What were the skies like when you were young?

Anyone remember that song by The Orb called ‘Little Fluffy Clouds’? Well Qantas are currently whisking me from New South Wales up to Queensland and out of the window all I can see are little fluffy clouds… I’m going to be humming that all day now!

So, phase four begins. I’m on the way up to Cairns. Having acclimatised quite easily in Honkers (14 degrees, colder than London!) and Melbourne (18 degrees, about the same as London), Sydney felt warmer (24 degrees), although it rained a bit. Cairns is going to be very different. On the edge of the tropics, the climate in Queensland tends to have just two seasons rather than four – it’s either wet, or dry. We’re in transition from one to the other at this time of year, so could get anything! Last week, they had 3 months’ rainfall in 3 days, and flooding all over the place. But the forecast for the next few days is wall-to-wall sunshine, 30-32 degrees and VERY humid.

I have this evening (please, let me sleep?!) then four full days before flying down to Brisbane. In these four days, I want to do a skydive, go out on the (Great barrier) reef, see the rainforest (Cape Tribulation) and spend as much time lying on the beach as I can. This latter part has always been in the plan, by the way! Despite having published blog updates about beaches, the trip has been more hectic and touristy than I’m used to and my tan is non-existent! Sure, my face is weathered, but in three weeks I’ve been out more than I have in the past three years, and had just three days’ relaxing on the beach! At this rate, I’ll need a holiday to recover when I get home! But given Xerox are unlikely to give me any more leave until 2015, I’d like to make the most of Cairns’ weather and just lay on the beach for a day or two.

But we’ll see; this is me, I get itchy feet if I sit still for five minutes! So who knows, I’ll probably come home with no tan at all, but I’ve so far had a hell of a trip! So we’ll see what phase four brings and, until then, I’m just sitting back, and enjoying the little fluffy clouds…

ttfn /Boxy xx