Crashing in Cairns

I'm not one to complain about crying babies on flights. I don't have trouble tuning it out. Besides, they are babies, that's what they do.

However I learned on the overnight flight from Osaka to Cairns there's a difference between crying babies and screaming ones. Man that kid had a set of lungs!

After getting all of 3 or 4 hours of very poor sleep on the flight, I caught a cab to the Mantra Esplanade, quite impressed how quickly my "travel-light" methodology got me from plane to hotel... even with having to clear customs it was barely more than 20 minutes. That's when I realized that nothing is open in Cairns at 5:30 in the morning, including the hotels. So much for my hope of checking in early to get a few more hours of sleep. I managed to find a few chairs beside each other on the mezzanine, pulled out my trusting ear plugs, night shade and inflatable travel pillow, and conked out for about 2 and half hours. That inflatable pillow is unquestionably the best $3 I have ever spent in my entire life! Packs light and has probably doubled my in-transit sleeping hours the last 12 months.

Anyway, I've got a day to just relax and meander around the harbour here, who's beauty so far is matched only by the weather... highs of 27 and lows of 20, with sun and a sea breeze to boot it can't be beat. Tomorrow I catch a ship to the Great Barrier Reef where, if I'm not incapacitated by sea sickness, I'll do the first of my 2 days of Open Water dives to complete the SCUBA certification I started in January. I'd make some joke about hoping to see a shark, but truthfully I get pretty creeped out looking at all that alien stuff down there. It's amazing and I relish the experience, but it gives me the willies. I expect to have nightmares afterwards.

Oh, and yesterday was pretty near the perfect day to end the Japan trip. I made it out to Nara, the first Imperial capital of Japan, some 1300 years ago. The number of deer dwarfed Miyajima, and inspite of the rain, I think it was the most scenic and serene spot I saw in Japan. We also took in the Great Buddha Temple, Tujaido or something like that. That sucker is HUGE. I knew it was supposed to be big but it exceeded my expectations by a mile. I've never seen anything like that and I could have just stood and stared at it all day. At over 15 meters tall, it's the largest bronze buddha in the world, housed in the largest all wood building in the world. Definitely one of the highlights of my time in Japan.

We made it back to Osaka with just enough time to do the Doctor Fish thing I mentioned earlier. Fairly expensive for a 10 minute experience, but totally worth it. If I ever manage to get my phone online, I'll get a video up on that. I'm probably overdue for some more pictures too.

But first I'm overdue for some laundry so time to go check in...