Back to Sydney Airport: Travel to Cairns

This morning the group was up early for a 6:30 am departure to the Domestic terminal at Sydney Airport. It was a quick drive that early in the morning. We were scheduled for a Virgin Australia flight to Cairns which left on time and was about 3 hours. Even though we flew pretty much directly north of Sydney, when we landed we gained an hour. Apparently, not all of Australia observes Daylight Savings and it doesn't seem to make sense to me. Look at this map of time zones for Daylight Savings. At least in the US we only have to worry about crazy Arizona but not a change from north to south and then half hours in the middle of the country!

Here is a little more info on the history of it all: Wikipedia: Time in Australia

Great that we now have the time issue resolved. Onto the next item - We still can't figure out what the correct pronunciation of "Cairns" is. We have heard people around town saying the word, and we listened carefully at the airport as our gate agents and pilots announced the destination and it varied between "Khans" (like Wrath of Khan) and "Canes" (like Candy Cane). We may never know how to really say that word.

I had never been on Virgin Australia before and the plane was very nice, new and lots of peppy flight attendants all in snappy uniforms.

After our 45 min transfer from Cairns (yes say it either way in your head as you read this, we arrived in HOT HOT Port Douglas. The Dew Point was 77 Degrees and the Humidity was 77%. Basically we were walking through suspended water in the air as the weather app says that makes it "feel like" 99 degrees. The temps are in the mid to upper 80s and even standing still outside makes you sweat. We wanted summer weather and it feels like mid-August in New Orleans (or Orlando, or Chicago) here.