Day 15 - Leaving Cairns – Take Two

So a little hiccup in our plans yesterday – we got to the airport where we sat for about 2 hours before we heard our names over the intercom to report back to customer service – this can’t be good I thought but I was trying to be optimistic. The woman at Virgin Airlines informed us that the bad weather in Brisbane (our connection to Christ Church, New Zealand) had delayed our plane making it impossible to make our connection, so they would be putting us up in a hotel and we could come back on Saturday to try again. She also informed us that we would be refunded the entire cost of the tickets (approximately $800 USD) for our inconvenience (now that was sounding a little better – again trying to keep an open mind)

As she was booking our tickets for Saturday she sent someone to get our bags. Nathan’s came back right away, but they were still looking for mine – ooookay. But hey – we haven’t gone anywhere – RIGHT – and the plane isn’t even in Cairns to be put on so she assures us she will send the bag to the hotel. And since she had already called us the shuttle bus we got on and headed to our new “resort”. Nathan and I decided after looking at the other “resorts” in Cairns that if it looks old or run down add resort to the end of the name and people will want to stay there – don’t be fooled by this when you travel to Cairns – make sure to book a Hotel!:) Actually – the place wasn’t THAT bad. We stayed at the Colonial Cairns Resort – and the pool had a swim up bar so things were looking up again. Since I am a REALLY good “carry on bag packer” I was smart enough to pack my bathing suit and a change of clothes (which would come in handy later).

When we got to the “Resort” I tried to book us a trip on the Skyrail to Kuranda – unfortunately since we had spent the better part of the morning at the airport - we missed the last one by 10 minutes. This was a total bummer as we heard from several people that it was amazing – the skyrail takes you on a 1 ½ hour trip over the rainforest and then Kuranda is an Aboriginal village – so if you come to Cairns I would say make time for this. Okay – so PLAN A was out – on to PLAN B – I lay out at the pool while Nathan tries to cancel our hotel, rental, car, etc and figure out what we are going to do in New Zealand. Here is my view for the rest of the day – I definitely couldn’t complain!!!


So after the pool we call Virgin again to see where my luggage is – we have been informed it is on its way to Christ Church – WHAT?%@!&! We couldn’t go but all MY belongings are there – NICE! Again – what are you going to do – so we decided what better than head to the CASINO!

I should have known when we sat down and the drinks were NOT free and the Black Jack rules were different that we should leave, but our table seemed fun so we decided to LIVE IT UP! Of course my winning started going the other way and I said “Shit” after losing the 10th hand in a row – the pit boss came over and said that NO CUSSING was allowed in the casino and for me to please watch my mouth – WTF!!!! No cussing – is that even possible? I got reprimanded a couple other times (surprising? – I didn’t think so) and then I SPILLED my ENTIRE glass of wine on the table!!!!!!!!! ARE YOU KIDDING ME? COULD THIS DAY GET ANY WORSE? I was mortified and very embarrassed – however they told me it happened all the time – probably b/c they didn’t have drink holders and my drink was sitting on the table – but whatever. The night went on from there and nothing else exciting happened except that I found a new Miller drink – I don’t think they even sell it in the States – Miller beer with Lime and Salt in it – it actually tasted like crap but the Aussies and Japanese seemed to like it! Dad – have you ever seen this?

Now we are headed BACK to the airport to try this again – stay tuned………