Retired banker now spending time travelling the world with my soulmate, Gerry. Early retirement due to the fact that the bank I worked for changed their direction from global to local and hence my expertise was not needed any longer - now using my passion and energy in discovering the world after I have worked enthusiastically for so many years, brought up my daughter and son and now still have good health to enjoy my new experiences.
Today is a travel day, leaving New Orleans and travelling some 220 miles (approx. 355 km) in just over 3 hours to Vicksburg taking the Interstate 10 west and then Interstate 55 North
Before leaving our hotel, we watched the weather channel to check out Hurricane Michael which was due to come on land at Panama Beach and Tellahassee. We have been lucky to gone out of that area earlier in the week but such a shame that such beautiful,places were going to be devastated.
Hurricane Michael’s landfall as seen on TV
Anyway, by the time we had left New Orleans, the skies had cleared, traffic was very calm and we had the highway all to ourselves as we drove up north. During our drive, we crossed state border lines – from Louisiana to the state of Mississippi. On the way we stopped to have lunch and enjoy the warm sunny weather and then continued our drive so that we arrived at our Holiday Inn Vicksburg Hotel by 2 pm.
Clear skies, warm weather and an empty highway most of the way
Once we were checked in, we drove to down town Vicksburg to explore this historical town where time seemed to have stood still. Vicksburg is situated on the east banks of the Mississippi and had played an important role during the Civil war. This is all depicted in the Vicksburg Riverfront Murals which are located on the flood wall on Levee Street. Actually these murals were initiated by a local artist who painted an abstract mural back in 2001. This abstract mural depicts three maindiversities of Vicksburg: the river, the railway and the highway.
Further up the hill, we walked around on Washington Street where we saw other places of interest such as the old Court house now turned into a museum and the Biedenharn Coca Cola Museum – a restored 1890 building where Coca Coka was first bottled anywhere in the world in 1894.
The old courthouse
The first Coca Cola bottling company
The Old Depot Museum housing the the Siege of Vicksburg
Down by the river there were a number of cruise paddle steamers waiting for the passenger to come on board after a day’s excursion. It all seems so romantic to be sailing down the river in one of the paddle steamers.
And finally we completed our walk around and snapped some autumn set ups down the quaint streets.
After we had done some grocery shopping, we got back to our hotel and settled for dinner at the hotel.this way we cou,d get to bed at our own leisure times.
Today we did not have a strict agenda to follow so in the morning was busy updating my blog and had breakfast in our room. Of course Gerry had to go downstairs and outside a couple of times to have his smoke so he brought up news of the weather conditions outdoors. We’ve been following the weather channel and specifically where Hurricane Michael would be making landfall. It is such a shame as we have been to Tellahassee and Pensacola and certainly the latter is such a beautiful place with lovel beaches and nature parks. Everyone has been warned to shut up their homes and evacuate as the water surge from the waves is expected to be some 12 feet high which is above 3 and a half meters high.
Well our today’s itenarary included visiting the cathedral of St.Louis and stroll through the Armstrong Park – dedicated to musicians and specifically Louis Armstrong, exploring the French Market and taking the street car (we call it a tram in Europe) to the cemeteries.
We have been lucky to only have a few showers and most of the time we were either indoors so we didn’t use our rain ponchos today.
Our walk took us first to Armstrong Park just outside the French Quarter – it was tranquil walking around and admiring the various statues commemorating all those musicians who have been associated with New Orleans. Also the landscaping incorporated the natural features of the Mississippi – lots of waterways, causeways and bridges.
The entrance to the Armstrong Park just outside the French Quarter – a park dedicated to all the musicians associated with New Orleans
One of the little bridges across the landscaped Armstrong Park
Mini lakes landscaped in the park creating such tranquility
One of the statues in the park depicting jazz musicians
The church of St. Augustine, was founded by free people of colour in 1841 and who bought pews so that slaves could go to church. This is the oldest Afro American Catholic Church in the US
And then we had a lovely walk through Royal – a street that also has had three names depending which colonist was ruling
The original name was Spanish as depicted in these walled tiles
During the French colonists, the street was called Rue Royal …..
