Above: We are driving to Cairns; taken about an hour into the 19h journey (if we were to do it without detours).
Today was the long awaited day for Kim’s arrival. With possibility of Covid-19 outbreaks, there was always a chance that he wouldn’t make it to Australia leaving me here stranded by myself. The car booking was in his name and I’d be up the creek without a paddle, so to speak.
I trained to the airport to meet him before calling up the car rental for a shuttle to their office. From there we met a friend Eric for late lunch before driving to Marooochydore for a three night stay with friends Vanessa and Paul.
Kim’s flight was a little later than its 1055 scheduled arrival. Despite that we managed to get from the terminal to Apex rental car by their shuttle and pickup our vehicle by about midday. We had managed to secure a relocation rate from their website for a 4WD for AUD9 per day for 10 days for travel from Brisbane Airport to Cairns Airport.
It’s a ridiculously good rate because many rental companies sold their fleet due to Covid-19 and now rates are through the roof due to demand exceeding supply.
That’s the rental car man videoing the car condition.
Kim drove us to Clontarf to meet his friend Eric and family for lunch. We ate at a huge place called Belvedere where we were encouraged to order and pay online. The prices weren’t what we were used to and to add to that, a card payment fee was applied. The most ridiculous part was the option to add a tip to the staff whom we hadn’t even met, whose only role would be to deliver the food to our table.
After lunch, we continued to Maroochydore for a three-night stay with good friends Paul and Vanessa. I had to take over the driving as Kim was starting to wilt from his early morning wake up and the 2h time difference.