Day 82 - Extreme Kitesurfing Competition - Yorkie's Knob, north of Cairns - Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

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One of the most favorable coincidences surrounding the timing of my move to Cairns was that I was going to be in town the week of the Extreme Cairns Kitesurfing Competition. Fate? Perhaps. I’d been eyeing the event on Extreme’s website for several weeks, even prior to my company hinting they were about to ask me to relocated to Cairns, wondering if I could justify the expense of a weekend trip to Cairns for the weekend event. Since I was now living in Cairns, my only expense was only going to be a $6.00 bus fare. Nnnnnice.

Yorkie’s Knob is one of many beaches just north of Cairns and is THE place for kitesurfing in Queensland. With amazing rainforest-clad mountains setting the backdrop, the conditions were perfect: strong winds blowing across the beach, clear skies, and lots of shallow waves for the competitors to use for showing off for the judges and the crowds of onlookers (myself included). At any given point, up to a dozen kites filled the sky, with competition heats setting six kiters against each other at a time. Totally amazing action all day long.



It was a well-planned event. Organizers lined the beach with sound speakers, which fed with the crowd with pounding music and a play-by-play commentator all day long. Several of the spectators brought their dogs along (I may have spent some time with some of them … just maybe). Even one couple brought their white cockatoo along to the beach with them. Bizarre – who knew birds would be happy to come to the beach on a leash?



The week-long festival finished off with a “Big Air” competition where points were awarded based on (not surprisingly) the competitors’ air time.



On the way back from the beach, snack trucks and ice cream vendors were parked front and center in the parking lots, waiting to reel us in with their snack bait.

“Well … maybe I’ll just get a soft serve cone while I wait for the bus back to town.”

I’ve made homemade ice cream before - rather tricky, if not impossible, to do without an ice cream maker. It’s a handy gadget to have in the kitchen – not something you use everyday, but when you need to impress a special someone or someones, homemade ice crème, sorbets or gelatos definitely do the trick. (And, best thing, you get to keep all the leftovers for yourself!)

*** Recipe: soon to come …