Goodbye Australia :-(

Sunday was my last day in Australia. :-( So I got up early, packed, cleaned and dropped by luggage off at storage before heading into town one last time. I went to the markets to get a couple of last things and some more sugar cane juice! :-)
But first right outside my apartments I spent ages just watching a little humming bird. He moved so fast, it took ages to get a photo that wasn't a blur!

Humming bird

The marina was really pretty and has a really cute little train station.

Port Douglas Marina

The weather was a lot better at the markets this week and there were a lot more stalls too.

Markets

 I got some lunch and headed to the beach for the last time. I finally managed to find the time to climb the hill and get a better view of the 4 mile beach.

4 mile beach

Looking out to Crocodile Island

My view over lunch

Sand crab hills

I walked along the sand and water and chilled out, wasting time before my shuttle to the airport. Until I was driven away my mosquitoes. Due to the long wet season, they are everywhere. And come out all times of the day and night. That is the only thing I will NOT miss about Australia. I have been eaten alive!

Last view of the beach

Sydney airport is one of the worse I think. Because no one will give you a straight answer on where to go. I spent ages trying to get to my hotel. 5 people all told me different things! I was wondering around for ages before I just stopped a bus and begged for help. An off-duty air stewardess took pity on me thankfully!
Once I did arrive, the hotel was very nice and I had a great meal. The room is lovely, with some interesting inclusions I haven't seen before.

Bottle opener - every hotel room should have one! 

So you can do business while ... doing your business?

I am just about to head back to the airport for the very long flight back. I am really not looking forward to it. Especially as my bug cream ran out and the bites are driving me mad. (First stop in the airport, the pharmacy.) Still hopefully everything will go smoothly and I will be in my own bed within a few days times. I think. I arrive in San Francisco before I leave Sydney so I am just not thinking about the time and time differences. It gives me a headache. I'll just gorge on movies and sleep and let everything sort itself out! :-)

Port Douglas

Sunday was my last free day before the conference :-( But I did get a sleep in. Until 7.30am when my body, the local turkeys and a steam train decided it was time to get up anyway.

Duncan and I headed to the local Sunday market which was fun. They had lots of crafts stalls and some local fruit sellers. I tried sugar cane juice with ginger which was really tasty. (I am going to try to head back on my last morning for more!)

Cycling and making sugar cane juice

And I also got a few more gifts. Everyone is totally sorted for Christmas now. Assuming I don't get greedy and keep it all for myself! There were also a few interesting stalls.

??????

We walked back through town to the 4 mile beach and then along the beach to the house. The beach is very pretty though there are enough warning since about crocodiles and jellyfish to make me a little concerned about taking a dip. I was hoping the weather would improve (which it did later in the week - just in time to leave!)

4 mile beach

The rest of the day was spent working and reading before heading over to register for the conference. I have to do some work this trip after all. Though I don't think we will be eating in the hotel very often (which is a 15min walk from our townhouse). Very expensive!

Tuesday night was the conference dinner, at a restaurant on the estuary and the view was very pretty.

I was a little disappointed that we didn't get any fish though. However there was lots of free Hunter valley wine (delicious and well sampled!). My table were the last to leave (we had the small british contingency) but apparently everyone else went back to the conference hotel and continued while we all went home! So I didn't feel so bad.

Conference dinner by the sea

View form the restaurant - Someone lost their boat!

Wednesday we had the morning off, which was a fantastic idea! (i have had the talk slot the morning

after the conference dinner and no one wants to be there. And as a bonus the weather cleared up 

and was beautiful! I went into town with Duncan and picked up a second suitcase (I have a small limit on the internal flight and brought a few too many Christmas presents). And I found my aboriginal art!

I have been looking for a special piece and promised myself if I found it .... It wasn't cheap but it is

awesome. (I'll put a picture up when I unwrap it). We walked back along the beach. (I really now want to live closer to the beach.)

4 mile beach

Aussie life guards at the ready

Paradise

The rest of the week was work. (Thankfully my talk went ok despite the ones before it saying exactly the opposite to my results - at least it got people talking about my work!) I went into town with people on the evenings and managed to find people who wanted seafood. I finally got to try Moreton Bay Bugs. They are have a lobster tail and a crab head. Most of the meat is in the tail. Of course as a bunch of scientists, we spent a fair bit of time playing with our food and reconstructing the bugs. :-) They were very tasty! But look a bit gross.

Plating with Bay Bugs