Exploring OZ : The Land Down Under: Cairns!

FINALLY here!!! I am done flying on ten million bajillion airplanes!

The best greeter I got leaving the Cairns airport was Benny the drug sniffing beagle. He checked all of my bags, but due to me having dogs he spent a longer time sniffing them than he probably does on other bags. I don't think that made his handler happy, but I told him he was good dog anyway. :-)

The taxi ride from the airport to the hostel wasn't bad either since sometimes taxi rides can be pretty scary. The old guy was nice and waited for me to get checked in before he left me and my bags. And yes they drive and walk on the "wrong side" down here. I should be used to this by now, but I still can't walk down the wrong side of the sidewalk. I gotta see what is in the windows!

So far it is pretty tropical here. The sun is shining and temp is warm. There doesn't seem to be too much humidity unless I am just used to it. There are palm trees, one of which is giving me shade while I sit outside on our little balcony. I say our because I am sharing a room with 5 other girls. Not too sure who they are or where they are from. I quickly met them as they were walking out the door to go party the night away. I know they are from another country because they were speaking another language as they came back to the room at all hours of the morning. They have come and gone again - I guess while I was out searching for lunch. I am pretty sure they are here for one more night - then new roommates shall arrive (hopefully it will be students from the internship program).

So Cairns so far is a little tiny city. I walked a few blocks of it while searching for lunch. There were tons of scuba diving stores, fancy restaurants, and your usual gift shops much like the ones you find in the Caribbean. I am going to walk down to the Esplanade or tomorrow if there are no good free trips provided by the hostel. My travel book says the Esplanade has several shops that are cheaper as well as cafes. It also is a beach type area, BUT the Cairns section in the travel book says not to go into any of the waterways due to dangerous crocs. It's even in it's own little warning box. So I'll be shopping, eating, and taking pics of the water from afar. :-)

There seem to be all kinds of people walking about. You got your business people, your tourists (you can tell apart because, like me, we walk on the right side of the sidewalk), your people who sit on steps and street corners watching other people. So it's kind of a mini NYC (stress the word mini).

The hostel I am staying in is right across from a movie theater, commonwealth center and apple store called iShop. The backdrop behind some of those buildings are mountains - not sure which mountains or if they even have a name. My guess is that they are part of the rain-forest.

I haven't seen any of the Australian critters....yet, but you can sure bet I checked under the toilet seat for spiders before using it! And so far I can't answer the question about the water in the toilet swirling the opposite way because the toilet here flushes like the ones on cruise ships - makes you think you're going to get sucked down too!

Well I think this is all for now.......It's 2pm-ish here so that means it's after midnight at home. Time to go sit by the pool. :-) I do have wireless now so I am not restricted to 30 min sessions or to a computer with a letterless keyboard. :-)

Haven't heard too many Aussie sayings except for "no worries". It pretty much means what it says. :-)
Enjoy the pics - more to come tomorrow or later!