This is how the street is called nowadays
As I was taking pictures of the beautiful homes along this street, a gentleman asked me whether I knew that the house that I just had taken a picture of, was actually haunted. As I had already read about haunted houses in New Orleans, I wasn’t sure whether this was a specific one. This guy went on to tell us that he lived opposite this corner house also known as La Laurie House and as he had been in the realty business he had often been inside this home. But there is no such thing that the house is haunted……..Apparently Nicholas Cage owned the house for a couple of years but sold it a few years back to a realty investor from up north who only comes to stay about three times a year. https://ghostcitytours.com/new-orleans/haunted-places/lalaurie-mansion/
This house is not open for viewing but it is spectacular to just admire it – especially now as it’s been decorated for Halloween
The La Laurie Mansion -full of haunting stories
We then walked further to get to the Cathedral – St Louis – which is situated just opposite the Jackson Park.
St Louis Cathedral has been a place of worship for both free people and slaves and of many colours for more than 400 years
Beautiful leaded glass windows
One of the French canons in front of the museum in New Orleans
And on the other side, we could see an even older canon – a Spanish one
General Jackson on his horse in the middle of Jackson Square which is actually the middle point of the French Quarters and in front of the St. Louis Cathedral
The altar area within the cathedral
In the cathedral, it has become a tradition for us to ligh a candle for our dearly departed
Finally after lunch at the waterfront, we strolled along the French Market – very interesting articles on sale such a gator heads –
Entrance to the French Market – founded by the French colonists on grounds used by the Native Americans as their trading posts. It is the oldest market place in the US
Inside the French Market, there are many stalls with fruit and vegetables, arty curiosas, and of course loads of Mardi
Gras beads
Gator heads and Mardi Gras beads
Various arty things for sale
My Mary Market cocktail when we stopped for a drink
Part of the old French Market
By that time we were quite worn out but before heading back to our hotel to freshen up and have some time out, we decided to take the street car line 47 to the cemeteries. It was quite a way away but well worth the trip as it provided us with some lazy sight seeing.
Street car nr 47 took us way out to the Cities of the Dead
Gerry hanging on the tram – or rather street car as this known here
On the way, we also guided tours in a horse drawn carriage
So many of these tombs….
Another monument on the City of the Dead dedicated to the firemen
In New Orleans, the cemeteries are known as the “Cities of the Dead” but this was the solution the French colonists thought of to burying their dead above ground as this area is well below sea level
This time we chose to close our stay in New Orleans by going for cocktails and bites at the Royal Sonesta’s Jazz club and listen to easy going jazz music. The band playing there was just great and in fact played a great repertoire . Strangely enough the pianist was an Asian – from Chinese parents who had moved to Florida…… As New Orleans celebrated its 300th anniversary of being a city, I ordered the French cocktail 300 while Gerry had some local craft beer.
Such a beautiful and relaxed evening – to close off our trip to New Orleans
They produced such great jazz and other genres
An Asian enjoying playing jazz
We had a lovely evening and were ready to move on tomorrow to Vicksburg and no worries, we are driving away from Hurricane Michael and we are not in any danger…….
For the first time on this trip, we switched on the TV to watch the weather news ……. and wow! Tropical Michael has changed to Hurricane Michael and we are in New Orleans which was hit by Katrina back in 2005. But we are lucky the hurricane is expected to come on land between Tellahassee and Pensacola which we had left yesterday! Its raining right now but nothing worse than that is expected round New Orleans according the screen shot I took from the TV. I must say, the information provided is so detailed – if I were living in these areas I would certainly follow the instructions the authorities hand out -evacuation is encouraged and in other places locals are filling up sand bags to protect their homes. The beaches are being cleared of their wooden walkways and beach guard towers and people putting up hurricane shutters on the beach houses.
Well after breakfast we we had an excursion planned to visit one of the plantations – Oak Alley Plantation located on the West Bank of the Mississippi. I called to confirm that the excursion was still taking place and as it was, we walked down to the waterfront where the Grayline coach was to pick us up. I thought of taking our rain ponchos with us ….. and yes as soon as we stepped out of the hotel it started pouring and this turned to torrential rain so we were lucky to have our ponchos.
And it was time to wear the rain poncho – bought for our road trip in Ireland but never used there!
Our coach chauffeur named Gerald was very informative and he told us that the probability was that as we drove more inland we would get some sunny weather and no rain at all……. that was good news!
it was interesting to see the causeways built across the flatlands of the Mississippi- we do have dykes in Holland but the work done here in Louisiana is also very impressive.
