Australia Day 5: Lazy day
Today is just a lazy day. I didn’t plan anything in particular as Nate and I have discovered it’s nice to have some lazy days on vacations, and not have every second planned. Sometimes it can lead to true adventure, other times just some much needed R&R.
First things first it is time to check out the breakfast buffet and see how it compares to The Pullman in Brisbane. If the last place was a 9 out of 10, I would call this a solid 8.
They have a great selection for different breakfast styles. They have salad stuff, rice, tofu, beans for those crazy English people (probably Australian too), yogurts with toppings for a parfait, cereal with milk, the beloved pancake machine my kids discovered at a different hotel this past summer, toast/bread, pastries, hashbrown patties and fresh fruit.
They offer both crispy bacon and regular bacon, but only have chicken sausage. I like chicken sausage and eat it at home, but this specific one isn’t my favorite. The biggest problem is the eggs. They seem to use a powdered egg which has a weird texture. Even at the omelet station it seems they use a powdered egg mixture and instead of a fresh omelet made in a pan, they just use a machine similar to a waffle iron. They are more crispy and overcooked than soft and fluffy.
For drinks they have a juice bar, with apple, pineapple, and orange juice, as well as water with and without lemon in it. They have hot water for tea and a coffee bar too.
One fun thing about our hotel is that there is a ping pong table downstairs. This soon becomes a quick favorite of Landon’s, with him asking Nate if there is time for a quick game on our way to or from our room.
One place I had researched before coming was Rusty’s Market, which is a local market that is only open on the weekend (Fri-Sun). We want to go check it out, but decide to kill some more time in the cool AC mall since it was only a block further and it was rather hot outside. We figure if we buy anything at the market we will want to head back to the hotel, so it is better to shop at the mall first.
Nate’s sunglasses he has along are some old pair that are pretty scratched up so I encourage him to look for some new ones. After trying on several pairs he finally settles on some and we get him a nice case to keep them safe from scratches while we are traveling too.
We find it amusing to see Christmas swimwear with the Grinch, but I guess it makes sense when Christmas falls during summer in Australia.
Next up is Rusty’s Market. It’s an open air market and there are lots of exotic fruits and veggies along with the norm. I decide to buy some grapes and cherry tomatoes (a favorite of my kids). I figure we can eat them as a snack in our hotel or on adventures and they don’t require a knife or anything to cut them up.
The kids had been asking all day to go back to the park that we had visited last night, and so Nate has them change into their swimwear (there are water elements at the park) and he brings them down there while I try to catch up on notes for my blog. When I’m done I also change and down to find them. We wander back down to the lagoon where we let the kids swim, which ends up mainly being them building sandcastles while sitting in the sandy lagoon entry.
They have a couple of these workout stations along the esplanade
As dinner time approaches we pull the kids away from their sand castles and walk back to our hotel and change for dinner. Tonight we decide on a burger place called Jimmy’s Burgers, which is pretty good.
After dinner as we are walking back to our hotel we see a guy setting up for a street show. His name was Rob Horner, but he goes by Pyrodynamics. He has a fire show and he has performed on shows like Australia's got talent etc. He lives in Cairns and does street shows when he’s in town sometimes. We really enjoyed the show and gave him a tip before heading back to the hotel.
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