Blogs from Cairns, Queensland, Australia, Oceania - page 4

Blog 11 Cairns – On our own day - March 21, 2018 – Weather forecast: partly cloudy - daytime temperature of 31°C; overnight temperature of 23°C - 20% of rain, which it did on and off Being that today was scheduled for us to do whatever we wanted we opted to venture down the block from our hotel to the Cairns Aquarium, which has only been open in their new building for 6 months. Well laid out building, great exhibits, very knowledgeable staff made the experience extremely enjoyable. Not to mention that they gave us the Seniors Admission price without having to prove citizenship. We wandered throughout the building, took in several presentations and watched divers hand feed the rays. The aquarium incorporates glass tunnels that go under the tanks so you have fish all around ... read more

Today was our last free day in Cairns. Last night we did a pub crawl with our contiki gang. Before we left, we had dinner at Gillagans with friends.... and then then the power went out and guess who was stuck in the elevator for 15 minutes. Morgan. Of course it would be the girl with claustrophobia stuck in an elevator lol. All the sudden I get a text message saying ‘Help’. It was pretty scary talking to on the phone with the Gilligans workers not assisting. Apparently it is a liability issue. Anyway, all was out and Morgan broke free. She was ready for a drink after that haha. This morning, Morgan and I got to explore a local food market called Rusty’s. We got to see fruit we have never seen before. A Jack ... read more

Finally landed. 3 layovers and 19 hours later, we made it to Cairnes. Before we left, I bought homopathic vitamins off amazon to help with jet lag. I don’t know if it was the vitamins or just the adrenaline but morgan and I have transitioned really well. We are staying at Gilligan’s hotel for backpackers. It’s really neat! It reminds me of a college dorm more than a hotel. It also has a really neat bar overlooking the pool. (Will send pictures later). Morgan and I spent the afternoon walking the board walks and watching kids swim in the Esplanade. During our walk we kept talking about how Australia reminds us of our home videos from Japan. We keep talking about all the fun things we are going to do! We asked the concierge what countries ... read more

As big as Sydney was, as small is Cairns. Granted, it is a city and its much bigger than the cute little towns we encountered on our roadtrip, but it took us no more than half an hour to see the entire city centre. It was cute though, and had a nice market for fruits and veggies. Not to mention that our hostel had a pool with floating bean bags for our spare time! On our second day, we went on a cruise to the great barrier reef. We had booked an introductory dive in addition to the snorkeling. I'll admit I was quite scared at the beginning. I felt like I couldn't breathe normally, my brain just wouldn't believe that I could breathe under water. However, I pushed through that moment after some reassurance from ... read more

Had a day in the open air lido. Water temp 31-32c, warm as a bath. Had a coffee beak, back to swimming, had a walk round and a lunch break. Found the Europcar office to hand the car back tomorrow. Back to Karen’s then dinner at the pub. While I was checking out the restaurant, Alex got accosted by a drunk Aboriginal bloke wanting money. Diner was ok... read more