North Qld

I spent the last week travelling to the Cairns branch, and then driving down to Townsville. We're currently rolling out brand new PCs to all branches in Qld, and I was sent up to Cairns and Townsville to set up their branches.

I've never been to Cairns before, so was looking forward to seeing somewhere new. My flight left at 9am Monday morning, and though I made the flight in plenty of time, my co-worker just missed it. So I traveled alone, and Josh caught the next flight an hour later. Once in Cairns my luggage wasn't on my plane, so I had loads of fun filling out forms about that, but luckily when Josh arrived on that next flight, so did my luggage. The baggage guys in Brisbane just put my bag on the wrong flight.

We then grabbed our hire car, a brand new BF Falcon XR6! Hopping in the car I saw the odometer reading - 15k's... so it certainly was brand new!

Work wise, the trip was a bit chaotic. We had 1 less computer than we needed in both branches, and some of the PCs had the wrong software on them. We spent way too much time reorganising, and the work went so slow. My sprained ankle made things pretty hard. I limped everywhere all week, and carrying stuff was a nightmare.

We did one branch and one towing company in Cairns, and two branches in Townsville. In the end we got it all done but Josh and I had to do a fair bit of improvising to get there.

Our motel in Cairns was nice, comfy rooms and a good restaurant. We didn't spend too much time there and on Tuesday night we decided to head to the casino for dinner. It was a huge buffet, and we were able to sit for about 90 minutes and just have a meal and chat. Josh had just become a full time Network Support Officer after 12 months on an Industrial Training contract through QUT.

The drive to Townsville was an eye opener. We drove through Innisvale. The environment there was devastating. Forests were bare, trees with only the smallest amount of green regrowth on them made for an eerie grey landscape. All the trees and palm trees were leaning in the one direction, actually most palm trees were snapped or had lost their branches.

It took a long time to drive, because there was so much damage to the road, and we had to stop at road works every couple of k's. Innisvale and the towns around it were a mess. Even weeks on most houses have tarps over their rooves and smashed windows. The Innisvale Hotel was a wreck, and the McDonald’s had also taken a beating.

Josh and I spent the whole time pointing and expressing our shock at the devastation, and how terrifying it must have been there when Cyclone Larry smashed through the area.

Our motel in Townsville was awesome. Josh and I got side by side rooms on the 18th floor, overlooking Castle Hill and Magnetic Island. Josh was unwell so he ordered room service Wednesday night, I ventured down to the restaurant where I had a great butter chicken curry and they served nice coffee afterwards. The Cowboys NRL Leagues club was opposite our motel so I ventured over there to catch the State Of Origin. However the place was packed, standing room only, so I decided I'd rest my ankle and just head back to my room and watch it there, obviously disappointed in the result.

In the end it was a successful week, though tiring and it felt very long. I was happy to get home and rest up.