Blessed are the AirCon Makers

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5 Hours of sleep later that damn alarm went off. We have an hour to get ourselves to the shuttle pickup spot across the street. As we put on our packs to go, we happily encountered a lighter load but need to work on the placement of items as the flip flops jabbing me in the back of the head were extremely uncomfortable. It was a cool rainy morning as we stepped outside to our rendevous spot. it arrived right on time and was suprised to see how many people were already on board. It was steamed up like a Hastings Express on a wet winter day, all that was missing was the drunk in the back seat (although for some strange reason, there was the aroma of wet dog?!) Threw on my IPOD for the ride to the airport and said a silent good bye to a great city. The airport was busy but it didnt matter as we had abit of a wait before our flight so we sat grabbed some brekkie and waited. Once again, I was picked for a random "swipe" at security.....do I look suspicious or something?? Once on board, Kerry struck up conversation with the woman next to him (Margaret) and they chatted the entire flight. She was on her way to Cairns to visit her mum and had quite alot of advice for us. I explained that we had chosen to stay in Cairns Beaches (Clifton Beach) instead of the city as we wanted to have the beach close by and it was quieter. She replied that we couldnt swim in the ocean due to stinger season! Great, well I said it would still be nice to lay on the beach. At this she replied that they seem to be having trouble with their crocodile population and they have been spotted on the beaches. I really didnt have a reply to this.....what happened to the whole "paradise" thing!? Well, I was going to wait to see what we got ourselves into before letting total disappointment get the best of me. We were starting to make our descent and I glance out the window. What a beautiful place! It was so different to what we had seen so far with hills covered in a blanket of lush rainforest that was rimmed with a beautiful white beach that ran as far as the eye could see. It was a grey morning but you could still see the aquamarine water along shore. We were also greeted with the second difference in Northern Queenland....HUMIDITY!! It felt like you stepped into one of those tropical solariums at a Botanical Garden. The air was thick with moisture and we had on way too many clothes. Grabbed our packs from baggage and forked over the usual $15 per person for the transfer to the hotel. In this case it was actually worth it as we were pretty far from the airport. Now, we were alittle anxious about our accomodation as it was booked last minute without any research done. We were dropped off in front and werent sure what to make of it. Clifton Beach itself was stunning, with the main road running right along a palm tree lined ocean. We were greeted by Eugene who actally is the neighbour of the owners who were currently on vacation and him and his wife were looking after the place in the interim. It was lucky for us as he was nice enough to upgrade us from a garden view to an ocean view! He told us that he and Jane (his wife) were heading to NZ to visit their kids soon and when we mentioned we were heading their as well he offered to write us up all the things that are a must see. What a great guy! Off we went to our mystery room which ended up being the best room so far. They were self contained apartments and this one had just had a refurbish. Brand new kitchen with microwave, stove, dishwasher, fully stocked with all cooking/eating equipment. We had a dining area, lounge/tv area, king size bed, full washroom with washer and dryer! Everything was white and sparkling clean. The best part was the huge balcony that had an perfect view of the ocean with only a street between us. We loved this spot so much that we instantly extended our stay for three more nights. Seeing as we had a full kitchen, we decided that we would walk to the nearest grocer and load up with food. This would definitely save us afew bucks and it was such a nice place to hang out anyways. Eugene gave us a map and instructions and also let us know that he was going to bring over an autumn guide to NZ for us. As we set out, Jane walked by and asked us if we were taking the bus to the store. When we said we were walking she looked at us as if we were mental and said it was way too hot. I didnt think it was too bad out (there were some clouds) but when are we going to stop thinking that we know more than the locals!! We did 2 things wrong in walking to the store: 1) We walked to the store 2) We were wearing clothes. About halfway there I think we both started hallucinating and actually forgot who each other was. Finally made it and found a seat to grab a quick bite where our clothing managed to dry out. Bought as much as we could carry back but the crafty aircon made us forget what was in store for us when we left this nirvana. The humidity and heat hit us like a truck when we stepped outside. Took a different route back along the ocean which seemed faster and cooler. I carried a bottle of water on my shoulders and I think I managed to suck all the coldness out of it by the time we got back. Sat out on our balcony with a celebratory bottle of beer and took in the beauty of our surroundings. This was to be the start of a VERY relaxing stay. Kerry had picked up a thick steak for the BBQ (they have grilling facilities by the pool) but when I took it out it ended up being three of the skiniest steaks I've ever seen piled ontop of one another (it also ended up being the toughest steaks as well). It was fun cooking up our meal and made it seem more like a home. Went to turn on the fan to the bedroom to cool things off and discovered it had three speeds: Low, medium and helicopter. Cranked it up and went off to do some reading. When we walked around earlier, we had noticed that they had set up a library of books that people borrow, keep and leave ones that they have already read. Lucky for me, I found the book that was previous to the one I had just read. After a long day it didnt take us long to hit the sack. We decided to turn down that fan though as we feared it coming off the ceiling and killing us in our sleep.