And more causeways along the Mississippi flatlands
More causeways
So much water around us on our trip
On the way, we came across quite a few sugar cane fields – nowadays all handled with agricultural engineering – quite different to the days when the plantations depended totally on slave labour.
A modern sugar mill along the river Mississippi
Sugar cane
More sugar cane
Finally at Oak Alley Plantation – and we had bright sunshine so we could explore the grounds without wearing our rain ponchos…..
This plantation is one of the Antebellum plantations meaning it was built pre civil war – round 1850 most of the American millionaires lived in the southern parts of the US and actually made their millions from sugar cane and cotton. Oak Alley was built by the Ramon family and had some 220 slaves to work on the land and in the house.
View of the Oak Alley Plantation home – built by the slaves belonging to Jacque Ramon by first making the bricks and then building the house
These oak trees were p,anted long before the House was built and are more than 250 years and according to our guide they will foranother 250 years
Gerry posing on the upstairs verandah overlong the old oak trees
Outside the Oak Alley Plantation home
A better view of the old oak trees
Big iron bowls used for cooking and making sugar
The names of the slaves that lived over the years in this slave hut
The agricultural too,s used by the slaves for sugar cane farming
The slave huts
“Outdoor”kitchen utensils between the slave huts
Slaves kept their own chicken coops and so,d the eggs to the lady of the house and in such a manner could make some money
An army tent replica on the grounds where the army was stationed during the civil war
Gerry entering the house through the upper verandah
Part of the upper verandah x there are 28 pillars going around the verandah
we spent a lovely afternoon although the history we encountered was shocking at times…..
Back in New Orleans, we took some time out to plan our evening. We thought of having a Cajun dinner somewhere with local music and our concierge gave us some good ideas, however by the time we reached our room and I was updating my blog, we decided to just find a place in walking distance.
Weather was dry so I had looked up a restaurant on Bourbon street which is just a block away from our hotel. As we got closer it was all music and most of the bars had open doors and windows and the (American) football game between the Saints and White Sox was on. People were strolling outdoors and catching bits of the game on the way….. my original idea was to go to Remoulade but then we came across Pier 424 of which I had read some good reviews. So that’s where we ended for our Cajun dinner. Gerry had a pecan coated grilled fish and I had blackened shrimps with fettuccini Alfredo and a side salad. It was delicious! But then we really spoilt ourselves by sharing a butter pecan pie – OMG – it was so rich that we decided for a long stroll before turning back to our hotel….. and this was a real eye opener of how people entertain themselves.
Gerry digging into his pecan coated fish
And my fettuccini with blackened shrimps
Mounted police get thirsty too….
Guests dancing on the balcony of a club
Mounted police keeping an eye on the revealing sports fans
Jazz musicians statues and Gerry
And another group of police with their patrol car
Loads of people on Bournon street
Tomorrow we will be having a leisure day in New OrleNs depending on the weather…. good night xx
This morning we were wakened by a bright sunny day and after having a good breakfast we packed all our stuff into our car and drove down to down town Pensacola as we still wanted to explore the historical district.
Pensacola is one of the oldest towns in the US as the Spaniards had their first settlements back in the mid 1500’s . Downtown Pensacola encompasses old Spanish brickwork, colonial French balconies and verandahs as well as Victorian mansions. The waterfront is sheltered by the island of Santa Rosa so it provides good boating facilities. We decided to stop for a refreshment at Jaco’s on the waterfront before we started our long drive to New Orleans.
The water front walkway – loads of people fishing and also running
Homes on the waterfront having their own berthing place for their boats
The harbour and yacht marina
Gerry with his Ozzie hat for some shade from the midday sun
Statue of Don Tristan de Luna who had established the first settlement in Pensacola
This pelican was watching out for the fishes
Trying to catch the bird?
One of the walkways in down town Pensacola
The museum which used to be the mayors home
One of the arty pelicans in front of the museum
In the historic district of Pensacola
We walked along various historical buildings as described on this board
Old locomotive
This house used to belong to an ex slave who dedicated her time to free other slaves by paying for them – Jules Panton
The old church serving as a public library
Typical – rocking chairs on the front porch
Another latticed porch
By 13.00 we were once again on the road – on the Interstate 10 taking us to New Orleans , our next stop over. Traffic wasn’t bad at all being a Sunday and we had a good drive going through 4 states:
At 13.30 we crossed the Florida state line to Alabama – interesting bill board: welcome to sweet home Alabama
At 14:15 we were welcomed to the state of Mississippi and then we had a drizzle of rain!
