We wake up at 3 am to get ready to go to the airport. It’s too early for breakfast at our hotel, but we had each grabbed an apple or pear the day before to eat if we needed a snack on our koala excursion. We had forgotten to eat them before, so we eat them now as a morning snack.
Yesterday evening before bed I had packed up our bags, and set out clothes for the morning, so after getting dressed we pack our pajamas, chargers, and toiletries, and we are ready to go.
We head downstairs and check out, then order an Uber XL. Our driver came in a red Mitsubishi Outlander. He is a friendly guy originally from Bangkok, Thailand and we enjoyed our visit along the drive.
I got a text from Jetstar informing me the airport is under construction and we need to be dropped off near the Qantas Airlines domestic drop point. When we arrive we go into the airport but don’t see a Jetstar desk, so we ask for help. Turns out there is a tent outside for Jetstar. When we get outside we see the tent, but it would have been helpful had there been some signage to make it more obvious.
To get our bag tags I have to scan our boarding pass at a kiosk, and then it prints out our bag tags. Then there is a conveyor belt area where you place your bag on it, and it weighs the bag, scans the bag tag, and takes it away if everything is as expected.
It takes a few tries before it worked on our first bag, and our second bag was just over 24 kg, so it made us add a heavy bag tag (our bag was able to be up to 32 kg). It finally took our bags and we hope they actually make it to our destination.
Thankfully security is pretty easy at 4 in the morning, so other than needing to take out laptops/tablets and take off belts and hats, we sail right through. Other than scanning our boarding tickets when checking our bag, we never have to show ID anywhere, which is odd.
We want to find a place to fill up our water bottles, however the first water station has an “Out of Order” sign on it. Close to our gate I find a vending machine, but I can’t figure out how to get it to work, so I cancel it. After getting to our gate and leaving my bag with Nate, I go on the hunt for water. Unfortunately since it is so early not much is open.
By the time I get back towards our gate, it’s 5 am, and the shops start opening up, so I’m able to buy a couple bottles of water.
When our flight starts boarding we are expecting them to call us by zones, but it’s just a free for all. I’m not too worried though as we have assigned seats and our backpacks can easily fit under the seat if needed.
They scan our boarding passes then we walk down the jetway. On the tarmac they have stairs to board at either the front or rear of the aircraft. Once on the plane they check our tickets again, but we still never show ID to anyone…
Jetstar is a budget airline like Frontier or JetBlue, so drinks and snacks cost money. Thankfully we have both snacks and water along. The kids also get absorbed in watching shows on the tablet so we were good.
After the safety briefing I look on my phone to see what I have for entertainment. I thought I had movies downloaded to my phone, but we recently got new phones and those must have been on my old phone. I figured I would just play a game, but those were also on my other phone. I quickly take my phone off airplane mode to get a game working while we were still on the ground so I can have something to do while flying. The flight is just over 2 hours long and pretty uneventful.
As we are approaching Cairns and about to descend, the captain tells us we will be flying over the great barrier reef, so I ask Kailey to take a few pictures out the window.
At baggage claim they have 3d sea life that have their mouths open and have the luggage belts come out of them. A cute touch.
Our bags are some of the earliest bags off the plane, so we don't have to wait long. Nate orders an Uber XL, and we find it amusing that we get another driver in a red Mitsubishi Outlander again.
When we arrive at the Double Tree Hilton we go to see if we can check in early. They don't have a room ready, but tell us they will text us when they have a room. If nothing else we can check in at 3 pm.
The kids enjoyed the warm welcome cookies, and the hotel holds our bags in storage while we head out to get some real breakfast.
I found a Waffle place called “Waffles on Cairns” about a 15 minute walk away. I would say it is a lot more like dessert than breakfast. We share two waffles and a side of eggs and bacon. Both waffles came with ice cream, which is why it seems more like dessert, but they sure are tasty.
After eating we walk to a mall that is only a couple blocks further. The AC feels nice, as it is really starting to warm up outside and it's quite humid too. We find a grocery store at one end of the mall and grab some chips. We get a text that our room is ready, so we head back to the hotel, a 20 minute walk away.
The Lowes we found is not the same as the US, but it is still workwear
After getting our room keys (which are wooden cards) and bags out of storage we head up to the room and relax for a bit and decide what sounds good for lunch. Nate finds a fish and chips place about a 20 minute walk away. By this time it’s in the mid 80’s and so much more humid than we are used to in Phoenix. We try to stick to the shady side of the streets as we walk but we are all feeling somewhat exhausted by the time we arrive.
The restaurant is very small, open to the outside, no AC, so we are quite hot, with no good way to cool down. We still aren't very hungry so we only order one seafood basket off the kids menu and one barramundi, fried with a side of fries. There was plenty of food, the kids meal was huge! The barramundi was quite good, especially with just a squeeze of lemon juice and the seasoning they had on it. Kailey loved the fish sticks, but neither kids loved the calamari. I’m proud of them for both trying it, and they were excited to be able to share with their friends that they had eaten squid.
Fish sticks and calamari
Landon was looking very hot and exhausted to me while we had been sitting and waiting for our food, and I told Nate we may need to take an Uber back to the hotel. But after a little food and rest he seems to be doing a little better. Just a few shops down from where we had lunch was a convenience store and we get some slushies to help us cool down on the walk back. We decide to go a few blocks east to the esplanade as we walk back.
There is a nice breeze out along the water, and a boardwalk all along the coastline. The beach off of Cairns is very muddy and not good for swimming or playing in the water. When the tide is in the water goes under the boardwalk and when the tide is out there is hundreds of feet of mud exposed.
The bright red fruit on this foxtail palm may look enticing, but don't eat them, as they are poisonous (like many things in Australia).
There are several parks along the esplanade and the kids want to stop and play for a while, so we obliged.
Our hotel pool area has been under construction, getting a facelift. I knew this when I booked the trip, but it was supposed to be completed before we arrived and it is not done. We were told if we wanted to swim that they would pay for us to get an uber to and from the other Hilton hotel down by the docks. However there is also a public lagoon about a 15 minute walk away, and that is more enticing.
We all change into our swimwear and head down to enjoy the lagoon. On one side is a sand entry and it goes very shallow for smaller kids if they just want to splash and play or wade in, and it gets deeper as it gets closer to the ocean. There are lifeguards on duty and bathrooms/showers and lockers available.
Some guns at the Cairns War Memorial along the esplanade
After returning to our hotel we decided to see if there was much of a sunset to view from the balcony. As we are on the East coast of Australia there isn’t a great sunset over the beach, but there is a little pink huge to the sky. Suddenly we notice what look like big black birds coming in from the mountain side over our hotel, and then realise they are big bats. We had seen a sign about not disturbing the bats in town, called flying foxes. For bats they are quite cute and much larger than the small ones that we sometimes see in our backyard at home.
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