Woke up around 6am, took a long shower, got the bags re-arranged--we're leaving the two large ones at the hotel in Sydney. Then we set out through a light misting rain for the Harbor Bridge. There's a visitor's center in the southest pylon, with a display about the construction of the bridge; at the top is a lookout platform, which Josh climbed to. The mist had turned to a light snow. Apparently this is record-setting cold for Sydney, although I felt fine with just a shirt and jacket.
Back to the hotel, check out, shuttle bus to airport, where I'm typing now.
Later: Virgin Blue isn't going to be my favorite airline--their seats are uncomfortably hard, they wantt to charge for any kind of drink, and they have a videoscreen on the back of the seat in front of you which you can't turn off--but you can, for $10, buy a movie. I don't mind them selling a program but I at least ought to be able to turn it off. Fortunately all the rest of our flights are Qantas.
Cairns is humid, with a temperature around 25C. Rented a car. They drive on the left here, which feels odd but you get sufficiently used to it pretty quickly. The problem is that the cars have the driver's seat on the right and all the controls reversed from what I'm used to. I've turned the wipers on several times already, trying to signal a turn. But there's not much traffic and we made it to the Cairns Colonial Club with no difficulty aside from inconsistently and obscurely placed street signs. Nice, modern resort. Tomorrow we should be going out to sea.
Monday, July 5, 2010
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2 comments:
Hey Traveler, just now caught up with you on these entries--loving your blog. A few days ago when you were in Brisbane and talking about how one might be able to compare the people you saw to Americans, I noticed you said, "Everyone was helpful and smiling." It made me think of an episode of "Around the World in 80 Days" on PBS with Michael Palin. It was a railway trip on Amtrak, and as he sat down in the observation car, he turned to the camera and whispered, "Americans will tell you ANYTHING." At which point some woman and her husband did start talking to him about all sorts of accidentally hilarious personal issues. I wonder if people in other countries are talkative like that. Oh... and how the heck can a five-year-old be a bull rider? Did I read that sentence right? lol
Availeth, from what I saw of the Dutch, the English, Americans, Canadians, Cubans, Dominicans, and people from Quebec, they can all be pretty chatty and social, if you meet them in the right context.
There were some spots in Cuba and in the Dominican where severe was the disposition instead of friendly, but that was security forces and some people that might have been running afoul of same. Most of the time, people were easy going and good spirited.
I think, given a peaceful society and enough food and water and shelter, even the poorest of folks tend to be decnetly sociable. I also suspect that being generous as a visitor helps enhance that disposition.
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Chris, I'm surprised you weren't needing a parka if there was actual snow.... :0)
While you've been getting 25C and humid, we've been getting 35C and humid with heat alerts, transformer fires, etc.
Toronto might just be hot enough for you to find it 'a pleasant temperature where a scarf is not required, merely optional'.
It's the standard shift with the wrong hand that messes me up with left-hand side driving.
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