After about 35 hours in transit, Cindy and I arrived at Treetops Lodge in Cairns (actually Stratford), Queensland, Australia. The trip went smoothly, no real hitches. Our suitcases weighed in at 48 and 48.5 lbs, so we should be good in that camp until the POM->Lae segment.
Our flight left LAX about 45 minutes late, departing about 10:30 PM local time – that was 1:30 AM to us. We flew in the dark all night long, were well-fed by Air New Zealand, spent only 30 minutes waiting in Aukland – after deplaning, going through security, and winding our way from the International arrivals section to the international departures section. The trip from Aukland to Cairns was about 5.5 hours.
The snowboard injury certainly felt the trip, and sleeping in the confined space was impossible (although going to the point of nodding repeatedly wasn’t), but other than that, it was good. Air New Zealand has my kudos.
Cairns is beautiful. Low mountains meet the ocean. We haven’t seen much of it, but I’d like to have time to see more. Food is expensive here in Stratford. Tree Tops is good accomodation. As we were leaving the airport, Cindy commented on how much the flora seemed like Florida. That was before we saw the Queensland nickname on a license plate – The Sunshine State. A kookaburra is hollering down the street from us as I write this, so I know we’re not in Florida, not to mention the mountains. Also, while generally the flora does seem Florida-like (it’s winter, but there is a LOT of blooming going on), there are some really exotic-looking plants.
And some unusual insects as well, including green ants.
We’ve arranged for a taxi to pick us up at 4:30 AM tomorrow to head to the airport for our 6:55 AM flight to Port Moresby. The adventure continues.