Hello everyone,
Last week was just another workweek in PNG. 14 hour days, 106 to 109 degrees, and dusty. I came down with sinus infection and chest congestion from the dust and going in and out of air conditioning. Went to the clinic and got some drugs. On Sunday morning I flew to Cairns, Australia for my one day layover. The pronunciation of Cairns is "Cans" (for those that didn't know). YEA !! I hit my 30 day mark and now it's 30 days till I get home.
Papua New Guinea has a law that if you don't have a work visa you can only stay 30 days at a time then leave the country. Which I did and returned today for my next 30 day stay.
What a fantastic place Cairns is. The weather was hot yet low humidity which made it nice. Being located on the ocean the breeze is cool in the evening. Since I only had one day, I spent the time walking the downtown core area and along the beach. At night I went to the Open Night Market to have dinner and checkout the little shops that are set up like an open market. For those that have been to Saturday Market in Portland, Or. - it's about the same number of vendors inside a huge building. The town is real clean, the people are friendly, and on the weekends it's full of tourists from Japan along with other Aussie's. The food is great, and everywhere you go it is expensive. I'll get into more details along with the picture show to follow.
When I left PNG we flew over the reefs just of the coast of PNG. The different shades of blue in the ocean are un-describable. From the air I could see the bottom many feet deep then it dropped off to a royal blue deep ocean.
As I approached Australia, I could see the Great Barrier reef. From the air it was fantastic. Again the blues and turquoise colors was amazing. You have to see it to really grasp the beauty of the reef. The white line in front of the reef are waves breaking on the sand.
This is a view of northern Cairns. The area is houses on canals with boats in front. Very similar to Naples in Southern California.
As we were approaching the runway, I got this picture of the country side around Cairns.
I stayed at the Holiday Inn downtown across from the beach. The trees in the middle of the hotel was like a rainforest that you could walk through on paths. I was on the third floor shooting this picture. The hotel is expensive and everything was al-a-cart. Internet access was $12.50 an hour. If you charge any services from the hotel there was a 1.5% surcharge. I had a continental breakfast of fruit, coffee, toast, muffin - $18.00. And the list went on.
Here it the pathway in the center of the hotel. There is a bridge over a pond and stream.
At the end of the pond were these huge fish. I think they are carp but not sure. There was a sign up saying feeding times were Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Don't have any Idea what they eat, but they were big.
Across the street from the hotel was a boardwalk that went along the water for a couple of miles. It's about 11am when I shot this picture. By 1pm it was full of people walking and jogging. To the right is a park area that went the length of the walk and then some more. Along the way were open building that had 6 gas fired gills for cooking. By late afternoon people were picnicking everywhere.
Near the yacht club at the end of the board walk is this public pool. I couldn't get the whole pool in the picture because of it's size. The pool wraps around to the right with more swimming area.
I left the beach area and went into the center of town. This building is the oldest in town and the center of the business area. There is a square for people to sit and walk around with no cars allowed. To the right and left are the streets for cars.
Most of the sidewalks are covered as shown above. This road goes up to the main shopping center.
On the way to the Mall I stopped here for lunch. This was a fun pub with great food. I had fish and chip with a pot for $12.00. A "POT" is an 8oz glass of beer. Of course, I had a local beer that was great, then had another. It cost $3.85 for another pot of beer.
Here is an interior shot of the bar. All wood construction and trim.
For those that like pool, this is the Billiard room off the main bar area.
After lunch I made my way to the Mall. It is Huge. This is a 2 story mall that is twice as large as the South Center Mall in Washington or Loyd Center in Portland. This is the entry to the mall. All the Christmas decoration are up and the stores are decorated too. It really seams funny to be close to Christmas and it's 90 degrees outside.
I got this picture for Kristin. This is a big supply company of hair products in the mall.
Across the street was a pharmacy. You could find any kind of drug or pharmacy product in this place.
I worked my way back to the beach and came across this childerns park It streached along the walk way for about a quarter mile. There were paths, play areas, a gathering place for kids activities. It is designed for infants to toddlers to play on all kinds of stuff.
In the middle of the Children park was this water play area for the kids. Teenagers were not allowed to play here. Only the kids up to 12 years of age.
Well that's it for today. I will be posting my night time romp around the town tomorrow. I have to eat, talk with the bosses and get some sleep for work tomorrow.
Have a great day.
ken
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