Busy, busy and a kind of Vlog post

I am pretty busy this week with work, work, oh and stocktake, so am taking the easy road and going for a video. Not quite the same but I'll be back with more photos soon. Actually, one day I might have time to take more, but not really today. Maybe I should get my butt moving in the morning for a sunrise, but then maybe that won't happen either. 

Ah well, enjoy checking out more machinery because remember, I think tractors are just a bit spunky. But if tractors aren't your thing, go back and look at my last relaxing, waterfall post.

Rainforest Relaxing

I am taking a deep breath ready to dive into another turbulent week.

Another repeat of the mammoth week, although with one less day of work but instead with stocktake and an associating 'til midnight shift. 

Deep breath ...

Do you have a huge week coming up?

Well, here is a nice rainforest walk to help you relax, with waterfalls included.

If you have music that matches feel free to play that waterfall and bird call sound track while you look around Stoney Creek with me. If you don't have the music, use your imagination.

By the way, other than some uphill over rocks for a short bit and some wandering around beside the creek, there is no strenuous activity involved so you don't have to imagine a huffing puffing walk but rather time sitting on a rock jutting into a trickling creek, with maybe a fairy or two hiding in the ferns and some water nymphs hanging out behind the gently falling water and floating on the still, reflective water.

Need some more rainforest relaxing to get you through the week?

Try checking out my last visit to Stoney Creek.

Sexy Tractors

I little while back I went looking for a sugar cane sunrise, which I found and blogged about.

While I was out, I had seen a harvester on the move, and having nothing useful (okay, housework doesn't count) to do I decided to head out again, after I ate breakfast of cause, and see whether I could find someone harvesting some sugar bush.

By the way, sugar bush is a nickname for sugar cane. Mind you nickname might not be the right word for it, it has the same number of letters after all. But then again, my nicknames all seem to be longer than my real name. But hang on, that's right, I have a short name.

  

Anyway, back to cane harvesting. I enjoy watching it, seeing the machines going backwards and forwards and the amount of sugar cane decreasing, watching the pattern and rhythm of it all. Maybe that has something to do with having a rural background or maybe it is just because of those big machines.

Do you know that song "She thinks my tractor's sexy"? Maybe I just like a bit of tractor in my life.

So, most of the time when they are cutting cane there is one harvester and two haulout drivers. The haulout drivers are the ones in the tractors with bins (trailers) on the back. When one bin is full tractors usually swap places, but in this case the full one tipped the load into the other one, before taking it to the cane train carriages parked on the railway line, past the next paddock.

What happens when watching them harvest is reasonably predictable and if there are wheel tracks that seem well used, that is where you steer clear of, because more than likely that is where the haulout driver will be tearing through. This particular harvest I was watching was a bit different to what I have seen in the past, a lot slower. That was probably a bit to do with how they were hauling and a fair bit to do with the fact that they had a team there that seemed to be collecting samples on every run (every time the harvester cut a row of cane). Seeing markers on the ground was something different too but I think that was to do with labeling where the samples came from in the paddock.

I wasn't the only one enjoying the harvest with the local bird life coming out to see what was on offer for lunch.

I left when they seemed to stop harvesting and those collecting samples headed off. 

Tractors sitting still doing nothing are nowhere near as sexy as ones flexing their muscles at work.

Just saying ... Well, that is unless they are an old one with lots of character to photograph.

  Do you like watching machinery at work?

The Saturday that was ...

So in my gloss over of last week that sounded very much like an overload, which it was, I left you hanging for the Saturday.

You see I worked six days at Nova, which is not the norm. We actually only had five days of lesson work to do so that left a day spare for us to fill in for our teenage students.

We just couldn't have students stay here for ten days and not get to see one of the icons of the area. 

So where did we go? Can you guess?

This hint might give it away. 

We went on a boat.

We were a bit early so had plenty of time to choose seats, make ourselves at home, take 'from the boat' photos and in the case of all the students, have a snack, or a full blown meal (that would fit in with the make themselves at home, talk about crumbs).

The trip took around 45 minutes.

It just so happens that there had been lovely weather all week, perfect for heading out in a boat. The prediction for Saturday, hmmmm, not so perfect, but it wasn't too bad. Just the right amount of rough to still be fun. 

Oh, another hint. 

I've been there before.

The view from the back of the boat was nice to watch, especially seeing the city recede and spread out along the coast.

Even better was the front of the boat. It was good for a bit of a thrill ride. As waves hit the boat, or we hit them, water splashed over the front of the boat. Students (and myself) had fun woahing as the boat gave us a bit of a roller coaster feeling and squealing when the water hit.

Also from the front, the bow, we could see where we were heading.

Green Island was growing larger in the horizon. 

Did you guess right?

Green Island was where we were headed.

As we came in close the boat slowed down and we lost our thrill ride but the excitement of arriving was still there to feed off.

We had watched the water change colour as we moved away from Cairns and then closer to Green Island. It is amazing the different shades it has.

Friendly boat staff pointed out the eagle's nest as they were preparing the boat for us to disembark. 

When feet hit the ground a couple of the students must have been very relieved. The trip hadn't been so fun for them.

Being one to suffer motion sickness I had been prepared and had taken my travelcalm and then chose to stand for most of the trip. I didn't have a problem, and I hadn't had breakfast that long before leaving. The travel sickness medicine had been offered to students but they chose not to have some.

We oohed and ahhed out way along the wharf. The colours never cease to amaze me.

Then next stop was the beach.

The kids eagerly headed for the water but discovered the temperature wasn't as warm as they would have liked.

I jumped in for a quick dip, after working myself up to it. It was chilly, very chilly although I am sure refreshing on a hot day.

It was just so nice to hang out on the beach, watching the kids like hawks (decree from the company) and seeing them have a ball. We talked about what they were doing, practicing English and just plain enjoyed the perfect tropical location.

We had chosen the glass bottom boat option for the kids. They did use their goggles to look at fish at the beach but probably spent more time playing in the sand.  Before heading to the boat the sea sick kids took the good option of those travel sickness tablets. I know I do okay after the trip out to the Island so didn't bother. Maybe I don't get sea sick after all.

The choppy water made for a very bobbing style trip when we stopped to look at things.

We got to see different corals and fish through the windows in the bottom of the boat.

We even got to see turtles!

It had been planned so we would go straight from the glass bottom boat to the boat back to Cairns.

So after waiting a few minutes for the boat, it was back on board and then back to Cairns.

The trip back was a bit rougher and we didn't need to be at the front of the boat to get wet.

Once we got closer to Cairns, where it was more protected, a couple of use went to the front of the boat to watch to city getting closer. 

It was an amazing morning and everyone returned tired after a big week. We looked around some souvenir shops before heading to a nearby supermarket for drinks and yet more food (how much to teenagers eat?). Then a little relax back at our office before setting them free at 2pm to their host families. 

It might have been a huge week but there was plenty of fun and satisfaction involved in it.

What did you do with your Saturday?

Have you got any great motion sickness preventives?