For the entire time that we have been in Cairns, it has rained. Sometimes slowly. Sometimes vigorously. But constantly wet. This morning was not exception. If I see a line of animals marching two-by-two all in the same direction, I'm going to get worried.
The first night in our apartment was fantastic. It's nice to have a little more space than a hotel room (although being at Steve and Margaret's house was more like being at home). Laureen got up at her usual zero-dark-buffalo, and I rolled out of bed at about 0800. Ahhhhhhh. I keep telling myself, that's what vacations are for. I did my usual routine, jumped in the shower and then got dressed. As I was getting dressed, Laureen noted that we were going to go out to the "Lagoon", which is visible from the entrance of our accommodations, for a swim. Yes, a swim. In the pouring rain. 😐. Well, I guess getting wet by the rain won't matter if we are going to get wet by swimming in the lagoon.
This lagoon is a man made salt-water pool right by the ocean. When you are in it, it looks like an infinity pool and almost like you are swimming in the ocean. On the tour we took today, they mentioned it (more about the tour later). If you want to learn more about the lagoon, check it out here.
So, we had a quick breakfast and then hopped into our Cozzi's (that's Aussi for Swimming Costume - they don't wear Bathing Suits here - they dress up in a costume), and met Steve and Margaret in the Lobby. As we made our way out the door, we noted that there was a travel agent right next to the entrance to our apartments. As we've been walking around here, you notice they are everywhere. So, we dropped in on the bloke behind the counter and started asking him a few questions. He was very helpful and on our way back from swimming in the rain in the lagoon, we would stop and book something for later today.
We made our way to the rain-soaked lagoon and found that we had it to ourselves. Nobody else wanted to go swimming in the pouring rain. I guess that's one way to get the lagoon all to yourself. Later, others would join us, but it was probably because they looked out the window and saw some crazy people out swimming in the rain. That made them think it was ok to do the same.
Life is short. Swim in the rain.
We propped up the two umbrella's we had with us to try and keep our stuff dry (like phones, shirts and towels), and left it right beside the water; of course, keeping a close watch on it. We first tried to put our stuff up a vacant lifeguard tower, but some bloke who had just come down to also go for a swim in the rain (that should give you a clue as to his mental state), went off about how we shouldn't do that. We tried to ignore him, but also got the thumbs down from the two lifeguards who were at the tower across the lagoon. So, we pulled our stuff out of there and then put it under a gazebo-like thing that's roof was what looked like 2 x 6's that had about a centimetre space between them. So water leaked through, just not as hard as being directly out in the open.
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| The Lagoon with Steve, Margaret & Laureen (little dots) |
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| The Same With the Bloke Making his way into the Photo |
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| Steve, Margaret, Laureen, Lagoon & Ocean |
We met down in the lobby and walked over to Oishi Oishi Japanese Fluffy Pancakes. Margaret raved about these pancakes, so we figured we should give them a go. I'm required to now type this here so that it can be forever captured for all to see. Yes, Margaret, the pancakes are good. Not the best I've ever had mind you. Wait until you taste my almond vanilla pancakes when you come to visit in Canada.
We walked back to our building and made a quick dash for the loo before the bus arrived. I was still in the facilities when Steve poked his head in and said, "Curt. The bus is here."
I thought I had more time - but alas no. As I came out of the building, the driver gave me that look. I was the last one and the bus was full of people. There is no greater walk of shame than being the last guy on the bus - holding up the rest of the tour. As my penance, I was relegated to the back. 😞
Our first stop was Saint Monica's Cathedral. It is noted as the world's largest stained themed glass windows - and they were stunning. I can only imagine what it would look like inside that place with the sun shining through those windows. The windows on each side of the building tell the creation story. each window has it's own meaning/significance within the larger story. If you are curious about the windows, their website has a page that describes each window.
I should also mention that the rain had finally stopped and while it was probably the most humid weather I've ever experienced, it was far better than it pouring rain.
From there we went to the Cairns Museum and were treated to a guided tour. I only took one photo of a refrigerator and sent it to my friend who repairs appliances. He said he had never seen one like that before, with the compressor sitting on the top.
Our next stop was the Ozmosis Cafe where our entire bus load of people had a beverage and some fresh scones with jam and clotted cream. That was yummy!
From there we made our way to the Cairns Botanical Gardens. The Gardens covers approximately 38 hectares (94 acres) and consists of several distinct areas with both salt and fresh water lakes. Needless to say the place is huge and a plant lover's paradise. I think the humidity was actually greater here than by the water. I dripped the entire time. It must have been my snow melting.
Once we were all back on the bus, we made our way to the Cairns Scenic Lookout point, which gave us an incredible view of the surrounding area.
Our last scenic spot was the Palm Cove Beachside Village where we could walk out on the jetty and check out the islands off the coast. The place was quite something and I think Steve was scoping it out as a place to bring his caravan. By all accounts, it's a nice spot.
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| We Were Warned About Crock's in the Area |
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| By Land |
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| By Sea |
From here we started dropping people off at their various accommodations until it was just the four of us left to take back to ours, The Mantra.
We took a short half hour refresh break in our rooms, and met down in the lobby to go to dinner. There are so many places near us, that it's almost hard to choose. For tonight, we made our way to an establishment called Lemoncello's, an Italian place along the Esplanade. The food was fantastic. Laureen and I shared a Calamari appetizer and a Spaghetti Bolognese. Bellisimo!
At the conclusion of dinner, we made our way to the night market with Steve and Margaret this time. Steve's phone had a small altercation with a car the day before, that I forgot to put into the blog (I'm going to rectify that here because the story continued today). It seems that when we made our way to the grocery store yesterday, as Steve was walking to the store, his iPhone fell out of his pocket on the road in the pouring rain without him realizing it.
It was while we were grocery shopping that it was discovered the phone was missing. They used Margaret's phone to call it and on the second attempt, someone answered. It was a girls voice that describe finding the phone on the road and witnessing a car run it over. She asked where he was, and they had the person bagging the groceries describe the location. The girl found them in the described location and must have recognized Steve from his lock-screen picture. She walked up and handed him his phone. She then just walked away. The phone was still working, but what was interesting was that the screen protector was broken, but the gorilla glass underneath it was undamaged. The back of the phone was another matter. The glass was severely cracked and the glass over the lenses was shattered. I think it had a tad bit of a bend in it as well.
This brings me to this evening. When Laureen and I made our way through the night market last night, we noted that there was at least one place that indicated they repaired broken phones. The advertisement was a picture of a shattered iPhone. That could have been Steve’s! We passed on to him that we saw the place, so after dinner we made our way to the night market so Steve could show them the phone and see if they could fix it. As it turns out, the gent had the parts for Steve's phone, so he started working on it and we went out and wandered through the shops.
It was also at this time that Alf and Di made it to Cairns and Steve went back to The Mantra to get them and walk them over to where we were. There were hugs all the way around. The band was back together again. We walked over to one of the gelato places in the area and sat down for a cold treat before taking this photo which Laureen combined with the one we took nearly 10 years ago in Amsterdam.
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| Nearly 10 Years ago and Tonight |
It was a fantastic day. Looking forward to the adventure that is planned for tomorrow.
Curt and Laureen in Cairns, Australia
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