Down to earth in Cairns

After spending most of yesterday aloft at 30,000 feet, today is a recovery day in Cairns, Australia.

I arrived at the BnB at just before midnight. Exhaustion, and too much rubbish food, meant I slept only about 4 hours.

Nonetheless, the first order of business today, before parking myself on a couch, was a trip to stock up. Recovery equals eating, right?

The AirBnB place I’m staying in provides free bikes, and the lazy 3.5 km trip to Woolworths and back took about half an hour each way.

The BnB I’m staying at is comfortable, an older house large enough for the four guests to easily avoid each other.

The Trip

I left Whangarei ( 5 deg C on waking ) at around 10 a.m., sitting next to a ruddy, chatty type on her way to an automotive convention in the South Island with her husband and son.

Then it was 6 hours at Auckland airport. Auckland turned on a warm day, of course, given that I’d dressed in as much clothing – with as many pockets – as possible. All in an effort to reduce my baggage weight, since it’s fair play for myself and clothing to weigh 80 kgs for the day.

A four-hour flight to Brisbane was next. The plane was maybe 25% full, so there was ample room to spread myself over the spare seat separating me and a young Aussie guy on a short trip back to Queensland to visit relatives.

I did get “taken aside” but breezed through Aussie customs in 10 minutes. There were no requests for proof of the travel declarations ( one for Queensland, one or Australia ) I’d scrambled around to finish at Auckland airport. I’d read that only one was required, but that wasn’t the case, according to Auckland airport boarding staff.

Two hours at Brisbane airport, and lugging everything from the international to domestic airport, followed. The last leg to Cairns was a Qantas flight maybe about 70% full.

I won’t be taking too many taxis here, with the fare from Cairns airport to ‘home’ costing AUD $25 +.

Right, I’m off to find a dark corner and turn on the Tele for a while until that depresses me too much and youtube takes centre stage.

3 Replies to “Down to earth in Cairns”

  1. Good to see you made it and settling in, obviously the captain remembered to top her up with gas. Sounds like a bit of a long day though, but at least your ol bones will be starting to warm back up to tropical temps!

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