Just like I predicted...

We ran into (it was planned) Amy's Aunt Linda and Uncle Alec in Cairns much to our delight...and the delight of our stomachs. We went for some civilised food and drinks and it was a most pleasant evening - to Alec and Linda, thank you thank you thank you :) After that, Adam was ready to be horizontal again so off to bed we go.

The next day - we still had high hopes that the rain would die down, the floods would disappear, the roads would open and we would still manage to get a bus to Airlie Beach for our Whitsundays Trip...so Adam booked a flight from Airlie to Brisbane so he would make his flight home in time. "A little hasty" you may be thinking - well that indeed was the case, it's only money right?! We spent the afternoon swimming in the lagoonand went for an 'as much as you can pile onto a small plate' asian buffet. In the evening we headed to P.J. O'Briens for a couple, they had a live band and for Adam...ladies dancing on the bar! He got a little snap happy but unfortunately missed the moment in the competition (for non-professional dancers, i.e. drunk girls from the crowd) when a girl just fell off the bar! One second she was there, the next she was gone. It was a good night although we all managed to leave the bar alone with no bearings whatsoever. I was the first to get back to the hostel and usefully sent Amy a minute by minute text update of Adam's whereabouts...Adam is not here, Adam is not here, Adam is still not here, Adam is here and taking photos of my bum!?

Another rainy day and Macd's was the only thing going to get us through the morning, in fact food was the only thing going to get us through the day...we tried to upload some of Adam's 10million megapixel photos but managed to do about 6 in an hour - so back to the hostel and back to napping/wacthing tele/eating pizza, mmm! In the absence of any sun on Monday (the last day we could travel to Airlie Beach) Plan B went out the window as did Adam's pre-booked flight. Plan C - back to the Bellview Motel reception desk and the lovely Betty and Evan. I'm sure Evan was incredibly pleased after all our to-ing and fro-ing to hear the words cancel cancel cancel! Our only saving grace in the midst of it all was the the lady who took our booking for the Whitsundays didn't take our Credit Card details otherwise we would have been out of pocket by $700! Instead we used the money to leave Cairns and head back to Brisbane - a wise decision we thought. Plan Z to drive to Byron Bay where the sunshine is almost guaranteed :) The long awaited departure flight was all good, Adam 'the charmer' Barton decided he deserved the window seat on the return flight since on the way out he had shut the visor and gone to sleep.

In Brisbane we settled into a hostel for the night, got a room right next to reception (which opened at 7am) with thin walls, no air-con but instead a fan which moved slower than Adam on a slow day. So we left and headed out for some - you guessed it, food. Brisbane is another Australian city which has fallen prey to the myth that people don't need to eat after 8pm unless it's in a really expensive restaurant or in Macd's. We eventually found a random Asian/Burger place willing to serve us and Adam even got a side of pickled salty cabbage, mmm s'nice! We stopped for a couple of drinks on the way back in the hope of knocking ourselves out so as not to be disturbed by the reception opening but alas it was not meant to be, 7am and the phone starts ringing and ringing and ringing, the hostel isn't really that big yet the reception guy manages to be on the other side of the world everytime it rings and takes an age to get to it - WE HAVE OUR OWN ALARM CLOCK THANKS VERY MUCH NOW SHUT UP AND _____ ___!