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Published: November 29th 2008
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We had an early 5:30a wake-up call today so that we could grab the 6:15a bus to the airport for our 9:00a flight to Sydney. We flew Air New Zealand and, as with Qantas, we found them to have the same great on-board service that we used to have on US flights many moons ago. For breakfast, we had a choice between a hot breakfast of potato-eggs with bacon or the continental breakfast with cereal, yoghurt and fruit. Kip went with the hot breakfast and Frank with continental. We flew on a brand new 767 and each seat had its own entertainment system with a multitude of domestic and foreign TV shows, movies, and games to choose from. I'd never seen such an advanced system like this on a plane before. Each seat even had USB charging ports so the iPhone stayed fully charge while in airplane mode.
We landed in Sydney a half hour ahead of schedule and under cloudy skies at 10:00a. Since this was an international flight, we had to pickup our bags, go through customs (yet again,) then check-in again for the domestic flight to Cairns and change terminals. Granted, we had 3.5 hours before our
Frank at the Qantas museum with the A380.
Unfortunately, due to delivery delays, this is the closest we'll get to the brand new Qantas A380 that we were originally scheduled to fly back on. :( next flight but all these steps to get from one flight to the next have the potential to be fraught with problems if the planets aren't properly aligned and in your favor. As we should have expected by now, the gods at Qantas make this transition very easy. After we were re-booked and were cleared through a special area of the international terminal, we then boarded a bus that took us directly across the tarmac to the domestic terminal without having to go through security again and without having to deal with the throngs of regular passengers trying to make their way through the domestic terminal. With a few hours to spare before our next flight, Kip caught up on some postcards and then we went and checked out Qantas' permanent exhibit that recounts the airlines early days and history. This large area sits two stories above gate-13 and offers 180 views of the runway to watch planes take off and land.
We took off and left Sydney at 1:20p for our two hour trip north to Cairns. We lunched on spaghetti bolognaise, then watched the movie "X-Files: I Want To Believe," and finished up with a chocolate ice
cream bar. We landed 15 min ahead of schedule at 3:10p. Since we left Auckland, we have gained back 3 hours. Cairns is putting finishing touches on its brand new airport but we disembarked at one of the few remaining old gates. However, by the time we fly back out in four days, if the news coverage is accurate, we'll be departing from the new terminal.
We took a taxi for the short 15 min drive to our hotel, the Sofitel Reef Casino. This is a very nice hotel. We're on the 3rd floor of a 7 floor building. The 4th floor has an outdoor heated pool with sauna and small gym area. Our beds are big and fluffy, and our marble bath has a large shower with a bench, and a separate soaking jacuzzi tub.
After we got showered and changed into some lighter clothing, we set out to explore Cairns. The weather and vegetation is very tropical. Since we're in the southern hemisphere, the further you go north, the hotter it gets. In some respects Cairns feels like South Beach, in other ways, like a quiet Caribbean resort. If you have money burning a hole in
your pocket, Cairns might be the place for you. With $20 Black Jack tables and $10 Caribbean Stud the casino isn't for amateurs. The Esplanade is the long street that stretches along the beach. There's a boardwalk area closer to the water with a very narrow beach area. The Cartier, Dior and Rolex stores along with the couple of really large yachts parked in the marina remind you that you're not dealing with just any crowd here. There's definitely some affluence in the air but it isn't stuffy.
We had dinner along the Esplanade overlooking the boardwalk and waterfront at a restaurant called Splash. We ordered their special that evening, tempura fish & chips. For desert, our new favorite, sticky date pudding with butterscotch sauce. Frank will work on finding a good recipe to try and make this when he gets home. If he succeeds, you'll understand why it's our new favorite desert.
After walking home from dinner, we turned in early at 10:00p since we have a 6:30a wake-up call. Our dive company is picking us up at 7:45a for our underwater adventure.
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