'Canz'

Wind, rain and gales battered Sydney again this weekend - so it's just as well I left on Saturday and missed the worst of it.

Friday was my last day with the New South Wales Fire Brigades. I really can't be bothered at the moment to discuss in any great detail what it was like working there. Maybe some other time. Or, then again, maybe not. It was a useful experience. I was also reasonably well paid and the job was mine for as long as I needed it. Can't ask for much more, in all honesty.

I was taken out to a Chinese restaurant for my leaving 'do'. The food was awful, but I didn't have to pay, so I wasn't complaining. At the lunch, I was presented with my leaving card and presents. These were a Victoria Bitter stubby holder, a fly swat, a pair of flip flops with the Australian flag on and - last but not least - a pictorial book entitled 'Australia's most deadly and dangerous creatures'. Winding up poms about the threat from this country's more threatening inhabitants is something of a national sport here. It would be more funny if it wasn't for the fact a lot of people living in Sydney have probably seen more of England than they have of Australia. The idea they are all some kind of glorified version of Crocodile Dundee is complete bollocks.

On Saturday I flew to Cairns - or 'Canz', as it is pronounced - in north Queensland. I have to go back to Sydney for my flight out of Australia, so it wasn't quite farewell to the old girl yet. It was, however, a bit emotional to pack all my stuff away in the flat and effectively end the life I have had in the city.

Leaving most of my things with my flatmate, I put on my backpack and headed for the airport. My flight up to Cairns was with Jetstar - Australia's answer to easyjet. Flying with budget airlines is all very well, but when the journey time is over three hours it really does start to become a bit much. This particular flight was full of screaming kids. Why do people take babies on holiday? They won't remember it in later life, so there is absolutely no benefit to the child whatsoever, and the parents get no break from the considerable time they have to devote being being a mum or dad.

Anyway, anyway. Enough of my miserable whingeing. I arrived in Cairns early evening, and although it is also raining here, that really is not a problem. They do not have typical seasons here - it is hot all year round, you just get some parts of the year wetter than others. In other words, it doesn't really matter if it chucks it down and it's 30 degrees...