Sunday, June 04, 2006
From North to South in three days.
Hi,
Quick update in order I suppose.
We spent our last few days in Cairns enjoying (or as one evening was the case, suffering) the sunshine and heat. Probably hit mid to high twenties, with high humidity. Cairns is nice in an 'in your face' sort of way. It's nothing much more than six square blocks of pubs, resutaurants, tour agents, accomodation and shops, surrounded by vast expanses of commercial estates.
In any case, as The Rough Guide said, Cairns strength is in doing, not seeing. So as instructed we booked to go rafting the day before we were due to go home. We spent a full day on the Tully river, enjoying grade 3-4 rapids, getting very wet, and absurdly for we only had about one hour of sun, sunburned! We went out that night with our multicultural raft buddies (Canadian, Irish and Dutch) for a few beers.
So then it was back to Sydney (thursday), late that night. We checked into the quite excellent Vulcan Hotel for our last two nights. Spent Friday just catching up with bits n pieces, and had a bit of a disaster that night as Sophie lost her purse. No real damage done (we cancelled all the cards), but a frustrating way to end the best five weeks of my life.
To make up for it we had a nice lunch at the Sydney Opera Bar, overlooking the bridge in the chilly sunshine, before late that afternoon we both trundled to the airport. Sophie should by now be somewhere in the air in the Middle East, I caught my plane to Melbourne, where I spent the night at Greenhouse backpackers. Melbourne is a nice city, far less brash or busy as Sydney. Much more charm and elegance, but not nearly as exciting. I'm due to go to the "footy" (aussie rules) later today with some friends, and hopefully be able to catch up with a contact on Monday.
Speak to you all soon,
Best wishes,
Jan.
Quick update in order I suppose.
We spent our last few days in Cairns enjoying (or as one evening was the case, suffering) the sunshine and heat. Probably hit mid to high twenties, with high humidity. Cairns is nice in an 'in your face' sort of way. It's nothing much more than six square blocks of pubs, resutaurants, tour agents, accomodation and shops, surrounded by vast expanses of commercial estates.
In any case, as The Rough Guide said, Cairns strength is in doing, not seeing. So as instructed we booked to go rafting the day before we were due to go home. We spent a full day on the Tully river, enjoying grade 3-4 rapids, getting very wet, and absurdly for we only had about one hour of sun, sunburned! We went out that night with our multicultural raft buddies (Canadian, Irish and Dutch) for a few beers.
So then it was back to Sydney (thursday), late that night. We checked into the quite excellent Vulcan Hotel for our last two nights. Spent Friday just catching up with bits n pieces, and had a bit of a disaster that night as Sophie lost her purse. No real damage done (we cancelled all the cards), but a frustrating way to end the best five weeks of my life.
To make up for it we had a nice lunch at the Sydney Opera Bar, overlooking the bridge in the chilly sunshine, before late that afternoon we both trundled to the airport. Sophie should by now be somewhere in the air in the Middle East, I caught my plane to Melbourne, where I spent the night at Greenhouse backpackers. Melbourne is a nice city, far less brash or busy as Sydney. Much more charm and elegance, but not nearly as exciting. I'm due to go to the "footy" (aussie rules) later today with some friends, and hopefully be able to catch up with a contact on Monday.
Speak to you all soon,
Best wishes,
Jan.
# posted by Jan : 1:48 AM
