Everytime I tried to roll over last night I’d see another hour on the clock, finally finally it was time to get up. My dream hadn’t been quite as difficult as the night before, I think I was chasing someone on my bike.
I laid there for another minute or two, trying to feel if my back had miraculously improved, I really didn’t want to sit in cattle class for 3 hours as I was. No such luck, another smearing of Voltaren at least it’s not so stinky) and we were off.
Marian dropped us of at Tullamarine by about 5am – this was the time we had planned to leave originally! No sooner had we stepped out of the car than we heard ‘Hello Wendy’ and Leon, Kylie and Louise were at our side. This was it! It was all starting, just like I’d imagined for so long. We all lined up for check-in, I was mentally calculating how much extra we’d be charged as Anthony and his family walked up!
We got through check-in with a friendly warning and then held our breath as we approached the X-Ray for cabin baggage. We were nearly through…. Ahhhh sigh of relief, not an eyebrow was raised as all our bags, containing liquids, crystal glasses etc went through. It’s coffee time!
I was feeling kinda woozy at this stage, just nerves? I don’t mind flying, that wasn’t it… maybe its that ‘we’re getting away with this feeling’ – nothing wrong with that!
Finally we boarded our flight and the flight attendant asked to sneak a peek at my dress on the way out – Trav laid our clothes along the lockers as well as possibly, but there wasn’t much room. I got the window seat, with Trav in the middle and Mum on the aisle.
As the sun rose in the east, we were able to enjoy the view from the left side of the plane. Mly about 20 minutes after take off the pilot announced that we should be arriving about 15 minues earlier that schedule – this was getting better and better! I read, did brainteasers, tried to sleep. Tried to stretch. Tried to sleep.
We touched down at 9:10 – 25 minutes early and as we walked off the plane we got our first mouthful of that heavy, warm Cairns air. As we were finding our luggage on the carousels I handed out everyone’s welcome postcards – they were thrilled (I added Jason to Megan’s card before realizing I had spares, I just hadn’t had the time to rewrite his sans Alisha).
I waited with the bags while Trav and Mum picked up the hire car and soon we’d stopped off at 1st choice and Coles and were finally on the Captain Cook Highway, paradise-bound.
It was amazing to be driving past all these familiar landmarks, the Sky Rail, go karts and crocodile farm – especially with Mum in the car too. I just kept turning to Travis in complete awe – we were actually doing this!
Rolling into Port Douglas we did a short tour before pulling into Coral Sea Villas. Bruno was out the front and I gave him a big hug. Our room was ready so we loaded everything in and also met their daughters Joni and Ella.
We wandered into town and dropped off the rest of the postcards, stopping to visit Shaun and show mum the Chapel on the way.
Finally, it was time to open a bottle of bubbly and celebrate! We took a dip in the pool (yes it was a cloudy day and I still went it) in the hope that it might relieve my back pain but once again, no luck.
By the time Michelle and Ryan pulled up Trav and I headed to Lure to go through a few things with Wayne and drop off all the supplies. Wayne talked us through where the tables might go, and a few other details and I was amazed at just how blasé I was about it all, nothing really bothered me and I couldn’t make a decision. His only bad news was that he couldn’t get any of our first preference wines – which also didn’t phase my in the slightest. We agreed we’d either meet him or Kylie on Thursday and Nick might come along too.
We raced back up to Coral Seas for a quick change and to pick the others up for dinner at the Iron Bar. With relief I heard Ryan grumbling that they’re always late in Charleville too, ha ha can’t blame me this time!
I marched down Macrossan st with Trav threatening to give me a ticket if I didn’t slow down to a meander. I guess I was still easing into Queensland time.
Leon, Kylie and Louise as well as Lara & Tennille were all out the front and we took our seats. Mmmm the scallops were good, if only I’d ordered two servings! As it turned out I got to polish off the chips so we were all happy.
We all wished Michelle a happy birthday and then halfway through dinner a flustered waitress ducked under our table in pursuit of a cane toad! Leon had felt something wet on his leg but thought it might be a dog’s nose.
Needless to say we all squealed and pulled our knees up to our chins as the cane toad was caught and returned to his bucket. We saw the start of Nick’s cane toad show but everyone was exhausted so we called it a night.
Mum Michelle and Ryan joined us in our room and Michelle and Mum helped me with scroll ribbons while Trav and Ryan made the little lanterns… I went to bed hoping like crazy that I’d wake up feeling 29, not 99!
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