Water’s edge Apartments, Cairns, Queensland, Australia
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Australian word of the day: Pram – a baby stroller. We discovered this word when we were told we couldn’t gate check our pram but rather had to check it in with all the luggage, meaning walking through Sydney airport with all three kids loose…
What a long hectic day of travel. We got up at 4am for a 7am flight from Sydney to Cairns. Our 5am van pickup failed to show up and when he asked me on the phone in a sleepy voice what time is my flight, I realized we needed a quick solution. 5:13. We flagged down 2 station wagon taxis loaded them with all the baggage and children and set off. We reached the airport rather quickly. 5:37. We got off at the domestic terminal, unloaded the kids and the baggage and ran inside, only to discover that the specific flight to Cairns leaves from the international terminal. 5:43.
We schlepped down one level and waited for 2 taxis, which seemed to take forever to arrive. 5:57. We arrive at the right check-in counter. 6:15. we complete the checking and run to security.6:35. We are at the gate, 15 minutes after boarding was supposed to start. 7:35, the flight takes off, half an hour after the scheduled departure time. We all breath a sigh of relief.
The 2.5 hour flight was ok and brought us down into Cairns to a beautiful day. After gathering all our stuff, we headed out to a rental minvan which will take us around the area in the next few days. We couldn’t fit everyone and all the luggage, so Raquel and Alfredo took a taxi. Before leaving the airport, we also purchased a local mobile phone. They are very well set up with various prepay, pay as you go options here.
The city of Cairns is 10 minutes from the airport, situated on the coast. It is a topical area here, so the buildings are built very airy and bright. Our lovely apartment is a 3 bedroom spread on the 6th and top floor of a new building that is on the water. It is beautifully furnished and we are afraid the kids will break something expensive…I can only wish for an apartment like this in Israel. We had to wait a few hours before the place was ready for us, so we went to lunch and walked around town for a bit.
When we got back we napped, played, and unpacked. In the early evening we saw the sunset over the city to our back and the temperatures drop to more reasonable levels. We took the minivan down the street 3 blocks and had an OK greek dinner. The owner/manager kept us on our toes by shattering plates at the feet if some Japanese diners every once in a while.
After dinner we did some shopping at Woolworth’s, an Australian supermarket chain. Not impressive. And very expensive. Especially fruits and vegetables.$3 for a kg of bananas. $9 for a kg of grapes. And the Australian dollar is very strong now. ($1US = $1.15Aus). Oh well, we won’t complain about how expensive this trip is…best to just enjoy.
Tomorrow we plan to visit some nature spots within driving distance of town. Good night.
-Hemi
This entry was posted on Saturday, September 29th, 2007 at 6:37 am and is filed under Australia, Big Trip. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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