At 15:15 we crossed into Louisiana and weather was somewhat better – we could see stretches of blue skies and the sun started shining again.
On the road again…..
Gerry doing his relaxed driving bit……..
Our first glimpse of New Orleans
The flat lands or marshes and swamps along the Mississippi – and there are alligators roaming around there!
And at 15:50, we were finally at our hotel, Maison Dupuy located on Toulouse in the French Quarters of New Orleans. We had landed ourselves in the midst of all the fun, music and Colonial French architecture. As we had driven some 200 miles in nearly 3 hours, we decided to relax a while before going out again. We had booked a dinner cruise on one of the paddle steamers, cruising down the Mississippi and we needed to get on board by 6.30 pm. So a quick shower and then a nice stroll along the water front to our “Creole Queen”.
On Toulouse a corner building across our hotel
Music and people along the streets in the French Quarter
Dixieland blues band playing on the street
One of the paddle steamers
to go cruising on the Mississippi
Gerry enjoying the view
The Crescent City Connection bridge spanning the Mississippi
Our cruising Creole Queen where we spent a very enjoyable evening
Creole Queen still berthed
Finally we could enjoy our wine as we were not driving this evening
Lily, our hostess took good care of us during dinner – especially for Gerry
Dinner
Cajun dinner including jambalaya, corn stew, gumbo and salad
Of course the American flag ……
Another paddle steamer
cruising down the river
The New Orleans skyline at night – dazzling!
The jazz band on the top deck
Jazz bad and singers on the top deck x it was a sultry warm evening with a gentle breez
Enjoying my glass of wine after a really good meal of Cajun food – our first one during our stay in New Orleans
Back to the hotel – and our walk seemed somewhat longer than earlier on – but that wasn’t too bad as the streets were full of people……. tomorrow we’re off to visit a plantation and see how life was pre the civil war when slavery was still a normal way of life to runa sugar plantation……
today we started our long drive from Tellahassee to Pensacola and we decided not to take the Interstate – 10 as was suggested in our itenarary – we wanted to get some relax time and also be able to look around us while driving instead of constantly observing what other (truck) drivers were doing. And we really did enjoy the drive – instead of watching big bill boards of food courts along the highway, we now had the rather flat and green countryside occasionally lined with some tiny town or some motor homes campsites to watch.
The drive was mainly through flat country but some areas were quite wooded
We arrived in Pensacola round about 2.30 in the afternoon after a bright and sunny drive. We decided to find the beach which we did by crossing over a really long bridge to Pensacola Beach on Santa Rosa Island. This strip of an island acts as a barrier reef for the inner bay and here the sand is pure silver white colour and very fine……. however our first attempt to get to the beach was between private homes who all have their own beach and jetty. Anyway we drove back to our hotel to check in and refresh before we went out again to explore this beautifully pristine sea shore.
At the hotel we were given a more detailed map so our second attempt to get to beach was much easier – at the end of the bridge we had to go right instead of left as we had done the first time we crossed over. But then we had to drive over onto another bridge to Fairpoint Peninsula – and this was really amazing. A long strip of land facing the Gulf of Mexico with beaches on both sides and obviously the tourist industry has discover this paradise so unfortunately there are some high rises built but mostly it’s wooden houses on stilts and low rise apartments. There is enough public beach to be reached by wooden walk ways over the low dunes. I just marveled at the fine silver white sand – it felt so good between my toes…….
Finally on the beach in Pensacola we crossed two bridges to reach this holiday area close to Fort Pickens
Both of us were ever so happy to see the sea – and the silver white fine sands
Long stretches of pristine beach
Another view of the long stretches of the beach
Sailing between the two island barriers
The low sand dunes leading to the Gulf of Mexico
Some information on the Gulf Islands nature area
Dunes, sea and sky
We stopped here to read up about this nature reserve close to the fort which was built In 1834 and remained in use till 1947
After spending some time exploring the islands and enjoying the views, it was time to watch the sunset while having dinner. I had googled seafood restaurants and to me, I think I made the right choice to go to Shaggy’s. Their speciality is grilled fish sandwiches and baskets of shrimps and the atmosphere is so relaxing especially as we had a (tall) table outside on the verandah overlooking the harbour and of course a perfect place to watch the sunset. Once again we tried the oysters – first Gerry asked for one to taste and although it did not have that salty sea taste, it was less bland than the ones we had yesterday so we ordered half a dozen between us together with seared tuna with wasabi sauce and seaweed followed by two baskets of grilled shrimps and fish – oh yes as I am not doing any driving, I enjoyed my frozen strawberry margherita.
