The Home Stretch 3/29/08

                        Cairns, Australia

                                  on the Home Stretch

 Mar 29, 2008 9:38 PM

Thirty three hundred kms down and a mere 10 kms to go on our way to the airport. It's Sunday and we fly tomorrow from Cairns. Its been a wonderful trip with few regrets.

When we last spoke we were in the Whitsunday Islands on our way back to the mainland and continuing our journey up the coast for the final push. I'm sure most of the places I mention have little or no meaning as we are learning about them as we go along. This trip would have been impossible to pre-book so we just make it up as we go. As I mentioned we have given up our search for the quaint B&B's and have settled into booking the available self contained motel rooms as we come upon them. Most have run $100-$125/nite and all include a kitchen and usually a separate living room and bedroom. As they are quite nice, the remind us of a Motel 6 for over $100/nite.
Our favorite time of the day has been the 5pm with the local bird population. The birds have been amazing a seem to come alive every evening just about 5pm. Loud, my god they are loud. Most are a variation on the parrot world, some small and some large all wonderfully colored with extremely loud cries. The noise and the racket does die down in a few hours but they certainly let their presence known.
After a night at Horsehoe bay with the parrots, wild turkeys and peacocks we moved north to a place called Townsville. On our way out of town, we had an engine malfunction light appear and so decided to call the rental agency. They dispatched their version of the AAA and after some diagnosis over the phone it was decided that a butterfly/bug had fouled one of the engine sensors and that was the cause......"it happens all the time" . While I'm sure it does, I still wanted it noted in my record should the butterfly decide to blow up the engine. We proceeded onto Townsville where my new best friend Steve gave us a new car while upgrading us at the same time.
We headed out to the coast again in search of the perfect beach that has been yet to be found. The problem that we have been experiencing for the last several hundred mile of beach is that swimming is restricted to an area inside the "Stinger Nets". These nets are similar to shark nets but attempt to keep out the jelly fish which in the area require hospitalization if you are stung. If you choose to swim outside of the enclosures its best you wear your "stinger suit", a nylon full body wetsuit that seems to be more effort than it is really worth.

In addition to our search for the perfect stretch of beach, we are also in search of a dinner under $30 an entrée. I just don't see how the people do it. The restaurants are busy and packed with both tourists and locals. Our only solution has been to drink alot at cocktail hour and forget about dinner since dinners always turn into $75 + after all is said and done. Still not sure as to the tipping protocol and to what is expected. I guess, when in doubt don't tip.....works for me!

TV, continues to be an adventure. Usually we are given a choice of 4-6 channels 2 of which are re-runs of the "Simpsons", 1 cricket match......still don't understand that one and either a soccer or football match. We have caught some of the swimming trials with world records being broken in every event. Speculation is that the new "swimsuits" are in large part responsible for the over the top performances. Some world records are being broken by 2 and 3 seconds.
With our new, small Ford we finally made our way into Cairns having pissed off just a handful of Australian motorists. Have gotten more and more comfortable driving on the wrong side and its been quite a few days that I have attempted to signal a lane change with my windshield washer lever. Susan, however continues to want to enter "her" side of the car even tho it has a steering wheel in front of her. She has yet to drive, but has been a great navigator for all of the trip.
As one of Australia's larger city, it is quite small by comparison. We had heard both good and bad about the city but in the end we found it to be quite manageable. For the most part it is a collection of low rise buildings with a number of pedestrian only streets. Quite by accident we ended up at the InnCairns, a great motel right in the center of town. Had a great Italian meal (naturally for $29.95) plus a bottle of wine then it was off to the Casino. I managed to quit winners but while waiting for Susan to have "just a bit more fun", gave most all of it back in short order. My only salvation was that while playing 21 I began to play the "perfect pairs" bet line. Once you have made your bet (minimum $15) you can make your perfect pairs bet. A perfect pair on your first two cards is a same suited pair paying 30 to 1 then same colored pair paying 20 to 1 and then a off color pair paying 10 to 1. I hit two seven of hearts for $150 but managed to loose the hand in the end. My big win for the evening.
The next morning, on the advice of the Gaughran's we headed north to Port Douglas via Kuranda. Kuranda as described was a very touristy town with one genuine attraction which were its Falls and were they ever spectacular. It was about 1.5 km walk to the Falls above an elevated walkway that was spectacular in itself. Took far too many pictures of the Falls then headed back thru the manufactured tourist attractions of the town and proceeded out the back way to Port Douglas. We had pre-booked our two nites in Port Douglas at the Villa Palms (thanks, Bob and Barbara)

We did a bit of an orientation walk about town just to get our bearings. Walked down to the Wharf to find our "dive boat" for the next day. We bit the $165 ea bullet so we could say we "snorkeld on the Great Barrier Reef". The day we booked, couldn't have been any prettier, the day we chose to go turned a bit stormy with brief rays of sunshine. We booked on a smaller boat with fewer people on board. I was a bit undecided as to whether or not I would dive or just snorkel. After an hour and a half ride out to the reef we all got in the water for our first snorkel. The sky was bright and the water clear. Not the best we've seen but very interesting and alive with fish and beautiful coral. The second spot was about the same and so I decided to dive the third. Unfortunately, the water turned a bit cloudy so visibility was not the best. I'm glad I did the dive as it was good to feel starved for oxygen again. As the dive was only in 50-60 feet of water we were down under for an eternity since you burn very little oxygen at those depths.
On the way back the boat ride turned really sloppy with a lot of "chumming" going on. They had photographers on board taking pictures at any chance...........$60 for a complete cd of all these pictures of you and all those people you'd never met, plus $26 in fuel and reef charges plus $40 extra for the dive and it turned into a real expensive little outing. Glad I get to check that off my list of "been there and done that".
We rationalized that day against our great dinner find of the nite before. Bob and Debbie had their nite out at the bowlers club and we had ours at the "Combined Service Club" restaurant. Drinks were $4-$5 and dinner $15.........we finally broke the $30 mark and it reminded us so much of the American Legion facility in Newport. This was also a good group of locals with good food situated right on the bay.
As I said earlier its Sunday the 30th and we are back in Cairns readying ourselves for the flight home. We leave bright and early Monday for an hour flight to Brisbane. Have short layover then on to LAX where we arrive Monday morning 7am. Don't expect to be greeted my many of you, but look forward to seeing you all and further boring you with the 400+ pictures we taken. We'll try to edit this down a bit.
Thanks to all of you for listening and reading. If I don't get these thoughts and places to paper in a timely manner I have no earthly idea where the hell I've been or what I've been doing for the past month.
Love to you all............................gary and susan