The 45-minute flight from Townsville to Cairns passed without any excitement whatsoever apart from Madam’s sighting of Palm Island, which she identified by the presence of an airstrip, and Orpheus Island, an upmarket tourist destination which had featured from time to time on TV. By the time we were about level with Hinchinbrook Island the aircraft was passing through fairly dense cloud, and once we were above that further sight-seeing became an academic issue.
We’d opted for an overnight stay in Cairns rather than an early transfer from Townsville the next morning, and our overnight accommodation at Queens Court was close enough to walk downtown for some afternoon shopping, stroll back to the room for a short rest and then set off again towards the Esplanade for dinner.
As indicated in the report on our Tasmanian odyssey, we’ve enjoyed eating at Villa Romana in Melbourne’s Lygon Street and on our last visit I’d spotted a reference to a Cairns branch of the operation, so the venue for dinner became a no-brainer, particularly when the prospect of Spaghetti alla Scoglio loomed on the horizon.
We arrived on their doorstep shortly after five-thirty, half way through the “20% off (food only) window and opted for a loaf of bread with roast garlic, pesto and olive oil as an opener, the Scoglio as a shared main and were even able to go as far as squeezing in a risotto to fill in any remaining gaps in the gullet. We washed the meal down with glasses of Nugan Estate King Valley Pinot Grigio and Wirra Wirra Sauvignon Blanc which hit the spot nicely.
A brief stroll back to Queens Court got us there just in time for the seven o’clock news and an hour later we were pushing up Z’s in anticipation of our overseas odyssey.