Fishing trawlers
Amazing sunset over the harbour
More sunset views from our table
Me and my margherita
Seared tuna with wasabi and seaweed
Oysters
Gerry being eaten up by a shark…..
Baskets of grilled shrimps and fish together with French fries of sweet potatoes
It was certainly a beautiful day and back at the hotel (Comfort Innj we had a good night’s sleep as they really have fantastic beds and pillows!
This morning we woke up to a bright sunny day and we took our leisurely time to get packed and ready for our long drive which brought us to the outskirts of Tellahassee – the capital of the state of Florida.
I really have to get used to using the imperial system of calculating the distance – no metric system here and even our GPS lady keeps on giving us the calculated distance in Miles and Feet…… I haven’t used the imperial system since my schooldays…..anyway between the two of us, we’ve managed to drive and arrive at our destination.
Mind you the driving here is terrible – the left lane meant to be the fast lane is used for slow traffic AND also by lorries overtaking other vehicles – we finally got the hang of it and we were overtaking on the right hand side – something that is not allowed in the Netherlands.
We had a couple of stops on the way to break away from the monotous drive – after all it was a trip of 272 miles which is some 438km. Our first stop was for breakfast/ lunch at the Waffle House – this is where we had our brunch yesterday and we had enjoyed our food so we didn’t want to waste any time exploring other venues – although we were spoilt for choice…..
Our rental car – Chevrolet SUV parked in front of our breakfast place, the Waffle House
Later on we stopped again at Walmart to get some fruit and water as well as some snacks. This is a strange country – so abundant in fruit and yet we cannot even get fresh fruit juice . And then finally our last stop was at Mc Donald’s to enjoy a cold and refreshing milkshake and use their WI-FI ( just like we did in OZ) The temperature was well over 94 degrees Fahrenheit being 34.5 degrees celsius……
By the time we reached Tellahassee, we were quite worn out – our hotel was way out of the city centre but after relaxing for a bit in our spacious room, we decided to hit the town and I looked up some restaurants. Tellahassee is not far from the Gulf of Mexico and hence seafood is abundant. I chose a good oyster shack and based on all the visitors’ reviews, they are supposed to have the best oysters……..
The Bird’s Aphrodisiac Oyster Shack – took us quite some time to find it due to the one way traffic system in Tellahassee
it was really busy with locals and young people – especially as this shack is situated in the campus area. We ordered our drinks and chose our menu: a dozen raw oysters, fried onion rings, French fries and coke slaw salad. the oysters looked really great – big and juicy – but when I dug into the first one I was somewhat annoyed – this oyster did not taste anything like any other oysters we’ve had in different parts of the world – it did not have the salty sea taste but it was rather bland …… Gerry said that these oysters must have been farmed in sweet water – but I am sure that was not possible – so anyway with Tabasco sauce, salt and pepper and lemon juice we could eat our dozen – good job I didn’t order 2 dozens……. when I asked why the oysters tasted this way, the owner was quite surprised with this question but he did say that they had a lot of rain in the Gulf of Mexico so that would have watered down the salty taste…….
Our dinner in Tellahassee – at Bird’s Aphrodisiac Oyster Shack. However these oysters did not taste salty like the sea but rather bland – we were disappointed!
well we got back to our Comfort Inn where we enjoyed a good glass of Pinot Grigio in our room and not much later we were dead tired and just made it to bed……
Tomorrow we will be driving some 188 miles or 303km
Wednesday, 3rd October 2018 / Thursday 4th October
I have always wanted to visit the southern states of the US – ever since I had read the book “Gone with the Wind” (and watched the film a few times over the years) but also my interest in the early days of exploration and colonisation of North America by Spain, France and England and the cultural influences by each country which still can be seen in this region.
Finally, Gerry and I planned a road trip to include Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Tennessee and North Carolina. On this trip we would also be meeting up with a few of my old friends.
our last view of the Dutch shores before crossing the Atlantic ocean
Ger
ry fast asleep under his hoodie
The Atlantic Ocean lapping the US shores
it seems that the American shore was made up of swamps…..
