March 5, 2012
This morning Sharon and I were on our way to the reception of the Cairns Queenslander, the hotel we were staying in these last two nights, in order to look something up on the internet and also to have a refund for “no breakfast had” put back on our card, when we met the driver of a water truck who came by to service the restaurant and learned that it had closed. “A shame…” we say. “Yep.” he agrees. We then go on to discuss the economic situation that is starting to affect Australia and in turn we share some of our problems back in the USA. All in all it really hits home that the downward spiral of economies is really reaching across the globe and is being felt mostly by the middle class. We get out of town to the airport and return our car before being confronted with the walk from hell through the heat and humidity of the day as we struggle to lug all of our stuff about a mile to the "international" terminal. When we arrive, I am dripping with sweat and struggling to catch my breath. We get checked in and told to purchase food because there are no restaurants available to us in Darwin. Once we arrive, we’re sitting in an airport in Darwin, in the very north of Australia. It’s raining. As far as I can tell we’re seated in a sort of international holding area. We’re on our way to Singapore. It’s jump day and the freaky thing is the time change is only 30 minutes from Cairns....never heard of that before!
Once we board the flight, we settle in for a 4 1/2 hour flight. Everything goes smoothly and we touch down around 9:30 at night. We have to find a transport to our pre-arranged hotel and get a taxi that can hold all of us and our luggage. We drive for what seems a VERY long time before arriving at the Hotel Madras@Eminence. The people are really delightful at the hotel and are ready and waiting for us. We have connecting rooms.....once again, barely enough floor space to turn around. We have Annie, Sharon and Paulie in one room and the boys are in the adjoining room. As a very wise woman (my grand-mother) once said, "when you are exhausted and confronted with something you aren't sure how to react to.....you can either cry or laugh".....we always try to laugh! We wash off the grime of the day in our bathroom with a shower handle attached to the wall - no curtain, no containment - as we watch ourselves bathe in the mirror directly across from said handle on the wall and call it a night.
This morning Sharon and I were on our way to the reception of the Cairns Queenslander, the hotel we were staying in these last two nights, in order to look something up on the internet and also to have a refund for “no breakfast had” put back on our card, when we met the driver of a water truck who came by to service the restaurant and learned that it had closed. “A shame…” we say. “Yep.” he agrees. We then go on to discuss the economic situation that is starting to affect Australia and in turn we share some of our problems back in the USA. All in all it really hits home that the downward spiral of economies is really reaching across the globe and is being felt mostly by the middle class. We get out of town to the airport and return our car before being confronted with the walk from hell through the heat and humidity of the day as we struggle to lug all of our stuff about a mile to the "international" terminal. When we arrive, I am dripping with sweat and struggling to catch my breath. We get checked in and told to purchase food because there are no restaurants available to us in Darwin. Once we arrive, we’re sitting in an airport in Darwin, in the very north of Australia. It’s raining. As far as I can tell we’re seated in a sort of international holding area. We’re on our way to Singapore. It’s jump day and the freaky thing is the time change is only 30 minutes from Cairns....never heard of that before!
Once we board the flight, we settle in for a 4 1/2 hour flight. Everything goes smoothly and we touch down around 9:30 at night. We have to find a transport to our pre-arranged hotel and get a taxi that can hold all of us and our luggage. We drive for what seems a VERY long time before arriving at the Hotel Madras@Eminence. The people are really delightful at the hotel and are ready and waiting for us. We have connecting rooms.....once again, barely enough floor space to turn around. We have Annie, Sharon and Paulie in one room and the boys are in the adjoining room. As a very wise woman (my grand-mother) once said, "when you are exhausted and confronted with something you aren't sure how to react to.....you can either cry or laugh".....we always try to laugh! We wash off the grime of the day in our bathroom with a shower handle attached to the wall - no curtain, no containment - as we watch ourselves bathe in the mirror directly across from said handle on the wall and call it a night.
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