Cairns
Trip Start
Dec 23, 2007
1
31
47
Trip End
May 30, 2008
Cairns,
Queensland,
Australia
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Looking at a map of Australia you can see there is a road that takes you through Greenvale, Ravenshoe, and Mareeba to get to Cairns. It seemed like a good idea at the time of planning the trip, so I didn't have to backtrack from Cairns to Townsville when I came back down the coast. However, I'm really pleased I checked in at a service station before I left Hughenden as apparently there was about 250km of rough, dirt track if I took that road. I'd already had one punctured tyre and taking a back road didn't really seem like a great idea, so I opted to stick to the main road and go to Townsville, then up the coast to Cairns. It ended up being an 8 and a half hour trip and I was rooted by the time I got to Cairns, managing to miss a couple of speeding tickets due to some terrific people in cars flashing their lights at me coming the other way. Fortunately I could return the favour for others at various times in the trip too.
The drive from Townsville through to Cairns was simply beautiful. I'd finally hit the coast again and couldn't be further from the red dirt, dust and heat of central Australia. As far as the eye could see there it was lush green, sensational mountains densely covered, sugar cane and banana plantations to one side, and the other at times when close enough, the pristine ocean.
As I drove through Innisfail on the way to Cairns, I couldn't help but want to look for the small fish and chip shop from the novel 'Misery Guts' that my kids had used as a text study at school a couple of years ago.
Cairns Lagoon
Don't worry, I didn't! It's funny the things you remember.In Cairns I stayed at the central YHA, conveniently located right opposite the biggest shopping centre in the city! Yes, I spent one afternoon wandering around, but only bought a couple of singlets and 6 books to read. Need to save my money to spend on accommodation if I intend to make it home without breaking the bank account.
My stop over in Cairns was for 4 days. The weather was not brilliant and was overcast and windy each day, sometimes raining just to put a dampener on my stay. It was nice to relax down at the lagoon near the beach in the centre of town and sit by the pool at the YHA relaxing. One morning I headed off to the Skyrail Rainforest Cableway which was about 15 minutes north of Cairns. The Skyrail took me over rugged mountain scenery, steep ravines, tumbling waterfalls and tropical rainforest of the Barron Gorge National Park. I travelled the 7.5km in the comfort of a gondola cabin, seemingly drifting just meters above the picturesque rainforest canopy. There were 2 stops along the way and Red Peak Station and Barron Falls Station. The lush rainforest surroundings at Red Peak Station enabled me to take a closer look at the diverse array of plant species on a guided tour, including a 400 year old Kauri Pine. From the Barron Falls Station boardwalks, I saw the mighty 260 metre waterfall. The Skyrail tour concluded at the Kuranda Terminal. After a 20 minute stop over there, I jumped back on for the gondola ride back. This was a wonderful way to view wider Cairns, the scenery was just brilliant.
I was hoping to spend a day out at Green Island, but the weather was against me so I instead I took a few short drives up the coast to visit places like Palm Cove, Trinity Beach and Yorkey's Knob. The time to relax, read and simply chill out was also welcomed.
