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Published: August 25th 2009
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We arrived in Cairns via the trusty Greyhound bus around 6am, it was an ok 10hr journey apart from a had to constantly battle with the dutch girl in the seats opposite! in a daring and courageous or audacious i might say effort she was trying to stretch her legs all the way accross to my seat and deprive me of my room.......lets just say she didnt win! Anyway getting back to the point we arrived around 6am and gave the hostel we were booked with a quick bell and they shortly came and picked us up. It was early so all the systems were not up and running, fortunately for us as i asked to upgrade to a double room and she let us have it for free as she blatently couldnt be bothered to fight the system at this stage in the morning...BRUCY for us thats for sure!
The hostel is a little way out of the city centre, i use that phrase loosley as Cairns isnt really a city. The hostel opperates a free hourly shuttle bus in and out of the city centre although we walked it a few times and its only a 20 min
stroll. So after a shower and a freshen up we headed into town to see what the place had to offer. We had a cheeky maccas breakfast then had a wander around the shops to pick out some souveniers to send home, we then found the lagoon which is the same set up as Airlie and chilled out there most of the afternoon topping up our tan in anticipation of losing it all again in NZ. After enough sun we went and found a bar on the front and relaxed over a few drinks before heading back to the hostel.
That evening we headed into town to the Rhino bar which offers backpackers a free evening meal. We got in ordered our food and didnt even bother with a drink, ate our food and promptly left, jumped back on the shuttle and went back to the hostel, dam right were gonna get our free meal! Back at the hostel it was happy hr so we had a few beers and played some pool, but apart from that retired around 11pm.
The next day we headed into town again as we needed to get our souveniers and send them
home, so we purchased a boomerang (i know) and some stubby holders, great for back home. We wanted to get a didgeridoo however we went sure on the box sizes so we went to the post office to measure up and we found out it was shutting in 5 mins, so we quickly packaged up our boomerang and stubbies and sent them off. We were then left without a didgeridoo and you cant come home without one, however we were worried about NZ quarentine rules and didnt think we would get it in the country as there was no time left to send it home. But being the daredevils we are we decided to risk it for a biscuit and bought one, and with a bit of label swapping got a cheap wooden mask too! ha ha
That evening we went back into town and paid for a meal at a bar, $10 with a free pint....sweet as a nut! i had pie and katie had fish and chips. We went back to the hostel had a few more beers and went to bed early as our bus to the airport was at 4am the next morning!
So
we made our 6 am flight to Brisbane and we had all day to kill as our flight to Auckland wasnt till 6pm that evening, so on a whim we decided to rent a car for the day and cruise up the coast to Australia zoo and go and visit good old steve irwins home. With a bit more luck we blagged a double upgrade, so we paid bottom price and ended up with this huge sedan! nice too. The zoo is about an hr north of brisbane so not far, we got peckish and stopped for breakfast on the way, bit of pie, mash, peas and gravy to start the day.......mmmmmmmm!
The zoo was about $100 for the both of us a bit steep to see a few crocs i know! but it was well worth it in the end everyone in there is just as enthusiastic as steve was and just as nuts too! We started off with feeding the asian elephants, then headed to the crocaseum for the main show. Here we got to see a fantastic show of birds flying in and out of the stadium, it was amazing, i got picked for a demonstration
at one point and had to hold my hands out and thrust my pelvis whilst making bird sounds, all in front of 500 people, all in a days work you know me! The croc show was excellent he teaches you how to live along side them and not get eaten, unlike the chicken! We then fed some kangaroos one with a baby joey, stroked some koalas, stroked a camel and wandered around and visited the rest of the animals. We left early as to make sure we got back in time and not miss our flight.
So see you in NZ!!!
RIP Australia we love you!!!
Scott & Katie
xxx
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