Landing in Orlando – palm trees line the runway
An overview of our road trip
Our first meal after settling down in our first hotel – chopped beef with baked sweet potato for me and steak and chips for Gerry – and a big salad between us
Early morning coffee and a smoke at our resort in Orlando
the view from our room at our Orlando resort
Getting up on Thursday morning, we decided to go and explore down town Orlando. Others would have gone to visit one of the many theme parks around here – enough of Disney World, Magic Kingdom, Sea World and many more.
Downtown Orlando is a walkable liveable city with old architecture complimenting the new buildings. There are a great many construction works going on – however the old has been preserved really well and in these areas there are many restaurants, bars and pubs and art galleries. we enjoyed a very pleasant walk around Eola Lake with its restaurants along the shoreline as well as statues.
An art deco sign at the side of the lake
Some of the art along the lake – the Muse is supposed to give you some special messages if you lie in her palm
or sit close to her ear……
At the lake side
It’s Breast cancer awareness month and this is demonstrated in the park with loads of pink flamingos
Birdlife along the Eola Lake shore line
Turtles, sunning themselves on the lake shore
One end of Wall street
a stop at one of the Wall Street establishments – Wall Street Cantina – Wall Street has quite a few drinking holes.
Wall street
The old railway and the station and waiting rooms – now the rails are used for a touristic linde
Cheyenne Saloon – just like the old times and you still can get a beer here….
the old passengers cross over bridge
The old Orlando Railroad Depot built in 1880 as the city was growing due to more businesses coming to this new city
the authentic doors to the Church street station , now entrance to a restaurant
The old hardware store of Mr Bumby who had come over from England in 1881 and set up his business selling hay, grain and fertiliser…. now a restaurant
And to close off the day, we met up with Sarah, my best friend’s daughter who happened to be in town for a conference – it was just great to catch up over drinks and a meal.
We’ve been home already a week and I am aware that I haven’t finished off my travelogue so here follows a recap of our last morning in Cairns and then our very, very, very long haul back to Amsterdam!
It was Sunday morning March 11th, and you will never guess, we woke up to bright sunshine – Gerry and I looked at each other and though – have we decided too rashly to go back home after some 5 days of continuous rainfall? Well, looking back positively, we left Cairns with a good feeling and certainly as we had gone for a walk towards the older part of Cairns and found Cairns Station, an Art Deco building which was modernised internally to house a very modern shopping mall and food courts. And finally Gerry got to meet Ronald McDonald and share a bench with him! We’ve spent many hours in total using McDonald’s WIFI to be able to send out my blog – it was the best WIFI in the whole of Australia!!! And Gerry learnt to drink McDonald’s milkshake and coffee – also a primeur for him!!
We also saw huge bats hanging from the trees and screeching their heads off at the same time – very scary!
When we arrived back at our hotel we picked up our luggage which was in the storage room and a taxi came to pick us up at 13.30 – and yes it had started raining again!! Well our trip to the airport only took us half an hour and that meant we had a long wait as our flight was at 16.05.
Our first leg of our trip back home was to Melbourne a 3 hour flight going south and then a hectic connection at the international terminal for our flight to Doha – a 14 hour flight!! That broke us up – we didn’t really sleep, however we did watch a few movies till we touched down in Doha. Her we had a 2 hour stop over and gave us some leisure time before taking the last flight of our trip back to Amsterdam – another 7 hours.
When we arrived in Amsterdam, it was bitterly cold and grey – we were met by Monique, Gerry’s daughter and after Gerry had his first smoke in 24 hours, we made our way back to Krimpen – and my little BMW was still packed nicely in its cover!
And now to return to our way of life – seeing sunrise in Krimpen as we drink coffee in the morning and then getting my car going so that I can go back to Deventer and see how everything is at my home!
So this was the end of our three month trip – and we survived each other’s company and had fun on the way!! We’ll be starting to plan our next trip, however before that happens, we have Gerry’s birthday to celebrate – at least I’ve kept my promise to his (grand) children that I would bring him back home before his birthday!!!
Hope you enjoyed reading my blog as much as I enjoyed writing it – I will need to have this printed it out so that I can refer back to it when I’m sitting in my armchair tucked under a blanket and reminiscing about those adventures down under!!
