Calypso Backpackers Resort Cairns

G'day Mates! I made it to Cairns, the northern most stop on my trip north along the eastern coast of Australia! It was quite a journey, but it has been a fantastic 12 days! On Tuesday, I started in Mission Beach and went white water rafting down the Tully River with 'Raging Thunder' and had a great time! The rapids were up to Grade 4, but they actually seemed a little bit small some of the time. Not to be a rafting snob or anything like that! I think perhaps it was hard to compare to skydivin...

Finally, we arrived in Cairns on Friday afternoon and greeted by the sun. Although we were slightly unsure if we'd arrived at the right destination. Andrew and Jillian were already quibbling over the prononciation "Curns" or "Caaaairns" - work it out for yourselves who said what! :-) However, the bloody Aussies had to come in and add confusion by announcing we would arrive in "Kens" in 2 1/2 hours! Then again it'd be a boring world if we all spoke the same way. As soon as we landed the first ...

Cairns Cairns is de meest noordelijke stad aan de oostkust. Het strand van Cairns is een vijtftig meter brede strook modder tussen de kant en het water, onaantrekkelijk voor het oog, onbegaanbaar vanwege krokodillen. De stad zelf ontloopt het strand niet veel in aantrekkelijkheid: oninteressant, ongezellig en lelijk. Om er toch een beetje leven in te krijgen, doen de café's er alles aan om de gunst van de tourist te winnen en diezelfde tourist maar vooral binnen en aan het drinken te houden. ...

Cairns Cairns is de meest noordelijke stad aan de oostkust. Het strand van Cairns is een vijtftig meter brede strook modder tussen de kant en het water, onaantrekkelijk voor het oog, onbegaanbaar vanwege krokodillen. De stad zelf ontloopt het strand niet veel in aantrekkelijkheid: oninteressant, ongezellig en lelijk. Om er toch een beetje leven in te krijgen, doen de café's er alles aan om de gunst van de tourist te winnen en diezelfde tourist maar vooral binnen en aan het drinken te houden. ...

It's a jungle out there... Well, out there, right, right again and a few km up the road. We're in Cairns at the minute, the oddly-American looking capital of North Queensland. It seems everything up here can kill you. Or, at a push, will kill you if you ask it nicely and it's not too busy. As our frustrated-comedian of a boat guide put it: "Ya worst case scenario is ya get chased up a tree by a croc, the tree blinds ya, ya fall back in the water and get run over by a tour boat..." But then he...

Spent two days one night here. The way they pronounce Cairns is quite funny. Didn't do too much here, really just stopping over until our flight to Alice Springs. Washed ,watered and fed. Did go out for something to eat on Good Friday night at a Greek restaurant and then went to go for a few drinks, but you had to buy food at these bars before they would serve alcohol, this being Good Friday and all. In reality it was like a $15 dollar admission fee. So we decided against that and went back t...

We checked out of the hostel fairly early then had a short walk, followed by a tram then a train in order to get to the outskirts of Melbourne to pick up our camper van. We'd arranged a booking through standbycars.com who organise relocations on behalf of rental companies. This means that the rental cost is much cheaper. On the way out to Adelaide we only paid 10$ a day and were given three days. On the way back we got an even better van for just $5 a day including insurance and $110 worth o...

News flash kids. Cairns, Queensland's "Party Town" is really, really dull! What a disappointment. I arrived early on Monday morning after what could have been a really cramped Jetstar flight (Qantas' cheapo airline), saved by having a spare seat next to me. I was picked up at the airport by the hostel, Calypso, and checked in. The Sun wasn't out, but its been so long since I've seen the Sun (my last day in Phuket) I didn't really notice. I've noticed now; its been three days and I still haven...