The beach and rainforest

Catching up on our latest trip

I posted some photos of our recent trip to Cairns in Queensland and to visit Uluru in the Northern Territory. I'll get busy and post some more as well as try to write some about the trip. Kim's Dad and his wife Brenda came over to travel with us and we all had a great time. We spent about half the time traveling with them and they spent the rest on their own touring around. I have to admit that they are pretty accomplished travelers and they will venture out on their own in a heartbeat.

We put Bill and Brenda on a train to Sydney earlier in the week and come Friday the 8th we were to fly out to Cairns from Melbourne. Bill and Brenda had a special deal with their tickets over here that allowed them to fly to several destinations within Australia in addition to the overseas flight. Pretty good deal. The trip to the airport from our house is about 3 hours and we were a little late in getting on the road, but in every trip down to Melbourne we've never had any delays. Well today would be different. After about an hour and a half on the road the police had a roadblock set up and they routed everyone off the highway to a dirt road. Well fortunately all the cars were going the same direction because I'm not sure I would have found my way if I weren't following others. That put a few more minutes behind and we eventually got back on the freeway. Well after about 15 minutes we came to another police road block and another routing off the freeway. I was getting really nervous at this point. We followed all the cars and finally got back on the freeway and made tracks. About an hour from the airport the "bathroom" cry was heard and we had to pull over for a stop. Once we got on the perimeter highway in Melbourne traffic stopped and my heart sank. We weren't going to make it! We finally got past the accident and made our way to the airport. I dropped Kim and the girls off at 4 pm for a 4:45 pm flight. Of course I dropped them off at the wrong end of the departure terminal and I headed off to park in the long term parking lot. As I entered the lot there were lots of cars with signs pointing towards parking. I drove and drove and drove and finally found a spot... as far back in the lot as you can go against the back fence. I hopped out and caught the shuttle bus in to the terminal and ran to the desk. It was 4:25 for the 4:45. I told them I was looking for my family and we were traveling to Cairns. A guy stepped up and told me that the family was at the gate and my boarding card was waiting for me there. I ran in and then turned around and handed my Swiss Army knife to the guy who had been so kind in helping us. Hopefully he'll enjoy it as much as I did! So I made the flight with time to spare, so to speak.

Kim said that the guy at the desk had seen where were from, Wodonga, and said that he had lived just up the road in a place called Yackandandah. He went ahead and checked them in and checked the luggage after the question to Kim, "Are you willing to leave without him?" She said she was believing I would make it and said a prayer and told the girls to keep praying. When I got on the plane I spotted faces eagerly and nervously awaiting my arrival. The rest of the trip really went off without a hitch. Who says prayers aren't answered!

More on the trip later.

BirdWorld and Cairns mudflats

Our trip to Cairns in Far North Queensland