The rain and wind continued throughout the night and it turned out to be quite the storm. Thankfully it pretty much ended by breakfast time but it was lovely to hear it, even when it was chucking down and so loud in the middle of the night. After breakfast our small coach with the attached carrier for the luggage arrived and we were off to Cairns, heading back in the direction from which we had come. We had a loo stop in Mossman and drove through the cane fields again. It started to rain just a bit and the sun came out so of course I looked for a rainbow and found a wonderful double rainbow out the right hand side of the bus. The lower one was very vivid and colourful and was very low to the ground, and the higher one was not as easy to see, but still there. We crossed back over on the cable ferry without sighting any crocs, and as we drove down the road past the cassawary signs we looked for these elusive birds, but didn't see any. Now everyone is accusing Roxy of making them up and placing the signs artfully around the area. Her response is that the cassawaries must be on holiday. We arrived at the Cairns airport two hours early. It is a new airport, about 18 months old, and we enjoyed walking around looking in all the shops and then reading and relaxing until our 1:10pm plane to Sydney.
The plane was pretty big and although it was nearly full I ended up sitting in the centre three seats with Linda and no one in the centre of our row, so that was a nice treat. The flight was on time and we got into Sydney a little after 4pm. Unfortunately when we received our suitcases, mine and another person's had been damaged, so we were off to Baggage Services. Initially they wanted me to empty my suitcase and leave it there, but there was no way I was going to do that, so we arranged to have them pick the suitcases up from the hotel the next morning. Apparently mine cannot be repaired and will have to be replaced. It will be interesting to see if the replacement will hold all my things!
We rode to the hotel in a large coach that is used to transport an Australian rugby team. There are two seats up in the front that have red stripes on them; they are for the coaches of the team. We got to the hotel and I was hauling my bags in through the front door and looked to my left and there was Ethan, sitting on the couch!!!!! I must have screamed or squealed or made some kind of exclamation, and dropped everything right there and ran to him -- it was so so so good to see him! He looked great and I couldn't believe I was actually there and we were in the same place! I introduced him to everyone, still a little shaky - of course they all guessed who he was as they knew I was looking forward to seeing him in Sydney. He came with us on a little walk around Sydney. The hotel is not far from Hyde Park and Chinatown, and Roxy showed us a couple of areas for restaurants and a little shopping. I think many people were a little tired from the long day, but Ethan and I walked around and had a fabulous dinner at Darling Harbour at The Meat and Wine Co. Our food was presented in a really beautiful and unusual way and everything was delicious, and of course Ethan was thrilled, as it was the first opportunity for him to go to a very nice restaurant and have a wonderful meal. It felt so good to be together.
After dinner we walked around and went over to Sydney Harbour - it was indeed thrilling to see the Harbour Bridge come into view, and even more amazing to finally see the Opera House. I am so glad I got to see it first with Ethan. Our group is going there tomorrow and we are also taking a private tour of the Opera House, but Ethan and I already went in (for a loo stop!) and took a little look around.
We walked by Hyde Park and many other places and went all the way back to Darling Harbour to see if the gelati place we had seen before was still open. Happily, it was, and we both had VERY yummy gelati. After lots more walking we arrived back at the hotel. Ethan stayed a while and then went back to Coogee. We may be able to meet tomorrow night when we have free time for dinner. There was a full moon tonight - beautiful - and I showed Ethan how to find the Southern Cross. Ahhhhhh - wonderful day!
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