Our flight to Australia wasn’t too bad and the Qantas staff were very accommodating and looked after us well. The entertainment distracted us a little from sleeping, too many good films to watch, but we managed to get a good few hours. Before we knew it, we had arrived and were in sunny Brisbane!
We were allowed in, despite the funny looks from the immigration man, and were cleared through the food bit! Phew! We then caught the train to the Domestic terminal where we had a few hours to kill. The weather was very hot and humid, and we weren’t really suitably dressed as we had come from a somewhat cooler Hong Kong! Oops! We had about 4 hours to waste in the airport before our flight to Cairns so we people watched, got some lunch, mooched in the shops and had a snooze!
The flight to Cairns seemed like nothing compared with what we have done recently, and we were there in no time! The owner of the hostel came and collected us so we had no hassle with public transport! He was Irish and has been out here for 25 years after backpacking here and loving it too much! Cairns seemed even more humid than Brisbane and the hostel owner agreed that it is just starting to get humid! Great! Our hostel is lovely, typical Australian with lots of outdoor space, big rooms with the windows open, showers outside (well sort of) and a real tropical feel to the place! There’s a pool, but it looks the sort where a crocodile may hang out, so we may give that a miss!
After a much needed shower and a chat with our lovely room mate, we headed in the direction of the esplanade! As soon as we left the hostel we knew that we were going to like Cairns! We’re only a few blocks from the sea and there are plenty of shops to mooch at and lots of tour agents willing to take you on some amazing trips! We grabbed some food and mooched about along the waterfront. There isn’t much of a beach, it’s just mud, but in amongst the mud there are lots of little crabs! You barely see them but you notice them move!
We couldn’t believe how quiet every seemed to be, but we guessed that it was busy but we were used to Hong Kong style busy!! From what we could see, as it was dark, we liked! Cairns is much smaller than we imagined it to be, but still has plenty going on!
An early night is in store as we’re both exhausted! I have seen my first bug, a green shelled thing was having a bath in the sink when I wanted to brush my teeth so I had to wait! Humf! Hopefully it’s the first and last!