Fitzroy Island

For our last day in Cairnes, we headed for Fitzroy Island (an hour boat ride). The highlight was a turtle we played with while snorkeling.


Fitzroy Island





Heading back to Cairnes...


It was an exhausting day...



For more Information see: http://www.queenslandislands.com/fitzroy_island/island_resort.html
For additonal photos see:
http://travel.webshots.com/album/223465008trmCjj

Kuranda

The picturesque mountain retreat of Kuranda Village is just 25km northwest of Cairns in Far North Queensland, Australia and is surrounded by World Heritage Rainforest. We traveled to Kuranda on Kuranda’s Historic Scenic Railway Range Road, spent the day in the Kuranda village, and returned to Cairnes over the rainforest on the Skyrail Rainforest Cableway.

The view of Cairnes from the Skyrail Rainforest Cableway...

For more information see:
http://www.kuranda.org/

Australia

The next 13 blogs are from our Australian and New Zealand adventure. We spent 14 days with our friends Rob, Nanci, Steve, Tony, and Terry. We had an amazing time and hope to visit both these countries again. We are very thankful to Rob and Nanci who had it all planned out. We just had to get to Cairnes, where our adventure began...


We took a sail, snorkel and dive trip out to the Great Barrier Reef.


Ready to dive in...

Michaelmas Cay in the Great Barrier Reef

For more information check out Passions of Paradise at:
http://www.passions.com.au/

http://www.passions.com.au/images/onboard_deck_large.jpg

Halloween '06

Now that we have a backyard, we were able to host the Lovell annual pumpkin carving party this year.



















Mike Hoffmann had the most creative pumpkin (the pumpkin eating the baby pumpkin).



















My pumpkin.



















Halloween night with our neighbor, Diana.



















Our favorite costume in the neighborhood- "Gross Eeries." Click on picture to enlarge (note the rat coming out of a tin can).

Leaving

We had a wonderful two weeks hosting our family. It was sad to say good-bye.

We traveled to many sites,



















made new friends,



















and experienced the culture (Avery with a Shishi doll).



















I think we tired the girls out!



















When it came time to say good-bye, someone got caught trying to be a stow-away.

Friends

Rylan and Avery made several friends during their two weeks in Okinawa.

The girls with Gabbi Hoffmann on their way to the hospital Halloween festival...



















With our neighbor, Brittany...

Tea

Toward the end of the visit, Beth took her mom and sister to the Ichi Go Ichi E Green Tea Room where they enjoyed the time-honored tradition of a Japanese Tea Ceremony.

Beaches

In Okinawa, the beaches are numerous. We visited several.

Sunset Beach by our old house with Rylan and Avery.



















Onna Point (one of my favorite dive spots)...



















Chris and Richard Lovell at Okuma Beach.

























The tide pools at the Sunabe sea wall.



















Back at Okuma...

Butterflies

The Ryugujo Butterfly park

The Ryugujo Butterfly Garden offers a theme of health and longevity, featuring waterfalls, ponds and tropical flowers. The main attraction is the Butterfly House. This is the perfect place for our 2 nieces
























Rylan showing off a butterfly.
























A good time was enjoyed by all.












































Well, almost everyone had a good time...

Okinawa World

Next stop, Okinawa World.

The park is home to Japan's largest limestone caves. It offers a rebuilt ryukyuan town, a habu-museum dedicated to the local poisonous snake and a must see Eisa-show. In the rebuilt town, hands-on experiences of old crafts and arts are available.

Rylan demonstrating the local crafts.



















Avery and Beth in the caves.



















This picture would have been perfect if only Beth would have joined in.