Easter Morning at Palm Cove - Mar 23

Summary: hot humid and happy at the Hilton, splish splash, Palm Cove, hey do you notice something?, successful car return, back in Sydney

We woke up relatively early, had our breakfast, finalized the packing, and were strolling the cheerful streets of Cairns by 8am. The lady who manages the executive lounge in the morning is just wonderful – we enjoyed meeting her at the beginning of our trip and it was great to see her again (not picking favorites - the woman working the evenings is delightful as well). Despite being an early Easter Sunday morning, the dock was jammed with people taking the tour we took yesterday. There were joggers out on the boardwalk and parents taking their kids out for some sun and activity before it got too hot. It was well on its way - it reached 30 degrees before 10am and the humidity meter was reading “yes, very”. It was perfect tropical paradise weather.

Our packing did involve some decisions of leaving a few things behind: the cooler (esky), the laundry detergent, and the remaining Cholula (if customs is going to get me, it will be for open vegemite, not a spice I brought into the country). Hopefully the Hilton staff will divvy up the goods rather than tossing it. By the way, the folks at the Hilton all greeted us by name the entire visit. If nothing else, it certainly keeps you on good behavior. The guy who helped us with our bags was the assistant manager, I think. Anyhow, as I mentioned, that room was very nice. The valet, who had not seen us since January instantly recognized us and asked how our drive around Australia was. At times I thought they must have thought I was someone else (since of course I look like Brad Pitt but with tighter abs), but then I figured out that the service here is just off the charts great. I miss the place already.

So, I had seen that Cairns had a nice playground at the end of the Esplanade, so with a couple hours to kill before the flight, I figured we’d check it out. I am glad we did. It is (yet another) waterfront, prime real estate playground. They have lots of water park type things to keep the kids cool and entertained. It was not quite as nice as Townsville’s, as I did not see any big contraption dumping water and giving them a slippy slide, but it was quite nice. Memo to every town across the Southern US – do this.

With Alex drenched and the day heating up, I saw that we still had enough time to go to Palm Cove. Palm Cove is a collection of resorts along an idyllic, palm-lined coastline about 25 km north of Cairns. It would be a good place to get a spa treatment, have a nice meal in a bistro with light wood upscale décor and a ceiling fan lazily spinning overhead, or take in the kind of scenery that you think of when you hear the words “tropical paradise”. It was all that. We walked up and down the beach a little and grabbed some ice cream. Naturally, no paradise is complete without a vinegar station (see photo). This is not to add zest you your baby greens and alfalfa sprout salad, although I am sure someone has done so at some point. The vinegar is for jellyfish stings – not exactly a cure so much as something to make the pain more bearable (i.e. keep the victim conscious and make the scars less noticeable). Tropical Northern Queensland does keep you on your toes. We drove past the enclosed part of the beach, where there are nets to keep the jellys out. While nothing is foolproof, this is the safe spot – about 30m by 40m - and nobody swims outside of it. Seriously, nobody was touching the water outside of it. After almost an hour, it was time to head for the airport.

We were listening to the radio as we drove the short stretch to the airport. As we drove past Trinity Beach, the DJ had on someone from the Queensland Lifesaving Surf Rescue. He asked her how her Easter morning was going after she had her chocolate eggs. (Digression – it seems that Easter is the kid candy season comparable to Halloween). She said that some swimmers in the enclosure at Trinity Beach had “noticed” that a crocodile had gotten into the enclosure. “I can imagine that they noticed it, how big was it?” queried the DJ. “About 3 meters” she replied. I just love the use of the word “noticed”. You’re swimming in the one safe spot on a beach just outside of a city and a 10 foot croc shows up in your enclosure. Since nobody got hurt they could laugh about it. Surely there is a joke in there about Trinity, Easter morning, and a confused yet devout Christian crocodile. While I was tempted to go look for myself (a developing news story 2 km away), I figured there was probably nothing to see and we might as well get on with it.

Returning the car I was nervous for two reasons. 1) Our rate was changed to something better when we had picked up the car two months ago, but the rate they changed it to would charge per km past 5,000km in a month. The agent had written in “free unlimited km”, but you always wonder if the computer will agree or if you’ll need to debate it. Result: no worries - $600 saved. Yeah Hertz! 2) Australia has clearly invested heavily in speed cameras and they have a willingness to actually send out fines for “speeding” that is within what I consider to be the margin of error – 3 or 4km over the speed limit. For example, if a total angel sets their cruise control at 98km in a 100 zone and they go down a slight incline, they can get to 105 pretty easily. By comparison, in the US it is pretty broadly accepted that if you are speeding by 5-7 mph (8-12 km) over the limit, you’re probably fine. My experience in Germany had been the same several years ago. Not so here. I became aware of this little fact in Perth. Thus, I did half of my drive playing by a different set of rules. And even once I was aware of the rules sometimes you can miss a spot where the limit changes or not decelerate fast enough – somewhere in an 18,732 km journey. Fortunately, the speed cameras must be distributed by population and they must not have been looking when I was sinning, because Hertz says I did not get a single ticket.

With that load off my mind, we checked in and Alex went about charming every woman in a Brazilian tour group flying with us from Cairns to Sydney. Qantas does a great job and the flight attendant spoke about how life changing it was for him to wander around the US after 13 years as a draftsman. Anyhow, we arrived at our hotel out by the airport. The Ibis does a good job for what they do. This isn’t a resort, so even perfect marks will fall short of where I’ve just been, but the front desk was helpful and the restaurant was good enough. They are part of the Accor hotel group and it shows – the rooms like exactly like what I would expect in continental Europe. The comforters on the bed, the layout – it’s tough to put a finger on it, but this looks like something I would see in Germany, not Australia (or the US or even the UK for that matter).

Tomorrow, we’ll get up early, take the train into Sydney, walk around and do about as much tourism as we did today (2-3 hours), take the train back, walk back to the hotel, take the shuttle to the airport, check in, weasel our way into the United Red Carpet Club (elite but not a member is close enough on international flights), and then head on home. March 24 starts in 2 hours and ends in 43 hours.