Cairns, Australia - gateway to the Great Barrier Reef. Here the city is called "Cans." And, if you misspeak, the Aussies will correct you. When we include the "r" in the word, they say do you mean "Cans?" We want to be seasoned travelers, you know, but don't you agree it is difficult to look as the word, "Cairns" and say "Cans?"

Getting to Cairns, AU from Auckland, NZ is a long, long trek. It seems that the trip might be short since both cities are in the same part of the world, right? To set the scene for you, we were picked up this morning at 4:30 am and delivered to the airport so that we could make a 7:00 am international flight. Then 11 hours later, we arrived. It's very complicated with two flights, customs/immigration, etc., and unbelievably, a great bit of air time. The flights were ok, but the sights outside the plane widow were amazing!! We took pictures from the plane; regrettably however, the photos do not and could never reflect the magical colors and land shapes we saw today.

But we are here and we have found ourselves in the real, jungle-hot, heat of Cairns (Cans). It is Cancun hot! It is Jamaica hot! It is 4th of July in Panama City Beach hot. It is August in Little Rock, Arkansas hot. It is also very pretty! We are in lush tropics.

We also noted we might not be taking any late-evening strolls here. Just across the street along the beach, there are signs with warnings about this being a crocodile area.

Still, we have a gorgeous, roomy condo here on the Clifton Beach of Cairns and praise the Lord, we have good air conditioning. We are tired and I expect we will sleep well tonight.

We have an early wake-up call tomorrow - we are going on an all-day snorkeling trip on the Great Barrier Reef. After that, we may not leave the pool for the rest of our stay.

One last note . . . Happy St. Patrick's Day to everyone!!!