Relaxing day in Cairns

The clouds cleared finally for a beautiful sunny day in the tropics.  Quite windy which actually kept the humidity down.  Did a real workout in the hotel gym.  Layed (lied) around the pool.  Had kind of snacky lunch in the hotel restaurant...

We watched the incredible women's singles tennis match between Francesca Schiavone and Svetlana Kuznetsova.  Nothing short of inspirational... nearly 5 hours of great tennis.  Schiavone finally won in the third set 16 to 14!.

I looked out our balcony and saw what I thought were hundreds of birds flying toward the jungle.  Wasn't birds but bats!  Big bats flying lazily from the city to the lush mountains across the bay of water the Hilton is on.  Wow!

Cairns, Queensland - Friday

view from Hilton Hotel balcony

Change in plans.  Originally I had booked us to go from Melbourne to Brisbane for the weekend.  Brisbane was to be our jumping off point for the Great Barrier Reef.

There has been devasting flooding in Brisbane and many other towns in the state of Queensland.  While the flood waters had subsided by Thursday, the damage was extensive and we felt we would be in the way of clean-up.  It also turns out the Brisbane is not that close to the Great Barrier Reef so quick change of plans and we are now in Cairns...pronounced "cans" like cans of beer.

Cairns is way north in Australia and therefore closer to the equator.  It sits on a bay very close to the Coral Sea which is where the Great Barrier Reef is.  It also is located in a tropical rain forest.  And it is raining.

There is an outside chance that the rain we are experiencing will turn into a cyclone.  A cyclone is a hurricane in the Pacific Ocean!

Can't let a little cyclone potential stop us!  We are planning Great Barrier Reef adventure for Saturday.