Cairns

From Airlie Beach and the Whitsundays, the drive up to Cairns (our final stop!) was another 8+ hours. It was a beautiful drive past sugar cane, mango, and banana farms, and the terrain most definitely had a more tropical feel. Lush, rainforest-covered "mountains" were in the distance all around us on our drive up the coast. This beautiful scenery ALMOST made up for the ridonculous delays due to road construction that we encountered the whole way north. No sooner had I set the cruise control to 100 km/h than the sign appeared that there was construction ahead. All. Day. Long. To be fair, this wasn't just a North Queensland phenomena. In a few years, I reckon, the whole of the Bruce Highway (think TransCanada) will have been improved/replaced!

 

Our final YHA was right downtown Cairns. This was nice because we could walk everywhere -- a bonus after all the driving of the last few days. I really didn't expect much from Cairns and I had heard some sketchy reviews of the city, but I enjoyed our three days there. I was glad we didn't do our GBR experience from there because the tours were most certainly over-crowded, and I can't imagine the diving would have been anywhere near as enjoyable as what we did at Lady Elliot. Diving at LEI it was just Jack, Bill, and I and Nick-the-dive master. That certainly wouldn't have been the case in Cairns.

 

So instead of diving, Brody and I went to visit Kuranda Village on the first day. We drove up a winding road through the rainforest, up a mountain. This time road crews were not only working on the road, but also cutting back the growth of the trees lining the road. I would imagine this is a never-ending job in much of TNQ! It was a beautiful drive, and Brody kept the ipad ready to catch a shot of a passing cassowary, but to no avail. We had really hoped to catch a glimpse of the World's Deadliest Bird in the wild. In spite of cassowaries, we had a fun morning exploring the hippy market that was in a series of huts right in the rainforest (hemp, incense, herbal tea, palm-frond baskets, tie-dyed everything -- you get the idea), and the regular market across the street (Chinese-made Aussie souvenirs, didgeridoos, Indonesian/Indian clothing and jewelry, and some real Aussie-made items). We also went to a butterfly sanctuary which was a nice way to end the morning. We grabbed some lunch and headed back to town to meet up with Bill and Jack.

 

The city of Cairns is quite touristy, but not without some local smaller-city charm. For example, there are a number of hotel pubs which cater to the local crowd, a cast of colourful characters to be sure! Next door to the YHA was the Grand Hotel. At any time of day you could find labourers (they all wear the same neon shirts regardless of where they work), interesting older men sporting stockman's hats and often long braided beards (truly), and a host of people a little worn for wear who were undoubtedly "regulars". The bar was a long, carved crocodile -- pretty cool. I suggested to Bill that it reminded me of the "Laff" (Chateau Lafayette) in Ottawa, and he said, "Yeah, without the hipster university students." I'm hoping that paints a vivid picture for some. And I'm not saying a few Laffs is a bad thing...just the opposite. These pubs add character!

 

We spent a lot of time wandering the streets of town and exploring the shops and cafés. At the waterfront was a really beautiful, humongous "lagoon"/pool (still stinger-filled ocean here!) where all the tourists hang out, including us. These lagoons are really an essential part of the northern communities where it is just too hot to be outside all day without a place to take a plunge. It is sad that you can't just jump in the ocean without a stinger suit, but you can sit in the lagoon and gaze at the ocean. In fact the lagoon has sandy beach right into the pool at some parts. The little kids loved that.

 

Another awesome part of downtown Cairns is the trees, or more specifically, what's in the trees. Quite by accident, the boys and I stumbled upon a whole block of trees surrounding the city hall that were filled with thousands of flying foxes, ie fruit bats. It was incredible to watch them hanging upside down and waving their wings in front of themselves, just like a vampire! Some crawled along the branches and just looked creepy. I could have watched them all day, if not for the stench! Later that afternoon, shortly before dusk, we saw thousands (no Aussie exaggeration) of my favourite rainbow parakeets descend upon another cluster of trees right in town. You wouldn't believe the screeching coming from those trees!

 

A final Cairns experience was going to the Tjapukai Aboriginal Cultural Centre with the kids. After going to the Maori village in New Zealand, I really wanted the kids to experience and learn about the Aussie Aboriginal culture. At the centre, they provided us with a schedule of event times, and we walked through the rainforest from hut to hut learning about different aspects of the Aboriginal culture. All the people giving the talks and demos wore traditional body paint and enough clothes for modesty! We learned about bush tukka and medicines, weapons, didgeridoos, and had spear throwing and boomerang throwing lessons. We also saw a traditional dance show, did stone story painting and played didgeridoos. It was a really educational and fun day.

 

On our last day in Australia, we went to the lagoon then ventured to the shops in search of uggs for a very special person who looked after our princess, Miss Bandit, while we've been travelling. Before coming to Australia I didn't know anything about uggs because I personally think they're uggly, but I respect others' enjoyment of them. "Ugg" actually refers to the style of boot. They were first worn by surfers in Australia in the 60s, then caught on with surfers in California. Now, it seems that only bogans wear them in Australia. That means regular shoe stores don't really stock them, tourist shops do. And tourist shops are selling mostly made-in-China uggs with names like "Genuine Aussie Uggs" and similar. Even some big brands have lines made in Australia and lines made in China. If you ask if they're Australian, some of the Asian shopkeepers will say, "Yes, Australian sheepskin" and others will confess that they are made in China from Australian sheepskin. So, we quickly discovered most Cairns uggs sellers are a little sketchy, but I found one vendor at the mall who seemed trustworthy and sold a brand I knew they had at the airport in Melbourne when we passed through. So, Special Person, expect a surprise.

 

The last thing we did was leave our mark on the graffiti wall at the YHA.

 

I'm now in the Qantas check-in line in Brisbane, having left Cairns at 6 this morning. Bill woke us up before 4am because he's a little hyper and stressed and excited to go home. YAWN! I suspect this will be my penultimate post, the the final one will have to wait for jet lag to subside!