recommendation from friends) and it was the perfect location.  It was right on Circular Quay with just a short stroll to the Opera House, Sydney Harbour Bridge, Botanical Gardens and of course we had a birds eye view of all the cruise ships that docked right opposite our hotel. Sydney Airport was a breeze to negotiate and we decided to catch the train into Circular Quay. Our hotel was a very short walk from the r

Philip has been doing a lot of cycling over the past six months and its all been to ready himself for the Cardiac Challenge and the Jungle Ride.  They are both gruelling rides but the Jungle Ride is an extremely difficult and challenging ride.  Over two hundred cyclists registered for the charity ride from Port Douglas to Cape Tribulation and return.  The Ironman distance is 180km and half Ironman is 90km.  Philip was hoping to do the full distance but unfortunately severe cramps pulled him up at the 116km mark. The ride started at 6am at the Port Douglas Sports Ground on what was an overcast and drizzly day.  The rain cleared but the residual humidity was a killer for the cyclists.  The ride passes through Mossman where the cyclists stop for the first drink stop then on to Wonga Beach for the next stop. Mossman Drink Stop Wonga Beach Onwards to the Daintree River where they board the ferry and then travel over the very long and arduous Alexandra Range into Cape Tribulation for lunch.