possum52

I woke up with a headache this morning and then found out about Olivia Newton John's passing. I saw her in concert with John Farnham a few years ago. It was an excellent concert.

One of our meals at Crown Grill, I had the onion soup and I found the the cheese topping was the same Julie, I was a little disappointed as my previous onion soup courses had been wonderful and I thoroughly enjoyed them.

ML, there are 10 teams in Victoria and two each in WA, SA, NSW and QLD. The ten Victorian teams were originally part of the Victorian Football League. This explains the evolution of the game - History of the AFL.

Josh Kennedy of the Swans has announced his retirement today as well after being injured at the weekend in his comeback game for the Swans VFL team, after being out due to injury for two months. Josh known as Joey started his career with Hawthorn where both his father and grandfather played. But after two seasons he was traded to the Swans where he captained the club, was All Australian three times, and won the Bob Skilton Medals for Best and Fairest for the club. three times. He played 290 games for the Swans. As an Essendon supporter I have always admired the way Josh played and he seemed a very nice young man.

I didn't include the past two seasons as no finals were played in Melbourne due to Covid.

Not in the past 10 years it hasn't. It is not so much a rule but part of the contract the AFL has with the MCC. Both preliminary finals are played at the home ground/state of the team who qualifies to have the home game.

The What MCG rule? Yes, they would play at the SCG.

My choice is definitely Manly - even just for the ferry ride! Buy fish and chips either for lunch or dinner and sit on beach to eat. Or as Julie said, there are plenty of dining choices, shops to peruse/ purchase from. If you want to walk, there are more than enough choices with the national park at Manly's doorstep or just walking around Manly is interesting. Walk along the ocean beach and watch the surfers. Whatever you choose, I hope you enjoy it.

Philip, I assume you mean the coral bleaching throughout the reef? According to some reports I have read, tourism has very little affect with the health of the reef. The bleaching of the reef is due to weather conditions and is also not just confined to the GBR but is in reefs all around the world. This is from the The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority - Most reefs used for tourism aren’t severely affected True. Most recognised tourism areas had no, negligible or moderate bleaching. High Standard Tourism operations contribute regularly into the Eye on the Reef system that provides the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority with excellent real-time awareness of Reef health at high value tourism sites. Coral Bleaching in the GBR Snapshot of Reef Health

Covid is hitting the tourist industry hard in the Cairns area at the moment. We have been in Cairns for 10 days and went on an excursion last week to the Atherton Tableland. The place we were going to have breakfast at cancelled at the last moment due to not having enough staff well enough to work.

Philip, some people prefer snorkelling to going on a train to a very commercialised village. We went to Green Island yesterday and there were many out snorkelling.

Thank you.

The new BICT is at Picnic Point, close to the airport but there is not a direct route. It is about a 15 minute drive between them and according to google maps, about the same to DFO.

Very cloudy, and a little rain while were lunching with friends beside the marina. Was the aquarium worth going to? We are thinking of going on Wednesday. It is just around the corner from where our apartment is.

As Julie said it is too far away to do a day trip from Sydney to GBR. The flight distance from Sydney to Cairns (closest airport) to Port Douglas is 2450 km. The flight time is just over three hours. We are in Cairns at the moment on holiday. My suggestion if you were to come up here would be to stay in Cairns. There is a very wide range of accommodation and plenty of dive operators. We are going out to the reef tomorrow - snorkelling, not scuba diving. It is the wet season in Northern Queensland at the time you plan to visit. Another suggestion if you decided to not go up to the GBR, as Julie said there are plenty of diving spots around Sydney and also in Melbourne’s Port Phillip Bay. This link may help - Scuba Diving in Melbourne.

The Aus Open is from the middle of January for two weeks in Melbourne. When you say your husband would want to scuba dive, is there any particular place he would want to do that? Is he thinking the Great Barrier Reef?

A number of things to consider - how long do you want to spend visiting Australia? when do you plan to visit? what are you want to see here? what are your interests? If you decide to just visit Melbourne and Sydney, both cities have many sights to see and also some great day excursions. Let us know the answers to the above and we can offer better advice. I would suggest the minimum time you would want to spend here would be two weeks. Australia’s main cruising season usually starts in late September/early October with re-positioning cruises and through to late March. P&O Australia and Carnival Aus will have cruises all year round.

Pacific Explorer overnighted in Cairns and we heard her horn blasting as she sailed out at 5.30pm this afternoon. Our apartment is 1.4 km north of the cruise terminal and the sound of the horn was really quite loud.

Yes we are thanks Linda. It has been quite breezy the past couple of days and does feel cool at times. We’ve noticed a fair few wearing jumpers and even jackets particularly in the evening. To us southerners, it is just wonderful to have some warmth.

We actually boarded a ship today - well an old fishing boat where we had lunch in Cairns Marina. It was even rocking a little!

It’s the opposite in a fair chunk of Australia at the moment Lyle except for those who are lucky enough to live or be holidaying in the northern parts of the country. Around zero overnight in many parts of Victoria and NSW. In Vic temps not rising much above 12-13.

$11.95 a kilo for tomatoes at Cairns Woolies.

$14 is not too big a mark up then. Not a bad priced meal for two with the price of meat these days. It would cost as much to make it.

Les, Ivan’s Pies are not too far from us - 10-15 minutes drive. Grandson’s school usually has a fundraising drive with them. Very nice products. The cottage pie you bought is $12.50 on their online shop. Ivan’s Pies They have a factory outlet which we must visit once we return home from Cairns.

Sorry, yes I forget to put that in my answer!!