Christmas Holiday in Oz 2003
12/18 The Journey
GT was anxious about getting to check-in early. So I jetted back from work to finish packing. PD took us to the airport. We arrived 4 hours pre-flight and were stuffed onto the 5pm flight. But since they hadn’t told us @ the flight time change we dawdled and shopped thinking we were on the 7pm flight. We realized we were running late when they paged us as “last remaining passengers T please board now”; So much for getting there early.
12/20
17 hours and an International dateline crossing later, we made it to Oz but got pulled out at immigration, (apparently you need visas to get in). Ours were long expired :^( The immigration guy was very chatty and nice, processed us with little fuss after ascertaining that we weren’t trying to move to Australia permanently. Arrived in Cairns where it is sunny, humid, green and a sweltering 34oC(~92oF).
My parents’ place is about 2 acres. There is a stark contrast with the neighbor’s plot to the left- they’ve only got grass and some sporadic plants; Whereas the Rainforest Ranch on the right seems to be surviving the drought. They’ve been trying to recreate a rainforest effect around the house (it’s own micro climate). I think it’s working. Might be a good ecology project to test some variables and see how significantly shade affects moisture in an area, (although it’s probably been done before.)
There are lots of coconut trees on the driveway to my parents place. Mom and Dad have done some renovating since we were here last. The kitchen windows are stained glass, made by a local artist, with animals and plants endemic to their garden.
12/21/03
Our first morning at home, I woke up at 1:30am local time (~7:30am PST). Very jet lagged I guess. Since it was still dark I started this journal. I hope you like it. At 5:30 am local time I woke GT up and we jogged down to the beach near the house. It was bright and starting to get hot already. Wow I can’t imagine what it’s going to be like in the middle of the day…
We passed a flame tree. They are quite big trees, covered in red and orange flowers so that they look like they’re on fire. I remember this kind of tree in Jamaica; it’s one of my favorites. When we were little we used to play swords and joust with the seedpods.
There are a string of beaches north of Cairns which have a quaint local feel (the city itself is pretty touristy). The township is referred to as Clifton Beach. It’s beautiful here, I can hardly contain my excitement over finding the quintessential tropical palm hanging into the water. In the distance you can see stubby green islands floating on the horizon.
GT and I had to rest after our 10 minute jog. The plan was to workout like fiends during the hols and come back tan and slim- utterly transformed! BUT it's hard to work up the energy to exercise 3 hours a day when it’s so HOT!!! Maybe we’ll go swimming in the bay to cool off. ACK! Thank goodness we didn’t because we found this sign warning us that estuarine crocodiles inhabit the water here.
I guess no swimming in the water here, I certainly don’t want to be crocodile food. Luckily there’s a pool back at the Rainforest Ranch.
