Cairns/Sydney

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Sunday 17th
We left Misiion Beach after visiting the fortnightly market (six stalls under the trees fringing the beach), where i bought two mangoes ,a book, some home-made carmel tarts and a carved hand ('What type of wood is it?' 'Ordinary wood'!); Kev bought some prans, reputedly fresh, but they were frozen. Ellie lay on the grass and tried to recover from her night out.
A two-hour journey took us back to Cairns where it rained on and off all day, though apparently less than yesterday. Once again we are paddling through a campsite and Ellie and i took refuge in the TV room - dry sofas were preferable to the cramped van or damp gazebo, and we ignored the cricket channel that the TV seemed fixed to.
Monday 18th dawned fairly clear and we went into Cairns intending to do internet stuff and then go to the lagoon, which we should have done the other way round as the rain had set in by the time we'd finished internetting. I went to the Cairns museum, which was quite bintersting as there was a guide and some detailed displays on Aboriginal artefacts and local industries.
Tuesday 19th
Keva and I went on a day trip to the Reef and Ellie sorted out her life - deciding not to go on a sailing trip to Thailand, but instead go to Brisdane and get a job.
The reef at Michaelmas Cay was two hours away and the weather perfect for sunbathing on the bow deck - some clouds, some sun and breezy. We snorkelled a little and watched the birds on the cay, most of which is a bird sanctuary. People are only allowed on a roped-off section of the beach and the rope was a handy perch for the common noddies. Crested terns nested behind the rope sitting on eggs, young chicks or walking the older chicks up the beach, shielding them with their wings.
We also went in the semi-submersible boat, seeing more reef, giant clams and a turtle.
On the way home the crew gave out glasses of champagne, and one of them sang and played the guitar. The evning we spent at the Woolshed, Cairns' hotspot nightlife venue, where we had a meal for $10, five drinks for $12 and watched the goldfish races (people blow through a straw behind the fish pushing them down a long thin tank).
Kev wanted to go back the next day when there would be a wet tee-shirt competition but it clashed with the Cane toad races.
Wednesday 20th
we took Ellie to the airport and spent the rest of the day packing up and cleaning the van, though I did manage an hour at the lagoon in the sun. For the last few days it's rained, but not as much as before we returned to Cairns.
We gave our gazebo to a tree feller who was working in the site, the fan and umbrella to the cleaner, left food in the laundry with a 'help yourself' sign, and took the lights and camping books to the charity shop and book exchange. There are a lot of book exchanges here. You take in sa book, exchange it for another and pay a few dollars for the service. It makes sense, - every traveller reads, books are heavy, and very expensive here.
The Cane toad races are quite a popular feature, but this is the first one we have been to. A bucket with a hole in the bottom is placed upside down in a ring or boxed area. the toads, with numbers on their backs are put in the bucket, which is then lifted and the first toad to reach the perimeter is the winner. Pandemonium ensues when the toads manage to leap the fence. I'd seen the children's race and number six - huge and fat - had reached the edge of the box in two hops, so I chose him. He won, as he did in all his races, so in the final all the people who'd chosen him had to pick another number to race. I chose number four, who hopped forwards twice, then stopped motionless, facing the audience six inches from the wall. All the others were hopping about madly and he stayed put, until just before any of the others reached the back wall he hopped agin and reached the front wall. I won a small tube of skincream that goes sa long way to very little effect, some soap, a cup for some indeterminate prize in 2002 and a boat trip to Green Island. Unfortunately we were leaving Cairns the next morning, so I swapped the trip with another punter in exchange for a cocktail. I'd have charged him two cocktails, but I was driving that night.
Thursday 21st to 24th
Flew to Sydney and stayed with Emma and Patrick (from Ozbus) in their rather lovely flat in darlinghurst where the balcony gives a glimpse of the harbour and the Opera House.
Met up with three other Ozbussers and caught up with gossip, work stories and travel plans.
Kev and I went up the Harbour Bridge pylon, looked round the museum up there and watched a cruiser coming in. We saw the Queen Victoria in dock in the morning and the QE2 in the evening on her last trip to Sydney. In the afternoon Kev went to sa football match and I went to Manly Beach with Emma, Sarah and Andy. It's a surfing beach and the waves are pretty feisty. Twenty minutesin the waves knackered me and i earned my barramundi meal.
On Friday Kev and i met up with Ryan, an ex-lodger of mine who is living in Sydney. He took us as guests to the 'Random Diner's Club'. which was started by two English girls whose friends hadleft them in Sydney knowing no-one else. They decided to meet monthly, each bringing along a 'random' guest that no-one else knew. Six months later it has mushroomed so they have now put a limit of 40 people. Everyone was very friendly, a mixture of some locals but mostly backpackers on work/holiday visas and Aussies from other parts of the country. We met for drinks, were given a label (Ryan was 'Random 5', Kev and I were 'Random Virgins') and went for a tapas meal, where every half hour we had to move places so that we got to speak to lots of people. This was followed by more drinks after which Kev and I staggered home.
Monday 25th
We took the train to Katoomba up in the Blue Mountains, a two hour ride through the suburbs of Sydney and up into the thickly-wooded hills and are staying in the YHA, a very comfortable centrally located hostel.
Tuesday 26th
We bought a two day ticket for the local trolley bus which we hopped on and off all day to have breakfast in Leura, further down the valley, and at various walking points round waterfalls and cliffsides. We took the old mining train track ('the steepest train track in the world') down the mountain, walked round on the boardwalk past mines and through the forest, and up on the cablecar. We've been very lucky with the weather, thunderstorms were forecast and though we saw some lightning and heard some thunder, there has been no rain, apart from 20 minutes ago while I am sitting snug and dry in the internet room.

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