Melbourne to Cairns

Lisa and I headed to Tullarmarine Airport this morning in my car with my bike in a box, my 4 pannier bags and a dry bag full of my clothes. Lisa only had her case but I was using her luggage allowance to get my extra luggage loaded. The bike box I am using is extra large which means I can pack the bike without removing the back wheel. This is a big advantage but the box weighs 4 kg which is 10% of the maximum luggage allowance on Jetstar.

Getting through the airport with the bike and bags is always stressful to me. Fortunately we lucked onto a helpful Jetstar person who helped us get everything checked in. Despite having allowed lots of extra time we used it all and had very little time to wait before boarding our flight.

I had a window seat and the 1st thing I noticed was how green Victoria was from the air compared to when I flew to Hobart in March when everything was brown and dry after a long dry summer. Alas as we flew north into NSW the green was replaced by brown. The extreme drought was very evident from the air and continued into Queensland. By contrast the area around Townsville  and Cairns is lush and green following the cyclone rains early this year. Australia is truly a continent of "droughts and flooding rains".

My route south will take me through Queensland's Southern Downs and the New South Wales Central West 2 areas that are in extreme drought, a situation that is unlikely to change anytime soon.
For now I will enjoy the next 9 days here in Cairns and surrounds with Lisa. The view from the plane window has left me in no doubt of the task ahead cycling home starting in 9 days time.

After checking in and then chilling at the Cairns Central YHA Lisa and I wandered up the main drag in Cairns searching for dinner. We were surprised how quiet it is for this time of year. We had dinner at P.J.O'Briens - it is somewhat incongruous to have an Irish Theme pub in the tropics but the meal was good. Afterward we wandered up to the gelato shop we had visited last time we were here. That night the power went out in the shopping centre just as we bought our gelato. The proprietor remembered us from that night. He also said Cairns was very quiet with lots of closed shops.