My OneWorld Around The World Trip: Last Day in Cairns, Queensland, Australia

Our last day in Cairns was slow and restful. We did our laundry, and repacked our bags, so we will only have small bags to tote into Singapore and Hong Kong and Macau for the next few days, and can leave the big ones at the airport. In the evening, we went for a long stroll, had a tasty Australian steak dinner by the seashore, enjoying a pint of native “Pure Blonde” at Rattle and Hum, the pub we meant to attend the previous night but ended up sleeping through. We walked the length of the beautiful Esplanade on the seashore, about 2 miles at least, with boardwalk and many great shops. We picked up some souvenirs to ship home, had an ice cream, and took a million pictures, hoping to get a few that are magical. The scenery with mountains rising up above the sea was spectacular. We found the Southern Cross, or at least tried to. We loved seeing the numerous war memorials there was well, for the many Australian soldiers who helped defend the free world during WWII and other conflicts. And finally, we turned in for our last night in Australia, a bit sad to say goodbye.

I could easily see myself living here someday, despite its being awfully far from home. It is most definitely now my second favorite country of all the ones I ever visited. My homeland, the good old USA still ranks #1 – although I do think taxes are a bit lower in Australia these days. I look forward to returning someday to explore more of the great depths of this country, which I have now just tasted only a little bit. I want to dive more of course, but also explore the full richness of the continent, which is truly vast.

Flying out, we traversed tremendous expanses, literally crossing the better part of the entire continent now. Due to an obscure routing rule, and my elaborate requirements for this endeavor, our route took us first to Brisbane this morning, with just an hour layover, then on to Sydney again, with just another hour layover, and now on the long haul on to Singapore, finally, in the coveted 747 bubble. Although the A380 is newer and better equipped in many ways, I must say, this is the true gold I had sought in this great journey. The “Bubble” is everything I had imagined, without one trace of the disappointment I fully expected, realizing how long my anticipation had been delayed, and with life experience to understand things do not often turn out as well as we hope when we are children. And yet, here, it seems I lucked out. So far this wonderful journey has not only met, but exceeded my wildest hopes and expectations. I shall proceed with caution, and we will see what the future holds!

Now we are just passing over Indonesia, and I see we are over the Bali Sea, something I admit I never heard of in fact until just now when I see it on the flight tracking screen! What a great wide world this is, ever more details to be discovered, always something unexpected just around the corner. I see Singapore is not far now, just under two hours away… I will post more soon, but realize I have now caught up with myself, and it seems I have described the trip completely to this point, or as completely as my poor language skills can afford…

I will try to post a lot of good pictures, and maybe even some of the videos. The next couple of days should be relatively calm I hope. We have absolutely nothing planned in Singapore except for lounge around. We will just find out what local things may be easily done, but not push to do everything, and try to catch up well on our rest. We have just about caught up with our initial time jerk, were 8 hours behind, plus one day, and now will be just 2 more hours behind that, so a mild shift this time. We will remain in this time zone the next week, until our next big jaunt, when we cross from Hong Kong to Rome (via quick stop over in London). That will again shift us 6 hours back. By then, we should be fully rested, God willing, and prepared to see the Pope himself in the Ancient Capital, the great City of Seven Hills, where Paul himself argued our case before the Emperor of the greatest civilization that Earth had witnessed in its 5 billion prior trips around the sun. Onward, and upward, we go!