Day Thirty Five - August 10th, 2013
Cairns
There was a definite 'weekend' feel in the campsite this morning. We were up early, but lounged around for a while, chatting, saying goodbye to Tanya and Chris, and wolfing down a tomato and onion omelette with beans served up by Ben.
Elly got down to some serious planning, and now we know how much tax will be returned to us, calculated the budget for our remaining four months in Australia. We are still thinking of heading to NZ or Bali on our way home, but are factoring our trip in Aus to be the priority. They day was quickly slipping away, so we jumped in the car to explore more of Cairns. We parked close to the beach, and walked along the esplanade. Unfortunately, the tide was out, and the view for what seems like miles, is rather unsavoury mud flats. Reading some of the plaques dotted along the route, we learnt that there was once pearly white sands stretching out to sea, but constant usage of shipping lanes and dredging of the river beds caused the mud swamps to take over, leaving the landscape changed forever. Such a shame - if Airlie Beach is anything to go by, it would have been beautiful.
As the waters up north have become crocodile infested, we have encountered several city lagoons. They are lovely, and a fun place to be, but it seems such a waste somehow that living in this paradise, you are reduced to spending your time in a man-made watering hole to find some solace from the sun. We agreed that while we enjoy the tropical climate, we couldn't live somewhere where the simple pleasure of dipping in the ocean to cool off is denied. Elly was of course, drawn to the harbour, and we marvelled at the sheer size of the boats. Walking back to the car sapped us of energy in the blistering sun - it wasn't so much the heat, it's only 26 degrees, but the humidity and lack of a breeze really packs a punch. We found refuge in Woolys' frozen isles, and picked up everything we needed for the day. Supermarkets here close at 5.30pm on a Saturday, so we knew we would not be back.
At the campsite we found Ben and Megan surrounded by their worldly possessions spread out on our tarpaulin laid on the floor. Now that they've sold their van, they need to condense to enable them to live out of a backpack and a tent. After virtually prising a bodyboard out of Elliot's hands that Ben was trying to give him (we do NOT need any more stuff, especially sporting equipment), we decided that tomorrow we would all head up to Port Douglass and Cape Tribulation together in the car. Elly and I put our packing off for another hour while we went for a run. We drove back down to the esplanade, and got a bit more familiar with the area. It's growing on me, but still not my favourite town. After a difficult run (the heat was still unbearable) we sweatily headed back to the packing. Megan was in the same place that we'd left her, but was definitely making tracks. They've been away from home for almost 2 years, so have got packing under control by now! We finished up and ate our prawn pasta (made by Ben) under the stars. He told us stories about his days in the army which had me captivated. Can't wait for our road trip to begin tomorrow!