Flight JQ 959 Try #2

Picking up where I left off…

Back in the Cairns airport, same table as last night (not that there are many to choose from), and ready to board our flight set to depart at 9:00.  About an hour before we were supposed to board, an announcement was made that our plane would not make it to Cairns in enough time to turn around and land in Sydney before the midnight curfew.  We missed the details of what to do, but figured that there weren’t many places to wander other than the one Jetstar check-in desk.

There are no interior connections between arrivals and departures, and so began a journey that involved a lot of wandering as Jetstar did not give very good directions about anything.  We picked up papers explaining our allowances and then were directed to buses to take us to the Cairns Country Club (a hotel).  When we made it to the front of the line, we were sent back inside to get tickets for the bus (they had neglected to mention we would need those) and ended up at the far back of the queue.  With only two small buses shuttling people to the hotel, the line did not move for ages, and we attempted to book our own accommodations utilizing the allowance we were afforded.  In the end there was not enough time to sort everything out and we boarded the last bus bound for the Jetstar selected hotel.

When we arrived we were treated to another long queue as the hotel attempted to check in almost 200 people at once.

Queued at the Cairns Country Club.

We got the keys to our rooms and were informed that our dinner would not start until 8:30 (Jetstar was providing us dinner and breakfast).  We met up in Jason’s and my room and watched some tv before going to use the internet in the business center and finally going to dinner.  The food was alright, and content on the free meal we headed back down to the rooms and watched a bit more tv before heading to bed as we were told breakfast would begin at 6:00 and to get there early to avoid a mob coming all at once.

After a good nights sleep, we awoke around 6:00 and made our way to breakfast, where we had a buffet of tropical fruits and a traditional English breakfast.

Fresh TNQ fruit for breakfast.

It was a good start to the early morning, and telling of the demographic of a large portion of visitors to Cairns – in addition to the breakfast items we partook in, there was a selection of miso soup and other fare we would not normally associate with breakfast in the western world. 

We loaded a shuttle at 7:10 to head to the airport, and on the way in the rain were treated to a spectacular rainbow that stretched across the mountainscape.  It was the most complete rainbow we had ever seen, seeming to meet the ground at both ends – quite a spectacular site!

One end of the rainbow.

When we arrived at the airport and checked in we were afforded a nice surprise when the lady at check in offered us an exit row (which we happily took – LEG ROOM!).

The benefit of exit row seats - tons of leg room!

All in all we got two nice meals, nicer beds than we would have had at my place, an exit row, and $300 in vouchers for future flights (Uluru and Melbourne – here I come!), and only lost out on a few hours in Sydney (and I missed my morning lecture, but I can listen to a recording of it online).

I think I can say we had a great time in TNQ (Tropical North Queensland), but are happy to be heading back to Sydney within the hour… Hopefully that won’t jinx things :P