Happy Birthday, Helen
I wisely remembered to make my first words.
We set off on the final northern stretch to Cairns in the mid-morning sun. Obviously we stopped for a McCoffee and McCakey on the edge of town. It's a good deal greener up here and now that a few mountains have appeared there's a certain resemblence to New Zealand. The difference, though, is that it's hot. New Zealand has a sort of British summer to it, this is ten degrees warmer and the further north we go the more humid it gets.
Cairns is a good deal more developed than the pretty small town image I had of it. The YHA is a bit basic but has an inviting pool. There aren't any water restrictions here, indeed there's even been standing water at the side of the road -- cane field irrigation overflow, maybe -- but we haven't seen any rain nor any sign of it. I recall one of the [car] rental guys saying don't go north beyond, say, Bundaberg, it's too wet. I think he might eat his words today.
We ask some questions about dive trips in the YHA and in one of the in town dive shops with a spot of late lunch in between. It's too hot to think so I determindly take Helen's advice to take a dip in the pool to cool down. The water's nearly as warm as the air! Refreshing, though.
We amble into town to catch up on emails then decide on a Thai. We take our bottle of Wolf Blass Grey Label in at an, um, above room temperature. I don't think the car boot is acting as a good cellar. A good job we're furnished with ice-cubes which get dropped into the wine. A badly timed gulp of very warm wine has it vapourise all through your mouth and nose which comes as a bit of a surprise. Ice cubes are very necessary.
Cairns YHA S21.14371 E149.17860 Elev. 26m
Copyright 2003 Ian Fitchet. All rights reserved.