We've made it Cairns, been here just over 5 hours and already found a Coles Supermarket so I could buy some Cobs lightly salted, slightly sweet popcorn, it's a taste sensation. The apartment we're staying in is lovely, we booked it through Airbnb (people advertise their properties, or single rooms to let and it's cheaper than a hotel) and our host, Kylie, seems really nice.
This is our first taste of Australia without family and friends there to lend a helping hand.
Can't believe how quickly our time in Darwin went. It really was a brilliant week. The jumping Croc cruise was amazing, hope you've had chance to look at the pictures, if not take a few minutes to see just how close the things get! At one point I slipped off my chair as I was trying to lean back to get a picture and the Croc was literally a foot away! The guide, Morgan was a typical Aussie bushmen, he runs the trips with his brother and knows all about the crocs on his stretch of the Adelaide river, when they feed, roughly where they will be and if they're gonna come and jump. He said they were being lazy on Sunday as it was overcast, they need the sun to warm them up and give them energy (sounds a bit like my dad) then half way through the trip it rained I had been told it never rains in Darwin outside the wet season! Supposedly it stops raining end of February and doesn't start again until November, but as the Haddys in France can testify the rain seems to follow us around!
The rest of the week was brilliant weather, 30+° every day and we managed a couple of trips to the waterfront and wave lagoon, the buses around Darwin are quite good and the drivers very friendly, in fact we're yet to meet an Australian that has been anything but nice to us.
We also had a morning at the Darwin war museum, which had loads of info on Australia's involvement in WWII, how the Japanese bombed the town hoping to gain a foothold in Australia, quite interesting to learn about other areas affected by the war outside of Europe.
Wednesday we ate at an all you can eat steak and seafood restaurant by the marina and I had my first try of crab, can't say I was overly impressed, it was very messy having to break the claws and you don't get a great deal of meat, think I'll just stick to the steak in future.
Last night we went to Mindil beach sunset market, sat and watched the sunset on the sand with a cold beer in our stubby holder, not sure you can beat that scenery. The rest of the night is a slight blur as I had my first Aussie night out with Bob and it was just like old times, far too much alcohol consumed and some interesting shapes cut on the dance floor.