After several fun days in Sydney, it was time to see off for Cairns. And yes, they do make fun of you, if you can't pronounce it properly. It's pronounced "Kah-rns", as if it had a silent "I". However you pronounce it, Cairns is effectively the gateway to the Great Barrier Reef, being home to dozens of helicopter tours, boat tours, scuba excursions and a dozen-odd other ways to get out and see the Great Barrier Reef up close. My vote for the most original was a hot balloon ride from Cairns to an island near the reef. Sadly, it only ran from January to February...
Air travel for this leg of our trip was handled by Virgin Airways. I called a taxi, who promptly fetched us from the apartment and took us to the airport. I've never flown Virgin before, but was pretty impressed with their organization. When the taxi driver dropped us off at the international terminal, instead of the domestic terminal, the staff was quick to get us routed to the domestic terminal. The gate crew also called us to the head of the line and got us to our gate quickly. After a short flight, we arrived in Cairns!
Something I hadn't experienced since Hawaii, we deplaned from both the front of the airplane, through the normal jetway and also from the rear of the plane, onto the tarmac. I've always enjoyed this approach, since it gets us off the plane in half the time! It also affords a good view of the surrounding area.
The next thing I noticed about Cairns - it was hot! The weather was easily 15 degrees warmer than Sydney - which makes sense, as Cairns was much closer to the equator than Sydney. The extra heat was certainly welcome! There was no better way to beat the heat, than to dip my feet in the community pool.
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