Chezest

 We are trying to step up our walking distance and this morning got it out to 4.5km. It was raining overnight so we put on the spray jackets but the Sun came out, the steam was up and the heat was on.  Not super hot but around 24° this morning. Along the way we spied the old ambo station which is now a cafe. Chezest seems a Frenchy type of name and the prices match those in Paris as well. The quality is very good though with a muffin that was huge. Tick off another venue that we wanted to try. There are only so many coffees you can down.

The Cairns Japanese Society

 We were wondering why there were so many Japanese on our boat to Green Island the other day. It seems during their Summer they flock to Cairns for cooler but sunny conditions and it is school holidays there. We wandered off to the Night Market last night as we had seen the tents being erected over the last few days and wanted some finger food to finish the day. This was no night market. That was somewhere else and we were slap bang in another Japanese invasion. It was the annual Japanese festival with fan dancing, drum banging and five kinds of chicken. We were there for finger food and we did try the fried chicken but the dim sum was better. Sayonara.

A Theory of Hosts

 Years ago hotels were hotels, nobody owned a hotel room. Part of the general digital disruption was AirBNB.  They said let us promote your holiday house online.  Then some monied up types started buying hotel rooms. This hotel is selling off rooms but then taking no responsibility for anyone staying in them. That is the hosts job. Our host is actually a remote hotel manager. She manages at least 30 rooms inside here by phone and is a paid employee of the owner of those rooms. I spoke to him and he lives in Melbourne. I asked why we could not use the gym here and we were told it was only for hotel guests as people in these 30 rooms are not hotel guests but he did negotiate use of the pool. Hooray. We have found this situation before say, at Mantra, they sell off rooms and in some cases all of them but they still manage it as a hotel however you will end up in a room that you can see has personal touches and is owned by someone else. I have not seen this at a high end Hilton or Ritz hotels but I have not been in one of those for a while.

Kewarra

 We are giving up any notion of staying at this hotel any time soon or most likely ever. We have been back three times now and the hotel redevelopment is not happening. It looks a bit shambolic and the original beach bar shack is still a ruin. I notice the Toasty Goat has set up shop nearby but this is not a bar, more a sitdown coffee and lunch van. Even this is on a block with a for sale sign. The beach here is good, except the whole place is an off leash dog zone. Couldn't they have made it just half the beach. It is the first time we have been on a Saturday. Dog City.  We will be back soon as the new bike path has now been completed.

Carnival

 Two yar ago we caught the last P&O cruise ship leaving Cairns before those Yankee owners of that cruise line shut us down. I had a quick look to see if any other cruises left from here since then and could not find any. The Carnivals said it would be ok, other cruises will prevail.  We were walking our route today and the Carnival Adventure arrived. A piecemeal offering at best. A nine day cruise out of Sydney with the only real stop at Cairns. Six of those days at sea. No way. The ship was with old no impellers to help it turn on a tight 180. The sight of two tugs hauling it around on its axis was a tribute to the tugs and was pretty amazing to see the boat corkscrewing its way to the dock. Hickory Dickory ...!

Green (Turtle) Island

 It was 50 yar ago that a group of us went on a trip around Australia, on a long long bus ride. Along the way we stopped off at Green Island. Now back then there was not a lot there. We did walk around the island, had a swim and that was it.  It has changed. There is a hotel for one thing. A telephone tower, shops, plastic walkways all over ther place, a helicopter pad, get the picture. We did not snorkel way back then but we did this time. The swim was measured at 800m in 40 minutes aided by a vest and the highlight was the turtles. These ones are so used to people. There was some colour to the coral but you had to look deep in the cracks. The fish were plentiful and colourful. Despite all the crowds and the constructions, the reef is surviving here. I have some turtle film to be revealed.

Ulysses

 I am 70 yar old and 71 yar ago the Ulysses film came out starring Kirk Douglas. It made an impression when I first watched it as a 10 yar old. Now as it happens there is a picture theatre right across the road from where we are staying here. So we booked a ticket for the afternoon session and relived the Essendon days by having sliders at Grill'd. The new film is long and loud and has less emphasis on Gods than its predecesor. I can remember a lot of that first film but would be interesting to find a copy to watch again somewhere. We tried the rooftop pool for an hour or so before retreating.