Thursday was a strange day in Cairns. I had to check out of the hotel by 11am, but my shuttle to the airport wasn't scheduled until 7:00pm (1900). I packed everything up and left my luggage with the hotel, and then just wandered around Cairns. I went back to the Boardwalk and walked through the 'Cairns Night Markets' area, but seeing if there was anything I wanted. Which there wasn't. I sat by water. I had a late lunch. Ultimately I went back to the hotel (as it got hotter outside) and sat in the lobby/courtyard and read.
I arrived at the airport about 7:30-ish. It was kind of amusing actually; as I walked in with my luggage and carry-ons there were two people behind the Qantas check-in counter and no one else in sight. I started to go to one of the kiosks to print my luggage tags, and both of the Qantas reps motioned me up to the counter. They checked me in and sent my checked luggage away in no time, and I headed into the main part of the terminal. Through security and to my gate area, with about 2 1/2 hours to wait until boarding time. Oh well, travel waiting time - an inevitable consequence of air travel.
Finally, the flight boarded starting about 10:30pm and we took off just before 11pm. That got us into Darwin a little after 1:00am. I had been kind of surprised, because flying around the US even the bigger airports seem to be pretty deserted once it gets into the wee hours of the morning. But I was assured taxis would be ready and they were used to this. I thought, great, maybe I'll be to my hotel by about 1:30am
Little did I know. First, the airport was very crowded. Apparently, there are three flights that get in to Darwin just about this same time. When I arrived at the baggage carousel, our flight was third down the list of the three flights unloading to this location. It took more than 20 minutes before our flight's baggage even began to show up. I got outside to join the taxi queue just before 1:30am. And what a queue it was. There had to be about 30 parties in the queue. Having said that, there were also quite a few taxis there, and I managed to get in one just after 1:45am.
I'm staying at the Oaks Elan Darwin, and I arrived a few minutes after 2:00am. I stayed at an Oaks Elan earlier in the trip - a residence hotel, so the room is actually a reasonable size with, in this case, a good sized living room with small useable kitchen area (including dishes, etc, refrigerator, 2-burner cooktop, dishwasher, microwave), and a 'separate - that is, like a room but without a door' bedroom bathroom area. Also, nice to have, a stackable washer/dryer. So far I have managed without having to go to an actual laundromat (although I have seen one or two in my rambles around the various cities).
I looked at my itinerary for Friday and saw that I was supposed to be at another nearby hotel, outside their lobby, in five hours from when I arrived in my room. That was not going to happen! I spent some time trying to reach someone to cancel, and finally ended up calling the contact number for the US office of the partner travel agency here in Australia who actually booked the excursions. They were very nice, and said they would notify the pickup person who would be looking for me in a few hours.
I unpacked enough to be able to go to bed, and probably fell asleep somewhere around 3:00am. As it happened, I did wake up around 6:30 (which if I had the energy to get up and rush to get ready, would have probably allowed me meet the tour) but managed to go back to sleep for another couple of hours. When I did get up, I finished unpacking, took a shower, caught up on email, and eventually went out to walk around some in the town.
From the my room, morning and then sunset:
That was when I realized that this time of the year in Darwin is NOT for me. Most of you know I don't really love hot weather, especially if it's humid. What some of you don't know is that this type of weather is really difficult for me. For the last year or so I have been having this strange breathing thing. It's not that I can't breathe, or that I have asthma or COPD. However, I do sometimes feel, despite the fact that my breathing is not labored, that I just don't have enough oxygen actually in my lungs.
Walking in Darwin during the day (temps in low 90s and high humidity a lot of the day) was very difficult. I was out walking for maybe 1.5km all together. And I felt like I was going to die. I was hot, actually overheated. I don't really sweat much, so the heat really build up inside me. And I literally felt like I just couldn't breathe. I managed to get back to the hotel, and was much better once I go inside the room.
It made me rethink the rest of my time here though. I had three 12+ hour excursions coming up over the next three days. And I was so concerned that I might not be able to do them, that I ended up cancelling all three of them. Imagine being far outside the city, as a part of a tour group, and not being able to walk or breathe. I hated to do it but I realized it wouldn't be responsible or desirable to put my own well-being or other people's plans/experiences at risk.
More about what I decided to do instead in the next post.
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