Found Cairns

We both got up at about 5:00 am local time even without an alarm clock. After some back and forth about whether or not to try to sleep some more, we made our way to the airport. It is spring in Sydney and the weather was a rainy 50's sort of thing like we usually get in spring. At the last minute our gate was changed from 1 to gate 16, in a manner that would make an O'hare traffic controller proud. We arrived out of breath to realize that all those other people running were going the same place we were. Once we got there they delayed the departure of the flight for about 15 minutes to allow the plane to arrive. When the line finally queued up, I was almost done with my Sudoku, so I sat there and finished it while Connie stood in line debating whether strangling me was worth risking missing the flight.

All but the last 15 minutes was clouded over and bumpy. They get a mild kind of thunderstorm here and the pilots were clearing the cloud tops by a lot less than the FAA would tolerate in the midwest.

Upon arriving in Cairns (it's pronounced "caaans"), we grabbed a taxi and took the scenic route to our hotel. Our cabbie was friendly and knowledgable. He warned us several times about crocodiles and gave us the option of choosing the scenic route, which is usually a mandatory extra expense upon the realization that you have no idea where he is taking you in towns like this. The feel of Cairns is a lot like the Dells back home -- over commercialized, but with stuff worth seeing nearby, if only one can figure out where it is.

Unfortunately, our hotel dosen't have an internet connection. On the plus side, the beaches ARE open. We had heard along the way that they might be closed due to box jelly fish. Apparently, it is still too late in the season for them here in Cairns.

We are using an internet cafe to post this and will try to check in over the next couple of days. We will try to burn CDs to bring with us for future postings.