When I woke up this morning, I was lying in a proper bed and not in the camper van!! What luxury!! And at night when I needed to go to the loo, I just stepped into the bathroom, instead of taking a hike on a camp site to the camp bathrooms!! And something else – more important – the rains had stopped and when i went out onto the verandah, I could see spots of blue skies amid the white fluffs of clouds!! It was still very early to wake up Gerry but my first thought was : let’s make good use of this dry spell – let’s go out for a walk along the esplanade and enjoy the views of the bay. Up to now we had only seen Cairns in the rain!
When we were ready, we went outdoors and it was ever so pleasant – the air was so fresh and not yet sticky – so we crossed the road to have breakfast at the Aqualuna, the Aquarium’s restaurant. We sat outdoors just to enjoy the weather!
After breakfast, we strolled along the esplanade, where there was also a Saturday market specialising in arts and craft and while we were taking a rest in the park, we got chatting to this Aussie guy dressed as ranger and he started giving us some interesting historical information about Cairns. Also an interesting fact: the man made lagoon is actually designed as the state of Queensland but upside down – but then that’s OK as we were down under, he told us!!! Anyway, what we did do is follow some of his suggestions and visited the Jungle Dome above the Casino and also the St. Monica’s Cathedral ( just a block from our hotel)
In the Jungle Dome, we met all the animals we’ve seen in their natural surroundings especially the red tailed black cockatoo, the kookaburra ( who swooped down at our first campsite in Port Stephens to snatch one of our oysters), white cockatoo and parrot. Luckily, we had not encountered any of the crocs or snakes during our travels, even though we had seen enough signs to be aware of the danger!
At St. Monica’s Cathedral – a modern church – we were amazed with the beautiful glass windows which depicted the creation of the world and then specifically Australia and then at the back two stained glass windows depicted the Battle of the Coral Sea during WWII.
After our walk about, we went back to our hotel to have a siesta by the swimming pool and I could finish reading my book as well. We still had some wine in our room and some snacks so we sneaked that to the pool area ( we were on our own) and enjoyed a glass of wine with crackers and cherry tomatoes . However the skies started turning greyish and before we knew it we had a drizzle – it didn’t last long but we thought better go back to our verandah! Finally I finished my book while Gerry did take a nap!
By now it was time to get ready to go out for our dinner – our last dinner in Australia and we thought we should go back to the Italian restaurant, Villa Romana, as i wanted to have my pasta al Scoglio again with all the seafood and of course as a starter I was having my beloved oysters – it will be the last time for a long while……. We had a lovely dinner and it remained dry all evening so that we could enjoy our stroll back to the hotel through the night market and the town centre. At least now we have some good memories of Cairns too, just like all the other places we have visited.
Tomorrow we will be packing up our gear and flying out of Cairns in the afternoon and getting back to Amsterdam on Monday afternoon with two stops in between: Melbourne and Doha. And then start planning a new trip………..
Again a rainy day – it was very dismal at the camp site so we had our breakfast at the camp kitchen where we were dry and comfortable – used up the last of our food supplies and had fried eggs with mushrooms and tomatoes accompanied by sliced avocado on toasted ciabatta bread, coffee and tea. We left our left over food supply which included olive oil, balsamic vinegar, herbs in the camp kitchen to be used by other campers.
Then we tried tidying up the camper but we couldn’t put anything outside as it was still raining so we just packed our bags, showered and started driving. We did stop on the way out to settle our one night stay. The lady at the reception desk thanked me for our honesty and not having driven away!
As we had booked a hotel in Cairns, we drove there first to the hotel to offload our luggage and then to the Apollo offices and depot to deliver back our camper van. We travelled 3.500 km with our van from Sydney to Cairns with all the stops we had at the beautiful sites. We have very good memories of waterfalls, fantastic rock formations, scenic bays, luscious green rain forests, kangaroos, koalas, white surf but also memories of flies, mozzies who chose to chew me up but not Gerry!
We had hoped to deliver our camper van next week Friday, but both of us could not stand the wet season even though the temperatures are high – so after settling everything at the Apollo office, we got a taxi back to the hotel and settled in – luckily we have a veranda where Gerry can enjoy his smoke and very good wifi connection so that I could catch up with my blog! We didn’t need to McDonald’s today!
Later in the evening, we did get out a bit to have dinner – again so much rain – we watched people dressed in ponchos and carrying umbrellas go past the restaurant – all drenched to the skin – and that’s how we got back to the hotel, completely soaked!
