It’s official – i’m on my way out of this cold rainy Isle to soak in the sun.
For a bit. Maybe as brief as three weeks, but perhaps for as long as three months or more. I don’t ( yet ) have a return ticket.
Destination ? Cairns, Far North Queensland, in the Land of Oz, where it’s warm.
Maybe the 16-month stint in South–East Asia messed up my thermostat, but this winter – my first in the “Winterless North” since 2018 – has been brutal on this skinny old bloke.
I wouldna thunk of Cairns, except that it kept cropping up in conversation with Japanese students at Engoo.
July 13
is D-Day. I’ll be leaving Whangarei late afternoon, and arriving in Cairns close to midnight.
I’ve got a room booked in an AirBnB house for the first week. I plan to spend most of that beetling around for ( cheaper ) longer-term digs.
I’m told by an Insider in the airBnB game that at NZD 270 / week, I’m getting a good deal. But at that price, a 3-month stay may be a stretch.
But, barring Aussie customs deciding that they don’t want another recidivist Kiwi, I’m hoping to at least dodge the worst of the remaining winter.