Sunday was a sad day but also a bit exciting.  We had to say good-bye to our dear friends and New Zealand and fly to Australia for a holiday with James and Lara who were meeting us in Cairns.

My last meal at Guy and Bex’s was toast and pikelets which Guy made – they were good. We had shared these beers the previous evening which are made by their neighbour – so that is in keeping with one of my main objectives of supporting local producers 🙂 . I will miss sitting in this room with these lovely people.   Thank you for such an amazing visit – we both loved it and will miss you all heaps.

Guy drove us down to Wellington airport.  When you look at the map, New Zealand looks really close to Australia which it is relatively I suppose.  Our trip from Masterton to Cairns via Brisbane took 14 hours door to door – a long and tiring day.

Harvey and I were very surprised to see this enormous statue of Gollum at Wellington airport.  Surprised by the scale of it, rather than the existence of it. It is really well done. Look at how huge it is by comparing Gollum to the people waitng for their flights! This was my view from my bed this morning – rather warmer and more tropical than New Zealand.  We arrived when it was dark and I was looking forward to seeing outside in daylight. I ate too many naughty things in New Zealand.  Kiwis seem to be a nation of bakers and round every corner is a delicious and irresistible coffee shop with cakes, muffins, cookies and pies.  So I want to do better in Australia. We have a hotel room with a small kitchen so we can prepare some of our meals which makes it easier to eat healthily.

I started well with melon, watermelon, pineapple and a boiled egg. We had a very lazy day which started beside the pool at our hotel.  Harvey swam, Lara sunbathed, James photographed birds and I swam a bit and relaxed in the heat and read.  Lovely 🙂 We walked in to the centre of Cairns for a late lunch and went to a large place popular with backpackers – Rattle N Hum.  We enjoyed an ice cold Victoria Bitter (VB) which always brings back happy memories. I had the Nachos which was good but not very healthy due to all the cheese on them!  I did have some help with it but I definitely ate too much. We spent the rest of the afternoon at The Lagoon. There are Saltwater Crocodiles in the sea here so you can’t swim in it so this lovely lagoon has been created.  There is soft white sand to sit on and lifeguards to watch over you. We lazed around all afternoon which was very pleasant. Apart from an ice-cream, I had nothing else to eat today and no more beer either.  Just the one.  G’Day Australia – looking forward to exploring you.