Tuesday 16 June
Well it is time to say goodbye to Cairns. We have really loved our time here and in a lot of ways wish we had a few more days. Not that it is a consideration but this is one place we could live if we ever decided to move over to Aussie. The 27 degree winters are appealing though I don’t know if we could cope with the summer heat and rainy season.
It was a 4.45 am wake up to catch a 6.20 am flight to the Gold Coast. I yawn every time I think of these early morning starts. Flight was good but guess whose cell phone slipped out a back pocket and was left on the plane?? You’re right it was Lorraine – Yeah right. It was me. Fortunately I realised it soon after we got off the plane so I was able to track it down fairly quickly. However we ended up keeping 10 people waiting in the Rental Firm’s Minibus for about 20 minutes. I phoned just in time as the driver was about to leave the airport.
If there is one thing we have learnt on this trip, it is to use a rental firm that has a depot inside the airport. It took us over an hour to collect our rental. First the shuttle then a wait as one person processed about 4 people before us. (He did in order of arrival and since I had left my cell phone…..) It was really frustrating as it was cold in their depot and we were hungry. We thought we would get breakfast on the plane but it was one of those discount flights that you had to pay exorbitant prices for any food you ate.
Our next frustration was the new GPS. It was totally different from the one we had previously used and wouldn’t accept Monique and Glen’s address and sent us off to a Panorama Drive that was miles away from where we wanted to go. On the lucky side we worked that out before we had gone too far. After some food and coffee, to get our brains into gear we worked out where we were and how to get to where we were going. We had actually stopped only a few kms from our destination and we were there in no time.
Driving along The Panorama we were seeing great views and huge houses. Lorraine commented at how beautiful the next house was and it ended up to be our home for the next two days. Glen had done a great job on the house and while there was still some work to do they had just put it on the market for a cool $2.4M. It had 360degree views, one side to Surfers and the sea, the other the water reserve and native bush. The house was all windows so there was a view from every room.
It was great to catch up with Monique, Glen, Sandy and Alan. Alan took us first to look at Blair’s house. This house was huge. It could comfortably sleep 27 people. “The Wings is a $3.4M mansion. It had everything you could think of including two kitchens, ensuites in every bedroom (8 I think), Billiard Room, Study Swimming Pool, Tennis Court and Gym. It was its own Cluedo Game Board!!
We then meet up with the others and had lunch together. Alan and
Sandy took us on a Tiki Tour of the area. It was amazing to see all the apartment high-rises scattered around the place. We stopped at a new hotel that had a foyer area that was just unbelievable. We took a couple of photos of each of us lounging around like we we guests. As if ……
It was home after this to a really delicious home cooked meal. The kitchen was so big, four people could easily work in it preparing the meal without getting in each other’s way. They invited one of their neighbours, Bill a fair dinkum Aussie bloke, to join us. He was quite a character and added a bit of colour to the conversation.
Wednesday 17 June
Went shopping at an outlet mall. It was the shopping we had been looking for throughout the trip. This was the first time we actually found clothes cheaper than NZ and spent most of the day and money there. On a sad note though, the evening before there had been quite a major fire there that had gutted three shops. While this may seem minor when there were another 120 on offer but the Fire Department had closed all shops nearby which included a Rodd and Gunn outlet my favourite clothing shop and it was the only one I had seen in all of Queensland. Oh the pain. Mind you I think Lorraine was quietly quite pleased as the clothing there is quite expensive and I can go a bit overboard when in one of their shops.
Alan and Sandy were off to see Simon and Garfunkel in Brisbane so we just had dinner with Monique and Glen. We went to their local, a golf and country club for which they apologised for it not being very posh. We had to constantly assure them we would rather have gone their then somewhere posh. The place really was down to earth and I was in heaven!!! It had a TAB, draught beer on tap, (A first since leaving NZ) good quality steak meals and a Quiz Competition starting as we finished our meal. What more could I ask for?
