March 13

Awoke this morning to the rising sun over the Coral Sea.  There are storms brewing far out at sea.  It is very hot and humid.  We have arranged for a 2PM checkout so it gives us lots of time to prepare for the tour starting today.  Handy washer and dryer to have everything clean to start.  Especially as we melt through all our clothes.  Catching up with the bills at home etc.  Finishing up the groceries for our cold breakfast, all Australian products.  We have been gone a month as of yesterday.  We started our trip in New South Wales and now in Queensland for 6 days, four more provinces to come.  We drive down the coast 20 miles to Cairns to meet the tour.  This is where we landed 3 days ago.  Cairns is a very large city for the area. We stop at the Novotel Oasis Hotel and register with the tour.  We drop the luggage in the room and head out to drop off the car a couple blocks away.  There are 3 main streets of shops and cafes.  A community swimming pool is located directly on the beach.  This is a very progressive looking area with arts.  We walk back to the hotel.  There is a loud screeching sound everywhere.  We look up into the trees and there are thousands of flying fox bats hanging everywhere.  The sign says this area is a nursery for these bats.  They hang everywhere filling the trees and we can hear the young screeching for food.  Every once in a while an adult bat flies away from the tree and the wing span is nearly 2 feet.  We get close up views and their heads are red and furry like a fox and they are huge. We do not feel threatened but the noise is deafening.  Our tour group of 32 are having a debriefing session with the guide.  He is American and been doing this for decades.  He explains the Australian accents were not always the best for the tour but we will be guided by Aussies for different events. Most of the group are Americans from mid west to east coast.  One man from Medina, Ohio is in the group and is brother to one of the retired Hudson teachers whose son now teaches in the district!  There are a few couples from Manchester area of England and two Scots from Aberdeen.  We are given an overview of the tour schedule and optional tours. We are directed to the hotel restaurant for a buffet dinner that has several good selections and desserts.   We are given wines of our choice as part of the meal, included in the tour.  The room is simple with two double beds and a small balcony overlooking the town and the mountains.  After dinner we go to the pool to cool off and stretch.  It’s a nice pool, but not like Palm Cove.  As we float around in the water we can see the big bats flying overhead hunting.  Luckily we are not on the menu!  Tomorrow we head out to Green Island and the Reef.  The tour will be pretty demanding schedule-wise until we get to Melbourne.  But lots of adventure ahead.