Originally this was going to be entirely a road trip but we chickened out. Four thousand kilometres driving when someone suffering the fatigue of chemo seemed perhaps a little ambitious. I could have driven it by myself but I know long stretches of road tend to send me to sleep easily and I hadn’t driven any distance at all in the last few years. The weeks of planning a route that would see us in Cairns in time for Roger to have a treatment and then returned before his next one were thrown out the window as we opted for a fly one direction and hire a car for the return journey.

We drove to Brisbane where we left our car and boarded the plane for the 2 hour 20 minute flight to Cairns. What can you say about a flight, especially one where you have bought the cheapest ticket possible? Not a lot. It took off and landed and that I guess was the highlight of the journey. We took a taxi to the hotel which was right at the edge of the CBD. Unbelievably this was cheaper than taking an airport shuttle.

We were only here for one night before hiring a car to take us to Port Douglas. We always use Jucy car hire when we are in Cairns. They are very reasonably priced and they don’t charge for the kilometres you travel yet have decent cars.

Finally, we were off for three nights in Port Douglas.