Australia and New Zealand Trip: Part 3 (Cairns)

On Wednesday, April 12, Tal and I arrived in Cairns, Australia...1.5 days later that we'd planned. Due to all of our flight delays and cancellations, we were unable to see or go snorkeling in the Great Barrier Reef, which was a huge disappointment.

At the airport, Tal and I picked up our rental car (a Toyota Corolla):

When it comes to driving in Australia, Tal has done a great job adjusting to the driver's side being on the right side of the car, driving on the left side of the road, and following the speed limit in kilometers.

When we checked into our hotel in Cairns, it was 6:30 P.M. and dark outside. The weather was tropical...warm, humid, and 80 degrees.We stayed at the Coral Tree Inn, which was 2.5 miles from the airport.


Our hotel room was small and included the necessities, such as hot water, a ceiling fan (no air conditioning), and two twin beds smooshed together. When we got to our hotel room, Tal and I immediately took showers and changed our clothes. After two days of traveling, it felt glorious to get clean for the first time in 48 hours.

After we settled into our hotel room, Tal and I walked three blocks to the Cairns waterfront. In the dark, we walked along the beach of the Coral Sea. Even though it was dark outside, there were lots of people having picnics on the waterfront, eating dinner at outdoor restaurants, and swimming in the public outdoor pool.

In April 2018, the Commonwealth Games will be held in Australia.

(The Coral Sea is behind Tal.)

Along the Coral Sea waterfront, Tal and I ate dinner outside at a restaurant called Healthy Burgers (because all of the meat came from animals that were farm raised and grass-fed):

  

I ate the Simply Grilled Burger, while Tal had the Wagyu Burger. They were two of the best burgers we've ever eaten.

After dinner, Tal and I walked back to our hotel. We were exhausted from two days of traveling, so we fell asleep at 8:30 P.M. We slept for 8 hours and then left our hotel at 5 A.M. on Thursday morning to catch our flight to Ayers Rock (The Outback), Australia!