|
| 6:00am |
The alarm went off. And I then reached
the conclusion that the world over, no one likes alarms; they're some
form of evil incarnate. |
| 6:08am |
Seeing I was the only creature stirring, I switched on the lights.
Movement began. |
| 6:29am |
Rachel went ahead to check out, settle
up the phone bill, and we lingered, gathering up the balance of bits
and pieces before heading downstairs for the 6:45am shuttle. I took
one last glance out the window at the well-within-walking-distance
train
station (near the upper right, with the blue and orange oval logo,
below the tower thing). |
| 6:54am |
The 6:45am shuttle arrived. Of course, our little travel voucher
said 8:05am, but it seems our flight is considered International,
since it's going from Brisbane to Cairns to Tokyo. Drat. |
| 6:57am |
And we were on our way. Sort of. |
| 7:48am |
After a long-winded series of concentric circles, loop-backs and
a pick-up at a bus stop (I think she was an shuttle lines employee
but can't be sure), we were set down at the International terminal. |
| 7:53am |
Seeing how early we were for this
flight, check-in was a breeze -- there was no one else here in the
Qantas queues (neither for economy nor business class seating). |
| 7:58am |
We got to clear Customs, but it again went quickly, as we're considered
domestic passengers on an International flight. One orange sticker
and a rubber stamp later, and we're on our way to the gate. |
| 8:01am |
This isn't a good sign. Our flight
is due to depart at 10:05am, and whilst there is a plane at the gate,
it's not ours. It seems the previous flight to Sydney is still at
the gate (but finishing boarding). The monitors for Departures are
now claiming we're here until 11am. |
| 8:06am |
In a move that can only be described as "progress," the
plane at our gate -- 78 -- has just pushed off and taxied to the runways.
At least now our plane has a free parking spot. |
| 8:08am |
I settled in to wait. By using a luggage
trolley by the only power point (aka "a plug") I could locate,
I managed to create a pretty decent desk
for myself, and perched on the now-empty tub of cotton candy.
(Yes, after paying AU$9 for the trough of sugary goodness, Tubby seems
determined to bring the bloody thing home with him. |
| 9:16am |
The updated times are a little sketchy, except that the 11am departure
has been modified to be a 11am boarding, according to overhead announcements.
I don't see a plane at the gate though... I wonder if we'll get to
switch gates, too. |
| 9:42am |
Bored, bored, bored, bored... |
| 10:23am |
Boarding, as opposed to my being bored, began, and it seems the
11am departure is again the goal. |
| 10:52am |
Clearly in a hurry to make up for
lost time, we pushed away from the gate a full 8 minutes early. Yea! |
| 11:02am |
And we were in the air pretty darn close to the 11am announced time.
Also yea! |
| 1:10pm |
We are now on the ground in Cairns,
and taxiing to the terminal. |
| 1:21pm |
With luggage in hand, and me perched on one of the vast number of
free luggage trolleys, we head through Customs, where our boarding
pass is seized. Drat. But Mr. Customs Guy told us the luggage tags
will suffice for our frequent flyer program thing. E-okay... |
| 1:37pm |
A call is made to the resort for the shuttle, and I'm left back
to guard
the luggage. |
| 1:42pm |
Duh
-- but I guess if they have to tell you you're on the covered walkway,
there's probably a good reason for it... but heck if I can figure
out why it'd be necessary. |
| 1:44pm |
Trevor
arrived from the resort to shuttle us from the airport back. Clearly
an intelligent and eggregarious individual, he and I hit it off immediately.
(I guess it also helps Tubby doesn't have me locked away in the backpack
for one, either.) Oh, mind
your head when getting into the shuttle van. |
| 1:54pm |
We are set down at the Cairns Colonial Club Resort. Impressive,
as is their web site. The reception area is open-air with a high ceiling,
and like Darwin, the climate is tropical. |
| 2:02pm |
After checking in, Trevor showed us
to our room, bid me good afternoon (and the humans, too, but me first),
and we settled in. |
| 2:34pm |
Since we had some time until the 3pm free shuttle into town, so
we wandered around the resort a bit. There are three pools, three
restaurants (full service, light snacks, and a bar/restaurant), etc.,
etc... all very, very nice indeed. |
| 2:38pm |
The pool is indeed, lovely, with the
very shallow end sloping into the water like a
beach, then the fountain near the deepest
area (only about 6 feet deep), and a little
dock to take you into the middle -- but no diving. (Talk about
a temptation, though.) |
| 2:43pm |
We popped into the Tour desk area to look at available outings for
tomorrow. Despite only really having tomorrow as the full day here,
we're determined to get out to the Great Barrier Reef... the only
question was how far and how much. On this we pondered. |
| 3:01pm |
Trevor, playing bus driver, took us
downtown to wander about Cairns.