Well it is time to say goodbye to Cairns. We have really loved our time here and in a lot of ways wish we had a few more days. Not that it is a consideration but this is one place we could live if we ever decided to move over to Aussie. The 27 degree winters are appealing though I don’t know if we could cope with the summer heat and rainy season.
It was a 4.45 am wake up to catch a 6.20 am flight to the Gold Coast. I yawn every time I think of these early morning starts. Flight was good but guess whose cell phone slipped out a back pocket and was left on the plane?? You’re right it was Lorraine – Yeah right. It was me. Fortunately I realised it soon after we got off the plane so I was able to track it down fairly quickly. However we ended up keeping 10 people waiting in the Rental Firm’s Minibus for about 20 minutes. I phoned just in time as the driver was about to leave the airport.
If there is one thing we have learnt on this trip, it is to use a rental firm that has a depot inside the airport. It took us over an hour to collect our rental. First the shuttle then a wait as one person processed about 4 people before us. (He did in order of arrival and since I had left my cell phone…..) It was really frustrating as it was cold in their depot and we were hungry. We thought we would get breakfast on the plane but it was one of those discount flights that you had to pay exorbitant prices for any food you ate.
Our next frustration was the new GPS. It was totally different from the one we had previously used and wouldn’t accept Monique and Glen’s address and sent us off to a Panorama Drive that was miles away from where we wanted to go. On the lucky side we worked that out before we had gone too far. After some food and coffee, to get our brains into gear we worked out where we were and how to get to where we were going. We had actually stopped only a few kms from our destination and we were there in no time.
Driving along The Panorama we were seeing great views and huge houses. Lorraine commented at how beautiful the next house was and it ended up to be our home for the next two days. Glen had done a great job on the house and while there was still some work to do they had just put it on the market for a cool $2.4M. It had 360degree views, one side to Surfers and the sea, the other the water reserve and native bush. The house was all windows so there was a view from every room.
It was great to catch up with Monique, Glen, Sandy and Alan. Alan took us first to look at Blair’s house. This house was huge. It could comfortably sleep 27 people. “The Wings is a $3.4M mansion. It had everything you could think of including two kitchens, ensuites in every bedroom (8 I think), Billiard Room, Study Swimming Pool, Tennis Court and Gym. It was its own Cluedo Game Board!!
We then meet up with the others and had lunch together. Alan and
Sandy took us on a Tiki Tour of the area. It was amazing to see all the apartment high-rises scattered around the place. We stopped at a new hotel that had a foyer area that was just unbelievable. We took a couple of photos of each of us lounging around like we we guests. As if ……It was home after this to a really delicious home cooked meal. The kitchen was so big, four people could easily work in it preparing the meal without getting in each other’s way. They invited one of their neighbours, Bill a fair dinkum Aussie bloke, to join us. He was quite a character and added a bit of colour to the conversation.
Wednesday 17 June
Went shopping at an outlet mall. It was the shopping we had been looking for throughout the trip. This was the first time we actually found clothes cheaper than NZ and spent most of the day and money there. On a sad note though, the evening before there had been quite a major fire there that had gutted three shops. While this may seem minor when there were another 120 on offer but the Fire Department had closed all shops nearby which included a Rodd and Gunn outlet my favourite clothing shop and it was the only one I had seen in all of Queensland. Oh the pain. Mind you I think Lorraine was quietly quite pleased as the clothing there is quite expensive and I can go a bit overboard when in one of their shops.
Alan and Sandy were off to see Simon and Garfunkel in Brisbane so we just had dinner with Monique and Glen. We went to their local, a golf and country club for which they apologised for it not being very posh. We had to constantly assure them we would rather have gone their then somewhere posh. The place really was down to earth and I was in heaven!!! It had a TAB, draught beer on tap, (A first since leaving NZ) good quality steak meals and a Quiz Competition starting as we finished our meal. What more could I ask for?
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