Blogs from Cairns City, Cairns, Queensland, Australia, Oceania - page 2

Saturday March 11, 2017 Our first full day in Cairns. A busy day. It started out around 8.00 AM when we had to report to the wharf to board the 'Ocean Spirit', a luxury 105ft sailing vessel - the largest of her kind in the world to sail to Michaelmas Cay, known as the Isle of the Birds, a year-round home to thousands of sea birds of some 14 different species. The wharf is situated some convenient 500 m from our hotel. The trip to get to the island takes about 2.00 hours (40 km). We were entertained by early coffee and something to eat to pass the time. Our distraction was "enhanced" by the presence of a group of Argentine tourist. As said, the boat is big and holds to my calculations some 250 passengers ... read more

As I will be moving out of globetrotters hostel tomorrow due to going on the overnight cape tribulation tour, I spent today packing up my things and buying food for the trip. The hot weather and sunlight have really picked me up quite a bit and I feel much better than I did when in Melbourne. I think this was due to the dark apartment with very little natural light at any point during the day. Also, the hot weather makes a massive difference as Melbourne was quite cold. Took a nap near the lagoon and spent the day chilling out. Have booked myself in to the daydream travellers hostel for when I return from the Cape tribulation trip on Tuesday. ... read more

Qantas did themselves proud, I’d never had a fried egg on an in-flight meal before but there in front of us was a proper egg, bacon, and sautéed potatoes breakfast (shame about the side of spinach but Alison liked it). Our main reason for coming to Cairns, it is one of the main stopping off points to visit the Great Barrier reef, that’s stretches for 1300 miles off the coast of Australia. Prior to our visit to the reef we thought we would visit the Queensland rainforest, that predates the Amazon one by 50 millions years. We took a ride on the very scenic but touristy Kuranda railway, that winds its way into the mountains, passing stunning views and waterfalls eventually reaching Kuranda. Originally a mining town the railway was built in 1891 to support the ... read more

G'day again, Here to fill you in on the latest shenanigans of our trip. Our next stop was Fraser Island for two nights of camping and a lot of 4x4 driving on sand. Or for me a lot of sitting in the back seat and looking pretty. I know everybody says this but we definitely had the best car of people. No egos and just laid back easy going vibe to the car. I'd like to think my DJ skills were the reason for this :) We visited Lake McKenzie which was spectacular, so clear & calm. Great group pics & bonding over some blokes washing themselves with sand. This was our favourite spot of the trip. The next day it was out early & 1st stop was Champagne Pools. Judging by the name we were ... read more

I'm catching a bus to Mission Beach in about half an hour. For the time being I'm sitting on the patio of this cafe right on the harbour overlooking the marina, mountains and rainforest. Nice little breeze coming through, so it's decently cool. Yesterday I went wakeboarding with a bunch of Hilary's friends. They have this really cool park - it's about the size of a track field. The have almost like a ski lift system set up but instead of getting on the lift, you grab the rope and it pulls you. Kind of like a t-bar I guess, but you're wakeboarding. The first time I didn't really get up, second time I made it about 10 metres and third time I was up and going no problem at all. It was awesome! There were ... read more