darwin drama!

as i mentioned, we were supposed to be at darwin airport at 5:30am. so when i woke up and saw that the clock said 5:45am, i panicked! yes, 15 minutes AFTER we were supposed to be checked in. fortunately, our flight wasn't until 7am, so there was a chance that we would at least be able to get on the flight (hopefully). we wandered down the darwin streets at 6am, trying to hail a cab. after what seemed like an eternity, a cab stopped for us. we explained that we were incredibly late and sat in tense silence until the second we pulled up to the curb.

at that moment, sarah jumped out of the car and ran to the check-in counter while i handed my credit card to the cabbie (what a time not to have cash!). the cabbie, knowing we were late, proceeded to be as slow as a snail to process my card, which he then dropped under his seat... he had to get out of the car and reach under to get it. then, the printer for the receipt was not working properly. it was SO frustrating! meanwhile, sarah came running back out of the terminal, shouting that if we checked our luggage in 20 seconds they would let us on the flight. but i was still waiting to sign for my credit card - argh!

we grabbed our packs and ran back in. we checked in, but sarah had to take an oversize piece of luggage down to the "oversize luggage" counter. she grabbed our boarding passes and took off, while i grabbed our passports and headed to the gate (as a reminder, in australia, you don't have to show a boarding pass or ID to get to the gate, you don't even have to be a passenger... just like "the good ole days" in the US). anyways, i made it to the gate with plenty of time, so i made a quick bathroom break (airplane toilets are the worst!). i came back out and stood by the gate...

i expected sarah to return any second, but it was taking a lot longer than i thought it would. they started boarding our flight, and i hovered around the line, waiting. i didn't have a boarding pass - not that i would have gotten on the plane without her. i waited until the very last person went through, and i was about to explain my situation to the gate attendant, when i saw sarah's head bobbing through the small airport headed to the gate. apparently, she had gotten to the gate while i was in the bathroom, and, not finding me where she thought we would meet, she headed back down to the check-in counter to find me. of course, i wasn't there, and she spent the next 15 minutes running around the darwin airport trying to find me.

we finally boarded the plane, sat down in our seats, and said a prayer of thanks to the Lord, because it was a miracle that we even were on that plane!

after our whirlwind morning, it was a quiet flight to cairns. we picked up our rental car and headed south down the east coast. we didn't get far - we stopped at a market in cairns to have lunch. then, we stopped again about an hour later to put our feet in the south pacific. it was a great side-trek from our drive!

we hopped back on the road, and drove for a long while... but it was nice to see the country. at about 4:15, we heard a loud beeping. it took me a second to realize that it was my alarm clock - i had set it for 4:15PM instead of 4:15AM - d'oh!

we ended our drive at the Backpackers by the Bay in Airlie Beach... more on that tomorrow!