We had a delicious breakfast this morning. I am so hooked on the thick multigrain bread smeared with peanut butter and jam. So delicious! After breakfast we boarded the bus to take us to the airport.  Susan changed our flight and that’s why we were up so early. We flew directly to Cairns instead of first flying to Sydney. That was great news.  The only disappointing thing was, because of the change, we didn’t have the morning free, so we couldn’t take the helicopter ride over Uluru. 

It was such a wonderful experience being in central Australia – camping in the Outback  and learning so much about the Aborigines. We all said a fond palya as we left to go to the airport.  

 Bulletin:   I apparently have a McDonald’s foodie reputation with the group. Susan announced on the bus what restaurants would be in the airport when we landed and then added “And sorry Irene. No McDonald’s”!  The whole bus said. “Irene – Oh no!!!!”  Too funny!!

We had a wonderful flight. We had a nice sandwich and drink en route and then we met our bus driver who took us to pick up wine and snacks and then we went on to Port Douglas and the Oaks Resort Hotel. 

On the way, we drove along the coast and Susan said you can’t swim wherever you’d like because of sharks and crocodiles. The beaches have lifeguards that cull the water within the roped area everyday to make sure the swimmers will be safe. 

We also observed washed out areas and huge boulders that had traveled down the mountain side. Apparently there was a cyclone that came through in December and did quite a lot of flooding damage to the area.

We arrived at our hotel and checked into a  lovely suite…sitting area, large bedroom, and two nice patios off both the living room and bedroom. We even have a washer and dryer in our suite that Susan requested for us since we are such frequent OAT/Grand Circle travelers. This is our ninth trip! 

The best part is…we no longer need to wear our fly nets. No black flies here!!!  It’s about 80 degrees outside and we can take advantage of the pool if we’d like. 

Since today was a travel day, we had a free evening. We were invited to help celebrate one of our fellow traveler’s birthday in their room at 6 pm and then we ordered pizza at the restaurant and sat and laughed and chatted with some of the other travelers and then we went to bed. Busy day tomorrow. 

Palya Uluru

On our way to Port Douglas