About two-third into it, he yelled a greeting to Kathy, a sheila who
was crossing in front of the bus. (He explained they'd dated for a
while, but are no longer together; the kid with her wasn't his, either,
in case there was any curiosity.) |
| 3:12pm |
We were set down in the center of the shopping area, and began wandering,
as is our style. Since wandering is, by definition, meandering without
purpose, I won't bore you with the who's and what's... we just wandered. |
| 6:10pm |
Since the 6:10pm was the last bus
back to the resort, we opted to catch it, and dine at the resort instead
of foraging for food in town. (The other half of that logic was we
ran out of time and didn't want to walk.) In Woolworths, I don't quite
get this
-- it's Hormel's luncheon meat, same ingredients and everything else
as SPAM, but it's not SPAM. |
| 6:27pm |
Back at the resort, we booked an all-day cruise with Quicksilver,
which is apparently the leading provider of outings to the Great Barrier
Reef. (We could have gone with one for a third to half the cost, but
this one actually goes to the outer portions of the reef, so I suspect
we'll have more to see than the others.) To that end, we've finally
forced Tubby to purchase bathers (a swimsuit, which wasn't packed),
and to his delight, the sale tub it came out of resulted in the suit
only costing $2.40 (about $1.70 US). Lucky twit. We'd also loaded
up on disposable cameras for underwater, and Tubby dragged us into
a SCUBA shop where he got a reusable camera for underwater pictures...
much to my dismay, the thing was only AU$5 more than a disposal. (But
then again, he can't reloadn film under water or whilst snorkeling,
hence the extras.) |
| 6:49pm |
With our purchases unloaded, transportation
arranged for the airport when we leave on Thursday, it was time to
do a little posting before dinner... then after dinner, we're going
for a swim in that nifty pool we're looked at early -- and it's open
24 hours a day! |
| 7:53pm |
Most of the posting is done or underway (it's a process thing...
a one-click-does-all isn't something that works for me). So, Tubby
took me out for a wandering around the grounds. |
| 7:59pm |
Tubby pulled a Tubby. We're walking
into the second of the three pool areas -- this one is the smallest,
darkest, and most secluded. From the next building, three Japanese
girls in their mid- to late teens apparently thought Tubby and I worked
there, and we were opening up the pool for use. (It's dark, who knows
what they thought.) The first one began speaking in Japanese, and
the only words of English they spoke were "okay" and "thank
you." Confused as to if they thought the pool was being re-opened,
or he was being asked to leave the area so they -- then their four
friends running behind them -- could swim in peace, we left. Moments
later, we heard them splashing into the pool. Curious. |
| 8:08pm |
Tubby and I returned to the room, and figured we'd gather the remaining
member of the group and go to dinner... but she was admist an email. |
| 8:32pm |
Email and other updates done, we headed
to the on-presmises restaurant. |
| 9:15pm |
Finishing far faster than I expected, the return to the room was
in much less than the hour I was expecting. But then again, the fries
("chips") were still a bit soft (we like crisp french fries),
so not eating them did speed things up a bit. |
| 9:24pm |
I ended up reading a book whilst Rachel
took in some of the local television. It's funny; a couple of programs
look like the U.S. version of a similar show, but who had it first?
Unsure, I realized I didn't care. |
| 10:12pm |
We headed out to have a swim. But... the secluded pool (where some
of us encountered the Japanese girls) didn't have any of the promised
towels. The second pool was like the first, unheated and cool, but
we grabbed towels just in case the third pool (near the restaurant)
was heated. But alas, it wasn't. |
| 10:37pm |
Back in the room, a bit bummed, but
in the summer months when this place is cookin', I'm sure heating
isn't necessary. |
| 10:46pm |
Just writing and posting my last few words before calling today
a wrap. Except the weird circumstance of the laptop sending large
amounts of data is preventing me from posting anything tonight, check
my mail, etc. Bloody hell. |
| 10:52pm |
Annoyed, I'm off to bed. |
| |
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