Day 12 - Monday 11th July

Our tour was over and so there was no need for us to get up early. We slept in and went down to the hotel breakfast at about 9am. There were several other people from our tour group enjoying their breakfast at the same time.

Although it was a bright sunny day with a clear blue sky, the temperature was only 15C - cool for Cairns. The hotel restaurant is on a timber deck overlooking the bay with some awnings that could be pulled down to protect the customers from the weather.

It was a good breakfast with a choice of fruit, bread, croissants, cereal, pastries and hot food. There was also a counter where you could order special hot food and so I ordered an omelette. You had a choice of coffee from a machine or barista coffee (for an extra cost).

One of the purposes of coming to Cairns was to catch up with John and Margaret who live in Cairns. When I rang John to finalise our catchup tonight, there was a complication. John had tested positive to Covid seven days ago and was coming out of isolation but Margaret had a cold and was going to do a RAT kit test this afternoon.

Instead, John suggested that we catch up on Wednesday depending on the result of Margaret's test.

Because we'd arranged to change rooms in the hotel,  we had to pack up and check out of our room by 11am. Luckily we didn't need to take our bags because the hotel staff would take them to the new room. I went for a walk to take photos of the hotel and the nearby bay.

Last night, I'd discovered that I'd run out of one of my prescription medications and so this morning I'd arranged for our son to email the relevant prescription to me. We set off to the shops to look for a chemist to fill the prescription and fortunately I managed to convince the chemist to give me what I needed.

Across the road from the chemist, there was a Kathmandu store. Suzy had been unhappy with her spray jacket in the rain on our APT trip and she wanted to get a better jacket like the one I'd bought last year from Kathmandu. Mission accomplished.

Naturally Suzy wanted to visit more shops after that and I walked back to the hotel and found a quiet spot in the lounge to read my iPad while we waited for our new room to be available. On the way back, Suzy called into a travel agent shop to enquire about things we could do in Cairns tomorrow and the next day.

The new room was available at about 1:30 - earlier than expected. It was a much better room just down the corridor from our original room but it had a king size bed as requested rather than the two queen sized beds. The balcony had the same view. Just what we needed.

For lunch we went to a nice cafe in the hotel complex overlooking the park. By this time, it was a pleasant 22C with a light breeze.

On the way back to our room, we went back to the travel agent. Unfortunately the trip to Green Island was booked out and so instead we booked  a trip tomorrow to Kuranda.

At about 4:30pm, I went for a walk to take in the sights around the hotel. I went past the helipad, along the walkway next to the bay, past the outdoor swimming pool (Esplanade Lagoon),  the ferris wheel and back along the tree-lined walkways through the park.

People were soaking up the sun on the sandy beach near the pool and on the grassed areas nearby. Lifeguards were keeping a close eye on the kids in the pool.

It was 19C, sunny with a cool breeze. One of the highlights was the view of pelicans and other birds enjoying the water. There were plenty of other people like me enjoying a stroll in the sunshine along the bay. What a great setting.

All the local restaurants were booked out and so we ordered hamburgers from room service for dinner.

It turned out that Margaret had tested positive for Covid. So instead of seeing them in person, we caught up by phone. Better than nothing but we could have done that if we were in Sydney. Better luck next time.