A quick preface; we promised to keep you informed of any mishaps and we managed, with remarkable skill, to achieve one apiece within 3 days of kicking off our trip. James lost his phone, which was fortunately recovered from Cairns bus depot, (this was a site not originally on our trip plan and, whilst the people were lovely, we wouldn’t recommend it). Caro, rather more dramatically, decided to shove her hand in to a ceiling fan going at full speed. No, she was not drunk and yes, it did hurt an awful lot but fortunately no lasting injuries were sustained. And now, back to the first part of our journey.

We left Diss train station mid-afternoon on Tuesday 26th and, after 3 flights, multiple departure lounges and the compulsory accompanying pints, going through security at Singapore airport only to come back through it again 30 minutes later, we arrived in Cairns at 1pm on Thursday 28^th.

Despite the fact that both of us would have struggled to tell you what month it was let alone what day, the journey was not actually  as soul destroying as we had anticipated it being. James must have said the word “honeymoon” about 50 times but, sadly, no upgrade. We must give a quick shout out to Singapore airport; our entire flight were given free drinks and snacks in baggage collection because the bags were half an hour late arriving, due to lightning… in my experience Heathrow has never offered any such service, for any reason, up to and including baggage handlers setting your bags alight and doing a dance around them.

Our first stop was the Dreamtime Travellers’ Rest Hostel in Cairns and much needed showers. The hostel itself was really nice, a bit further away from the party hostels so ideal for us second gap-yearers who weren’t quite up to dancing on tables in the Woolshed anymore. In the same vein, we haven’t braved dorm rooms, a private room was definitely a requirement with the added bonus that it had its own fridge.

We have been in bed before 9 and up at 6 am everyday so far whilst getting over the jet lag, meaning that we have been up and about early and even went for a few runs along the Esplande…. long may it last! We have both been reminiscing about our previous visit to Cairns as teenage backpackers (not many runs along the Esplanade the first time round) this  has already been a very different experience to the ones that we had 10/11 years ago, in that we actually did something other than drink. Further posts on Cairns, campervans, Cape Tribulation, Cooktown and cassowaries will follow very shortly. For now, we have arrived safely and loving it so far.