Cairns - The weather, well it...

The word you are looking for is sucks. I have had and will continue to have rain for the rest of my stay in Cairns. I guess this is why it's called a tropical rainforest. The sun has yet to come out for more than 5 min. I was going to do a reef tour by air or sea but with the weather being this bad I am not going to waste my money. A flight over the reef is out because without sun and low cloud cover the photos would not be worth a damn. And I am not going to sit inside a boat for a few hours to then snorkel without sunlight, not my idea of fun. I need to come here in September or October from what the locals tell me. The other option is a tour of the rain forest. Not on your life, you put on a pair of shorts and a t-shirt then go to a steam room and walk around for a few hours, sounds fun doesn't it. If I had a waterproof camera I would consider it but there is no way I am taking my camera into that. So without a camera there is not much point to it.

So what will I do? That remains to be seen. I don't have all bad news. Today when I checked into my hotel they gave me an upgrade on my room. It is a corner room with a great view. I was getting settled and grabbed the extra pillows out of the closet when two $50.00 bills came out with them. That's $80.00 US, not a bad find. I guess a past guest hide it up there and forgot about it. Now some would say I should ask at the front desk if a guest called about it but you and I know it would go right into the pocket of the person at the front desk. This brings me back to even from when I started here two days ago.

I have my flight booked to Sydney on the 10th and will stay the two days I had planned. I will then go to Melbourne for two or three days at the most. The more people I talked too the more Melbourne came up.

I spent this morning in a bar with 5 other aussies watching the Superbowl. I was going to go to the casino and place a bet on the game, I am now glad I didn't. What where the Eagles thinking with that clock management in the last part of the fourth quarter? Don't get me wrong, nothing makes me happier than to see Philly lose. I had a coke and a few glasses of water the whole game, while 4 out of the 5 aussies drank more beer in that time than I thought was possible. Dad's friend Ray told me about trying to keep up with aussies and drinking, it can't be done. Even in my heyday these guys would put me under the table in a second. The amazing thing was after the game you could not tell that they had just had about a 12 pack each. I would love to know how there livers are somehow different then the rest of the world. I am not exaggerating, these guys can pound beer like it was water. Maybe my friends Doc or Lobster could hang with them but not mere mortals.

I will most likely be back in the states around the 20-25th of Feb. I am finding I don't need as much time in places I thought I would. Plus I miss home and good food. I have been told the food in Singapore is great but I am not holding my breath. The only advantage to the crappy food is I don't eat much of it. I don't feel like I have lost any weight, I sure haven't put any on. I have also been doing more walking in the past few weeks then I have done in the last six months. Most of that is trying to find a restaurant that has somewhat normal food. Those of you who know how picky I get about food will understand that I will never eat something that should be served alone but the chef insists on adding some special touch he came up with. Here is an example of what I am talking about. I want a steak, cooked medium rare with a side of potato or rice or even a vegetable. But instead they have a steak covered with a mango chili chutney. I just want a piece of meat, plain and simple with a touch of salt. Now I know I keep coming back to my rants on food but let's be honest, I know what I like and I know what I don't. At age 37 I am not going to all the sudden begin to like cooked vegetables, any kind of fruit that is heated on a main course, etc. The fruit thing is one of my biggest pet peeves. Hot fruit is good in an apple pie not on meat.

I guess I am just miffed about the weather and have nothing else to do but write this stuff. So I rant. I can see why people here drink so much. I am having a good time, I don't want people to think I am not. The weather has got me down that's all. Take a look at weather.com and look at the sat photo of Australia and you will see the low pressure system sitting in the big "U" shaped bay in the north east corner of the country. It hasn't moved in days and it is not going to move in the near future.

There is another hour gone and as it is getting close to 5pm, it's time too start my search for a place to eat dinner. Thanks to those who take the time to read my rants.

I almost forgot, a huge shout out to my big brother Kevin for coming though with a $20.00 donation. That brings his grand total to $20.05. You da man.