Woke up to an incredible day. The sun rises over the ocean right in front of our patio. Made coffee and brekkie (no more energy bar mornings for us!). Decided it was going to be a rough day of laying by the pool. Only thing to interupt our day of lounging was going upstairs for lunch then reading on the patio. After that a leisurely dinner and a peaceful sleep. The wonderful thing about staying here was the only thing you heard at night was the ocean and a vast array of birds. This is paradise!!
We hadnt decided if we wanted to do any excursions in Cairns (there was a ton to do, especially Outer Barrier Reef tours), so we hopped a bus into town to check things out. I think Cairns is also home of the friendliest bus drivers. They always asked where you were going and made sure you knew how to get there, even after you have left their bus. Our driver was so nice that he actually left the bus and ran across the street to help a lady who looked very lost. When we reached the city center I was suprised at how "touristy" it was. The streets were lined with Duty Free shops. Cairns must also be a popular spot for Japanese and Korean tourists as most places had Asian writing outside. I also noticed that this also must be a main tourist area as it didnt seem like there were many locals around. It was another very hot day so we ducked into an internet shop where we spent the next couple of hours updating the blog, sending and answering emails. We also had the chance to make some calls to family using Skype (great find Toby!!) and it was great to hear their voices. Walked around abit more and noticed people gathering around the street and a whole city block had been blocked off by the police. Went in search of a used book store (by this point I had finished my book and so had Kerry) and noticed the streets were still blocked off. Figured we would see it on the news later. Walking along, we happened upon a great find. It was a trip organizer shop where we sat down with a girl who gave us various scenarios on how we could spend our remaining days in the country. We knew we wanted to do Fraser Island, but wasnt sure about the rest of the time. We left there with a ton of leaflets and were excited to plan out the rest of our travels. Armed with the info, we decided it was a good time to go get something to eat and read through everything. Left there stuffed with a better idea of what was to come next for us. Grabbed some more supplies from the grocery store and just made it to the bus back to the beach. Made another great dinner and found out on tv that the commotion in town was a guy had shot at the storefront of a local politician than taken a woman inside hostage for three hours! You wouldnt think something like that would happen here, it just seemed weird. And we had just been walking down that street earlier. Another lovely evening sitting on the patio enjoying the ocean.
Another lazy day by the pool.....I know, this is really rough living isnt it?!! Didnt stay out as long today as it was super hot. You spent more time in the pool than in the lounger. We had made the decision to book a 3 day 2 night tour of Fraser Island through a company called CoolDingo. It listed it as a 18-35 year old tour but we didnt care, we figured because it catered to younger people, it would be more active. Kerry called to reserve us spots and booked us on a flight from Cairns to Brisbane. Wow, what a shocker, it departed Cairns at 6:15am!!! When will we ever be on a later flight? Now we just needed to figure out how to get from Brisbane to Hervey Bay (the marina to Fraser Island was there). We had an early dinner that night so we could walk the beach before dark. When the sun goes down it gets very dark, very fast. Walked across the street and jumped down an embankment to the water's edge. This must be a popular honeymoon / romantic vacation spot as the beach was littered with couple on blankets drinking wine and enjoying the sunset. Started our stroll and came upon the Clifton Beach park. Due to the stinger situation, they have a small square in the ocean netted off so you could swim. there were lots of families there picnicing and BBQ'ing. Walked as far as we could and turned back before it got too dark. We used the couples as markers to make sure we could find our way back. As it turns out, we left the beach well before our hotel and had to finish our walk down the road instead. Wonderful end to the day.
This was our last day and Cairns and we had almost run out of food so we thought we would make the trek to the store once more. This time we were smarter and left first thing in the cooler morning. I guess it was alittle cooler, but not by much. Bought enough food to make it through the day. Every time we walked this one path there was the unspoken thought of the alleged crocodile situation (it was along a marsh). I mentioned that I figured if a croc jumped out it would most likely go after Kerry first as he had a steak in his backpack. Maybe not the best thing to say. I had to double time it to keep up with him through the path! Spent another couple hours by the pool where we rescued a wayword frog. I carefully scooped him out without touching him. I had had an earlier incident with an innocent looking plant that turned out to be a razor blade disguised as a plant.......I am now very wary of the flora and fauna and my ignorance of them. Left the pool to go use the internet as we still had not secured transportation from Brisbane to Hervey Bay (nothing like leaving it to the last minute....direct quote from Eugene). He was nice enough to let us use the hotel phone to book the train and didnt even charge for the internet. I think the owner was due back soon and he was glad to be rid of the responsibility. Went back to the room to enjoy our last evening and had an early night due to our usual 4am wake-up.

Next stop.....Fraser Island!

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