Day 11 - Byrons Bay, Brisbane and Family

I slept in till 6:30am today. I thought it was much later it gets light very early here.

I used SMS to let Michael know I would try to call him tomorrow since I think our conversation will take a while and I do not want to spend 1.49 a minute. I hope our hotel in Cairns (I think this is pronounced Cans) has internet.

We are still a couple hours from Brisbane – the girls are still sleeping but I will wake them shortly to see if they want to surf.

I am finishing up charging the phones and cameras. I was going to spend a few minutes tagging photos but I just tested to see if I tag them with the windows vista photo gallery does the new flickr uploader see the tags? It does not. Just took a look at the windows live photo gallery – it sees the tags I created using the windows photo gallery and has an option to publish to flick – I will have to see if the tags are propagated when I have internet access.

I am going to spend some time working now. Pam just got up.

We ended up getting the continental breakfast – I tried some Kraft Vegemite – it tasted about as I expected – certainly an acquired taste.

Pam and I took Allysha down to surf for about 45 minutes while Aria worked on Spanish – back to the room, Allysha and Pam showered and we packed (I also finished the Thai leftovers – they were still delicious) on were on the road to Brisbane by 10:45.

Pam called Carl (her cousin) as we passed into Queensland and we learned that we need to change our clock back an hour – strange to do we travelling south to North. He suggested that we meet at Breakfast Creek Hotel at 12pm. We arrived at 11:45 and Carl shortly after.

We had a very pleasant lunch and beer from a wood casket – the only place left in Australia that does so – beer of the wood as they called it. A wonderful steak meal – Wagyu Rump for me, a Filet Mignon for Pam and Aria a steak too – Allysha had pizza.

Carl ended up treating us to lunch – very magnanimous. We had a very pleasant meal and conversation – I hope we get to meet up with him again sometime in the future. Pam looked a little misty-eyed when he talked about not seeing family very often. We sat at the table until after 3pm – but I never felt rushed by the staff – even though the place was very busy.

It seems Queensland is experiencing tremendous growth pains with infrastructure lagging behind the population influx – water also seems to be a huge issue – an aqueduct program might be just the right thing to invest in. He described the socialized medical system and even though his daughter was born premature and was in intensive care for a full month all but a very small portion of the costs were covered.

Carl brought a newspaper article describing a back road route to the airport – we took it and made it to the airport in about 15 minutes. When returning the car the attendant noticed a gouge missing from the left front rim. He asked if we had been asked to inspect the car – I said yes but did not notice it – after a few tense minutes he said he would charge it back to the Sydney Airport (I did not want to mention that we picked it up from downtown!).

Checked in (had to check bags again) and breezed through security (I was stopped for an explosive screening)and sitting at the gate by 4:15 with boarding begging at 4:45pm – perfect timing by my book.

Everyone asks where we are heading and says it will be hot and humid – even Carl asked why Cairns? I hope we did not make a mistake – I am looking forward to being in one place for a few days – I hope it ends up being enjoyable. Carl named jellies, crocodiles, sharks, blowflies as awaiting us in Cairns – sounds great?

Hopefully internet access and some good snorkeling – the room rate of $132 a night seems too good to be true considering the summer holiday just started here.

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