So, we slept in a bit today and got up about 8:30am. Kim and Julie didnt feel like breakfast, so Conrad, Clare and I went for a bit of a walk and found McDonalds. Clare and I had the regular Sausage and Egg meal, but it came with a foul coffee, so we also purchased an OJ. Conrad pointed to what he thought was an Egg and Bacon McMuffin, but ended up getting Pancakes used instead of muffins with egg, bacon and maple syrup. Ugh! Some kind of American thing that he had trouble swallowing. Just not right.

We then went back to the hotel, packed and checked out. We headed for Tokyo to offload the luggage and explore further.

Conrad decided to go clothes shopping somewhere near Shibuya (I think) and then later back to Akihabara, and the girls and I headed for Skytree as it had a Pokemon shop. Originally, I was intending to go up the Skytree, but its turned out to be a wet miserable day (for the first time on this trip) and the view would be poor at best. So I saved my money.

Also, while at the station we tackled a ticket machine and purchased 5 tickets for the Narita Express (NEX), which will take us from Tokyo to the Narita Airport for the trip home. Our JR Passes that we purchased for all train travel expired yesterday.

First thing we did at Skytree was head for the food court and have lunch. Clare and Julie then went looking through the shops while Kim and I cooled our heels and nibbled on food and drinks.

We had a bit of a problem deciding which train station at Skytree we should go to and ended up getting a taxi back to Tokyo Station, which was pretty cheap, I think less than $15AUD. Taxi's in general were much cheaper than in Australia.

We all met up at the Luggage storage section under the station and headed for the NEX train that will take us to the airport. While on the platform we were constantly hearing an announcement that we needed both the train ticket and a reservation ticket. We only had the train ticket as the machine said reservations were not applicable, so we were a bit concerned. Just in case, we hopped onto the end of the train which would have less passengers. Then while on the train just after leaving the station, the conductor came looked at our tickets and stamped them and then noted down which seats we were sitting in and that was that.

The rest is all the normal stuff. We did a last minute reshuffle of items between each persons luggage to fit within baggage limits. As everyone had purchased lots of souvenirs, we all had an extra suitcase and in Conrads case, an oversized snowboard bag, which I had already allocated in the Jetstar tickets that we could have 40kg each. We checked in all the bags, had a last minute dinner at the airport, it was 6:00pm, and then headed through security at 7:00pm for the 8:05pm flight.

The flight was horrible. It was cramped and an overnight flight and none of us could sleep. And of course, there was a baby crying.

We finally got to Cairns at 4:30am, went through customs and had our bags checked, which delayed us catching the domestic leg of the journey. It was hot and humid in Cairns, which is a very badly organised airport with nearly 1km walk to the domestic departure entry. Man, were we hot and tired. And then to add injury to insult, my backpack was held up in security. Cairns has old fashioned xray machines that can't see layers in baggage, like all other airports, and I'm told they're getting updated later this year; but I had to have everything removed and have the lot go through the xray again. Turned out, I left my underarm spray in my backpack for the return trip, not good. And I heard an announcement calling my name for boarding. I was late and everyone else had gone ahead and boarded, so I quickly grabbed all the individual xray trays and repacked my backpack and ran to the boarding gate. Turned out, I left my iPad behind. Bugger.

At takeoff at Cairns, everyone was asleep, except of course me (just). I was considering taking a photo, but I don't think anyone would appreciate the picture (mouths gaping). I don't know how they slept, we were in the exit row with better leg room, but the seats didn't recline, regardless, I didn't get any sleep. I am not doing an overnight flight again unless I get a better class than economy.

Another tiring flight to Melbourne and then we drove home. Luckily, Conrads girlfriend picked him and Julie up and took them to Bendigo. Good luck as there was no way we could have fitted all the additional baggage into the Patrol.

We're home now. Still tired with very stiff and achy body's. But it was a great trip.