Spice Alley

Today was another travel day. OAT is at the mercy of the airline (QANTAS -- acronym for Queensland And Northern Territory Air Service, which is why there's no u after the q). The flight from Cairns to Sydney is mid-day, so we had a leisurely morning.

We did a brisk walk along the beach to welcome the day. It had rained overnight, so it was muggy and getting hot already at 6 a.m. There was not a breath of wind.

The heat got us pretty sweaty, so we showered and dressed for the day. Then we went to breakfast. We took our time packing because we didn't have to check out until 10 a.m. The bus ride to the airport, the airport wait, and the flight were all uneventful.

A sign at the Cairns airport. We aren't sure what electric ants are, or what the numbers mean.

New South Wales, where Sydney is located, is on daylight savings time. Queensland, in the tropics, where Cairns is located, does not make the time adjustment. So the 2.5 hour flight appeared to take 3.5 hours due to the time change.

We checked in at the Rydges World Center, an older hotel but nicely renovated. The location is excellent, near the town hall and the main rail station, one block over from the tram line, and within walking distance of the Biological Gardens and the Opera House.

But we stayed only a half hour, then boarded another van to go to dinner. On the way, our tour leader presented Mary with a surprise birthday card, signed by the other members of the group. They all sang "Happy Birthday" and it was terrible. Not many solid singers in this group.

We were taken to a place called "Spice Alley." It's a sort of food court outdoors, literally in an alley. All of the vendors feature Asian food -- Japanese, Thai, Malaysian, Vietnamese, etc. We were each given a Spice Alley gift card worth $28.50 Australian -- a rather odd amount -- that could be spent at any of the stalls.

A Singaporean roti and curry dish with prawns got the bulk of our gift cards. Mary got a Chinese mango and sweet rice dessert, but she got the last one. Since desserts seemed to all be sold out, I finished off my card with spring rolls.

For some strange reason to do with their liquor license, we couldn't buy beer with the gift card, even though it was being sold there.

A van dropped us back at the hotel, but we took some time to explore the shopping mall downstairs, underneath the hotel. The place was packed with people on Saturday night, so we didn't stay long.