Gudday from Oz !!! ( Cairns - North East Coast )

Trip Start Feb 13, 2008
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Trip End May 12, 2008


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Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Arrived in Cairns on 7th March. had a good flight from Auckland. On a different time zone again, thi is getting confusing!! Am now 10 hours ahead ok the UK I think. Booked into this hostel on recommendation from one of the lads I met in NZ. A good move as the place, is modern, clean and very reasonably priced !!! As I arrive late afternoon I resolve I am going to take things easy today. Bar has jugs of lager for $7 like the last place I stayed in Auckland, so cant be bad. Had the todays special !! meal at the hostel for $5, Sweet and Sour Pork with noodles, very nice. Think this place will do for my base for the next few days, for the trips I want to do from cairns. The hostels here have very good travel shops, so I decide to have a day free tomorrow, then book two different day trips.
On the Saturday, I just have a look round Cairns on my own, I walk into the City centre which takes about 25 minutes. Every where is very green. North East Queensland in known for heavy rain in their summer, and last week they had torrential rain and flooding, with some areas getting upto half a metre of rain within 24 hours!!!
Weather is good today, very, very hot at about 29 degrees. The bizarre thing is the temperature only drops by a few degrees at night ( last night 24 degrees ! ) though it did chuck it down during the night.
Sunday I go on a day trip to Cape Tribulation, which is north of Cairns. This is a trip to the rainforests. The scenery is amazing. Also get to visit Port Douglas and Mossemann gorges. A long day again, and tiring because of the heat. Journey down from Kuranda
Journey down from Kuranda
 So stay in the bar in the hostel in the evening.
Monday I go on a trip to a village called Kuranda. The main part of this trip is the journies either way. Again this village is located up in the hills in the rainforests, and take the Sky rail ( cablecar ) up to the village. There are a couple of stop off points on the way, with guided tours through areas of the rainforest. Kuranda is an interesting old town, unspoilt by modern developments and is part of the World Heritage site as is all the surrounding forestation. On the way back I travelled on the Kuranda Scenic Railway, which cuts through mountains and rainforests alike. The train is from the early 1900's so meanders down the hills at a gentle pace, but there are lots of excellent photo opportunites such as waterfalls and rockpools and views over Cairns. Had a night out with two of the lads from the hostel into central Cairns, ended up in an Irish bar called O'Gilligans which is gearing up for St Patricks day next week.
Tuesday was spent by the pool, weather having been kind to me so far, though it has rained every night!! Wednesday I did a trip to Paranella Park, which is an old Spanish ruin south of Cairns. The weather offshore is not good, and is heading this direction, so was unable to do a trip to the Great Barrier Reef today. The weather was fine in the morning, but a huge downpour in the afternoon. Have decided to move down the coast a few hundred miles tomorrow. Have a lot of ground to cover in the next couple of weeks, as I want to fly fom Sydney to Tasmania, in about a fortnight. So have about 2500 miles to cover before then. Magnetic Island next stop.... Shall miss this hostel, it has been great, but weather forcast here is bad for a few days ( still hot ) Better further south.....
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