Australia Day 2 - I know what heaven is

We arrived at Palm Cove today. It's a small, sleepy beach town that has been transformed into an upscale tourist destination. The scenery is beautiful and is surprisingly more tropical than I thought it would be. This whole region of Australia reminds me very much like Hawaii. Beautiful mountains covered in lush tropical forests in the background and beaches in the foreground.

There is one main, albeit small road that runs next to the beach here. Opposite the beach are a few small bungalows, several businesses and cafes, and a lot of new, multi-level apartment complexes. This town has apparently become a very trendy spot for locals.

The highlight of the trip so far is this apartment we're staying at. We rented it online and it is amazing! It's huge and the views are unbelievable. Large windows facing the ocean and a HUGE patio with our own grill. A full kitchen, several LCD TVs, washer/dryer, etc, etc. Basically all the comforts of home, minus my ps3.

Even without the fantastic vistas, this place is probably nicer than our home, and certainly more expensive (we were told there is one unit currently unsold … asking price is a cool $1.25 mill AUD).

Anyway, we've spent most of our time on the patio enjoying the nice sea breeze and the sights and sounds of the waves crashing in front of us. We are quite happy to finally have a home base for the next few days (let alone a home base as nice as this).