Day 14 – Cairns

After the normal morning procedure, I asked at the desk about an Op Shop purchase I was after and – walking to the nearest one, I found what I was after. The morning was spent doing very little, but just after I had lunch one girl (from Sydney, a walker) commented that the Young Endeavour was in harbour, taking on a new group of people and one was a friend of hers. I walked down with my camera, meeting and chatting with people from Traralgon along the way. They were in on a P&O cruise, had walked around the Esplanade, but had not seen it. I walked on anyway, confident my informant was correct. On Finger G in the Marina, there she was. I wasn’t able to get too close, but got some good photos anyway. On the way back I spoke with a group of young children about to board for 11 days. They were from various schools around Australia but only one was doing Year 12 (she assured me she would still be up-to-date by the time she returned). We chatted for quite a time and many of them took my RFDS card. I walked back via the cruise dock and found the P&O ship (1248 passengers). I slowly walked back to the YHA and ran across a postie. I asked about where to post letters and was told she would take them (no good, I wasn’t carrying them) but then got directions to the Cairns Post Office, about 300 metres from the YHA. I got back to the YHA and passed the time with a few fellow residents (one New Zealander who comes here regularly and one from Perth, a Uni lecturer in Chemistry). Lynn bought and cooked steak for tea, with some vegies and salad. Eventually I went to bed. Ben, from the US, was leaving, so offered for me to grab the bottom bunk, but I was settled into the top.