Albanys On The Loose

Let's see Cairns!

Our first "plane" trip as a family for nearly 18 months!

Another trip, another coronavirus outbreak. It is starting to get old...I will keep it brief and simply report that we managed to leave Sydney and arrived in Cairns, Queensland, without having to quarantine! Other annoyances, such as being bumped off our evening flight and being put on the morning flight, did bring unexpected benefits. It meant that the children no longer had to attend the last day of school much to their delight, and that we no longer had to do a mad dash for the airport after piano lesson. Score! It also meant that we got to leave the house super early to satisfy Malcolm's obsession with leaving the house before the sun comes up when going away. 

We ditched our public transport plans and ubered our way to the airport to avoid potential public transport hotspots. Security was very short at 650am in the morning and before long we were in the Virgin Lounge doing what we do best. The children were well trained to find the seats with power outlets but were not too far from the food. One family member joined the always long coffee line to grab hot beverages while the others scoped out the free offerings. We briefly checked out the book selection at the shops but decided to find free exchanges along the way instead.

Lounging like pros

The intermittent fasting, and low carb breakfast rule has been thrown out the window...

We're on the plane! Thankfully no unexpected mid-flight border rule changes

The flight, as well as arrival and disembarkation in Cairns were thankfully uneventful. Our free upgraded room at the Hilton (wahoo!!) was ready. We dumped our bags, and headed for Lara's appointment to complete her dive medical. The GP was old, grumpy and running VERY late. Jonah and I managed to enjoy a nice Japanese meal (it was meant to be a quick eat but turned out to be a leisurely lunch), watched the next instalment of Loki and even squeezed in a nap back at the hotel while waiting.

We reunited for our next round of family freebies, food and drinks at the Executive Lounge. The "refreshments" turned out to be better than expected with individual bite sized servings in readiness for our consumption. The included gin and tonic and whisky and dry made everything go down even easier! Rounding off the evening would be 50 cent Big Macs. It felt a bit cheap to soil our bodies with junkfood after having such wonderful offerings, but we were not ones to turn down good deals...

The view from our room

Matcha drink

Spicy ramen

Because we were hungry from no food on the plane...and it is International sushi day!!

The food offerings at the Hilton Executive Lounge

Individually served for sanitary purposes

My favs

Cheers! It is gin o'clock

What a better way to finish the day than with a 50 cent Big Mac

The hotel is in a great position on the Esplanade, only 3 minutes walk from the wharf and surrounded by parks, restaurants and the odd musician. It feels a bit like the calm before the storm here. The streets are very quiet and the various venues around town are relatively empty. The hotels and tours etc are apparently completely booked out for the upcoming holidays. There will be a lot of disappointed locals if the case numbers in Sydney rise to the point where Palahoweveryouspellit pulls the plug.