Angel of Love semi-dwarf evergreen frangipani (plumeria)

Our landscape architect, Andrew Prowse, designed our swimming pool in the shape of a nautilus shell. In the middle, he added a round area for plants. Initially Andrew intended that a palm tree be planted there, but we were concerned it would grow too tall. So Andrew recommend an evergreen semi-dwarf frangipani.
When I first heard frangipani, I said no, because I thought of the stick looking plants in the winter. But then I learned evergreen varieties are available.
Frank and I drove to a nursery near Ravenshoe, Sacred Garden Frangipanis (www.sacredgardenfrangipanis.com) Its owner, Stephen Prowse (not related to Andrew Prowse), told us that he has the largest collection of frangipanis in Australia. We bought the Angel of Love upon Stephen's recommendation. We also bought 2 of plumeria pudica for our car park.
The Angel of Love was just a small stick about August 2012 when we planted it. Eight months later, it is a meter tall, with beautiful clusters of white/gold/pink flowers and attractive green foliage.

 

 

See more photos on our web site www.warrawonglodge.com 

Sunday mornings at Palm Cove esplanade

Every Sunday morning, we take our dog to Palm Cove esplanade. We have a coffee (hot chocolate for Frank) and then take a walk along the beach. Most days are lovely. We let Pippi off her lead so run along the water, and bite at the waves. She does this when we tell her the command "Palm Cove". We don't know exactly how it happened that Pippi interpreted Palm Cove as the command to run up the beach for 10 meters and bite the waves, then run back to us. But that is what Palm Cove means to her.
The esplanade is full of great restaurants. Our B&B, Warrawong Lodge (www.warrawonglodge.com) is only one kilometre away from the Palm Cove esplanade. The street name is Williams Esplanade but everyone refers to it as the Palm Cove esplanade.
As a B&B owner, it is great to be able to direct guests there. We tell guests to park their car, walk along and read the posted menus, and then decide on a restaurant. There is a range of price points and type of restaurant, so everyone can find a place to enjoy a meal.

Housekeeping

Housekeeping for our bed and breakfast, Warrawong Lodge (see www.warrawonglodge.com), was always going to be my least favourite aspect of running a B&B. A friend asked me "why would you want to make beds for other people?". I don't.
Since our house/B&B is new, it is easier to clean and maintain than an older house. Surfaces are new, not stained, and flush, all of which makes cleaning faster. In planning the guest rooms, we steered clear of fussy finishes which would collect dust and dirt and be harder to clean. Tapware and the vanity have clean, modern lines.
We automate if possible. I love our LG robotic vacuum cleaner. It cleans our large lounge room and kitchen each evening.  It keeps the floor clean, and results in a reduction of dust. We pick it up and use it in the guest rooms and our own suite.
Most importantly, we have help. Micky is our current helper for housekeeping. She works hard, is thorough, and does not need supervision. I shift chairs when mopping: Micky moves all the chairs out of the room, and then mops. Micky is terrific.
I have written cleaning procedures, and a checklist for inspection of the guest rooms. The checklist is essential in having consistent setup for the guest rooms, and for knowing the guest room is clean when guests walk in.
For me, a clean hotel room is an absolute requirement and we reckon our guests have the same expectation. There will be no cringing at seeing one's room at Warrawong Lodge (www.warrawonglodge.com). Guest rooms are completely clean so guests are completely comfortable.

Raining in the wet season

This has been a dry wet season for Cairns, the driest in ten years. As members of the State Emergency Service (SES), which provides assistance with flooding and natural disasters, it has been good. We have not had to do any sandbagging this wet season.
Yesterday the weather reports indicate we would get up to 400 mils of rain this week. That is a lot of run. Finally the wet season is kicking in. Two months ago, my husband had to spend $150 replenishing pool chemicals after a heavy rain. He did not want the chemicals to wash out again this week, so today he purchased two tarps at Bunnings Hardware. Frank is covering the pool now.
The weather forecast today has reduced the predicted rain by half. Even so, the tarps are a good investment.
Our pool is an infinity edge pool, so water runs over the northeast side into a balance tank. The view of the Coral Sea and Double Island is on the northeast. By having an infinity edge pool, one can look up from the blue pool water and see the blue sea water. It is beautiful. We are very happy with our swimming pool and view.
Visit our web site www.warrawonglodge.com and see the photos.

Serving breakfast at a Bed and Breakfast

Whilst our house/B&B was being designed and built, I worked on our breakfast menu. I purchased 4 breakfast cookbooks. I read through the cookbooks, and selected various recipes to attempt.
For months, my husband had breakfast at dinner time as I tried frittatas, stratas, omelettes, pancakes and crepes. It was fun to try slightly different recipes and work out what we liked best. From that, I put together a breakfast menu.
We published the menu on our web site www.warrawonglodge.com. Then I looked at web sites of other Cairns bed and breakfasts. Most of them offered a continental breakfast. Some simply had packaged products such as yogurt, juice and bread so that the owner did not have to get a food safety license (I had already taken the training and obtained a food safety license).
We had to reduce our rates from our initial rate to be competitive in the Cairns market, with too many hotel rooms. So we changed to include continental breakfast, with an additional charge for a hot, cooked breakfast. Since then, all of our guests have been happy with the continental breakfast of cereal, toast, fruit, yogurt, juice and freshly baked muffins/banana bread/carrot cake. No guest has opted to pay for a hot cooked breakfast.
After all my effort at trialling breakfast recipes!
Another learning experience was in the baking. I had worked out different cinnamon rolls, muffins, coffee cake recipes. No ubiquitous banana bread for me, since everyone can have it at every coffee shop. But after spending hours on the breakfast baking, I tried a muffin mix. It was good. And it only took 5 minutes to prepare. So now I am a convert to packages mixes of muffins, banana bread and carrot cake. Some days I will probably bake from scratch those cinnamon rolls, which take 3 hours including time for the yeast, but for the most part, it is packaged mixes for me. Cheating? I don't think so. Our guest still have home-baked goodies, and I am not stressed with the effort.

Getting Started

My husband Frank and I opened our Cairns Bed and Breakfast in November 2012, a goal that we had worked toward since 2005. We bought our 4 acre block in Clifton Beach, a suburb in the northern beaches of Cairns, in July 2006.
We named our B&B Warrawong Lodge. Our web site is www.warrawonglodge.com. Warrawong is the aboriginal word for hillside, and our house/B&B is on a hillside. People in Cairns hate to see development on the green hillslopes, so it is difficult to get approval from Council to build. Our building fits well into its landscape. We used dark colours for the paint (a Council requirement), so the building blends in.

My husband and I have professional backgrounds working with computers. I continue to program for a Sydney company, but Frank works full-time on our property. Frank's current project is putting in an irrigation system. Jumping into the hospitality industry is a big change for us. We reckoned that dealing with people would be our biggest challenge.

Dealing with people has been the most enjoyable part of operating our B&B. It has been a pleasure to chat with guests from different parts of the world. We discuss politics, things to do in Cairns, and our robotic vacuum cleaner.