June/July 2012 Home in Cairns

This is a short update on what I have been up to since returning home to Cairns after the Voyager of the Seas cruise at the end of May.

I was kept busy in June with various medical appointments, the weekly game of golf and catching up with friends.

My golf games with Ken and Steve are always fun as we make our way around the Gordonvale golf course. 

After this weekly tradition we buy a lotto ticket and then call into the Southside fish shop to buy a fresh prawn sandwich.

My two nephews had birthdays during the month so I had the family over for barbecues on each of their birthdays.

My good friends Mike and Julie visited me at the end of June a few days as part of their around Australia trip in a camper van. It was great to catch up with them again as it had been 17 years since our last visit to Cairns.

The month of July commenced with a 10 day visit from my sister Frances and her husband Reno it was also great to have them visit. 

We did the usual tourist sightseeing around Cairns and possibly we ate out a little too many times as my waist line and weight increased during their visit. Reno is a great handyman and did a fantastic job in updating my kitchen cabinets.

In mid-July an intruder gained entry to my courtyard and stole my car keys which also included my house keys. The police think I may have disturbed him when I woke during the night to go to the toilet. In many ways I was very fortunate that nothing else was stolen or broken.

 As you would appreciate I had to go through all the trouble of getting new keys and locks for the house and the car. It would appear that the intruder came back 4 days later but could not gain entry to the house or the car as the locks had been changed. My stolen keys were found in a neighbour's front yard after having been thrown over her fence some days later.

 My neighbours Peter and Maureen, together with my brother John did a fantastic job in assisting me to tighten up my household security and installing alarms.

In the last 10 days of the month I had a visit from my good friend Kurt who came up from Brisbane to be here for my birthday.

What a birthday bash I had with a balloon ride. As a balloon ride was on my bucket list it was the highlight of my birthday and Kurt's visit. Kurt’s visits are always a great time and unfortunately the time goes far too quickly.

Kurt and I also visited some of the various tourist attractions within the Cairns region including a couple of days at Mission Beach.

So in many ways the last two months have been very enjoyable and a pleasure to share the good company of family and friends.