I think we do more than backpackers!

With this being the last day in Cairns we knew we’d have to get up early to get as much sightseeing in as possible before we caught our flight back to Sydney at 11 am. Neither of us wanted to get up early of course, especially after being on the reef all day yesterday, but when you go to bed early it really isn’t that bad. We expected the check out process of the hostel to take at least 30 minutes but we were pleasantly surprised that it took less than 5 minutes! Riley had his hopes on doing some bird watching on the promenade, so that’s where we headed. Along the way we passed St. Monica’s Cathedral since they apparenty have the largest themed stained glass display which we really wanted to see. We were again pleasantly surprised that the church doors were open at 7 AM and quietly walked inside. Stained glass lined the aisles and it was truly an amazing sight. Each side had its own theme of the earth and followed the story from space to ocean.

Pictures to come later :(

With that checked off our list so early we continued to the Promenade which is apparently the highlight of Cairns lifestyle and I can see why. Even at 7 o’clock in the morning the boardwalk was crowded with walkers, runners or people just on their way to work. We are still amazed at how early people get up and going in Cairns! Riley was able to do some bird watching just like he wanted while I collected some sand. We knew we didn’t have too long to waste though since we were planning to walk to the airport. Don’t worry, it wasn’t too far away and the hostel wanted to charge $12 each to take us there! This is why we think we do a little bit more backpacking than the ‘backpackers;’ we’re not afraid to do a little bit of walking. Plus, the weather was pretty mild, even though we weren’t really used to this warm weather anymore. We were also happy that no taxis were pulling over, yelling at us to see if we wanted a taxi. We made perfect timing and were even able to take a few stops along the way. After we checked in and made our way to the gate we were shocked to see the same family that had sat next to us on the plane here. I couldn’t believe our luck, but we just hoped they wouldn’t be sitting next to us again. Lucky us, they were. Riley was about to have an empty seat next to him until the uncle had to move since they had too many babies in their row. Turns out we’re not so lucky after all! The plane ride flew by though and we were back in Sydney in no time. But it definitely felt long enough since we were both starving and couldn’t wait to get back and find anything to munch on. Because we knew we were going away for a few days we had made sure to eat most of our food so our options were limited. We ended up cooking up grilled cheese rolls before heading to Coles to go shopping and come back to cook cheeseburgers for dinner. Trivia was on our agenda for the night and we were more than ready. Riley had said he’d practice his airplane again, but rather just rubbed his lucky airplane all over him instead. With all the walking we had done throughout the morning we decided we’d take the bus down to Newtown and ended up passing by Neill’s apartment and seeing him in the lobby. For once we were able to all ride down to the pub together! We stepped into Kelly’s to see that the place was packed with barely any tables left. This left us sitting all the way in the back, which we’ll blame for our bad results. The questions just weren’t on our side but we didn’t come in last place, so we can be somewhat proud of ourselves. Neill wanted to give the airplane contest a go, despite Riley’s desire to become the champion again, but we figured he might as well give him a chance. Instead of hitting the side of the door it actually hit the top of the door and would have gone through otherwise. It was alright though since we were all tired, causing Riley and I to pass on the frozen yogurt invitation. Shocker, I know!