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Published: November 25th 2012
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Cairns
The Esplanade Lagoon. Cairns
18th Oct 2012
We booked into Lake Placid Caravan Park in Cairns because of its location, 15 minutes into the CBD, 15 minutes to Clifton Beach, (Trish's optometrist is here, who we would, and are very happy to name and recommend, Shane Mortier, Eye Care Plus), 5 minutes to Smithfield Shopping Plaza and importantly, 10 minutes to Trinity Beach (one of our favourite beaches). We booked in for a ‘few nights’ expecting to stay for no more than a week. We have been to Cairns many times before and love this tropical city, which is basically a great big holiday resort and gateway to the Great Barrier Reef, the Daintree and the Gulf country. Can you believe this, there are an incredible 600 tour options available each and every day from Cairns!!
Big bright, brash, loud, energetic and busy are all words that come to mind when we think of Cairns and on most of our previous visits we have done the ‘tourist thing’, so this time we thought we would visit a couple of favourites and then become ‘locals’ and see what living here would be like. For those reading this that have not been here
Cairns
The Esplanade lagoon is an extremely popular attraction but big enough to handle the crowds of backpackers that swarm to it. as yet, the CBD is a cosmopolitan shopping and eating experience that can cost you as much as you are prepared to spend. Cairns caters for a staggering number of backpackers from all over the world and equally to a clientele that only know of a five star existence. The Esplanade is a great place to while away hours in one of the many bars, sidewalk cafes or restaurants and overlooks the fantastic swimming lagoon on the foreshore. This city does not sleep and it is equally important to visit the place at night and take in the lights and sights as well as the night markets. A must for us is Rusty’s Market (Fri, Sat and Sun), a fruit and veg market, where we indulge in all the fresh tropical fruits available from the region, mostly grown up on the Atherton Tableland.
A local market is held once a month at the Botanic Gardens and this tends to be more ‘local’, but one we would recommend highly, good markets and great gardens, and you should visit the Tanks Art Centre whilst there, fantastic. Other markets we go to are the Esplanade markets (Saturdays) and Holloways Beach, all good
fun and an experience in themselves with food available from many Asian cultures.
One ‘touristy’ place we did visit was Kuranda at the top of the range above Cairns. You can take Skyrail up and come back on the train, (a must do for anyone visiting Cairns for the first time) but as we have done this just a ‘few times’ before it was a short drive ‘up the hill’ from Smithfield for us. Kuranda is a picturesque tropical ‘village’ set in a magnificent rainforest on the edge of the range, so it has position and a visual appeal that is hard to deny. Originally a ‘tad’ alternative and arty, this culture has been retained in the Kuranda you visit today but has been ‘polished up’. Make no mistakes this is a tourist destination that survives and prospers on the ‘visiting dollar’, but gee they do it well and smile all the time! More great markets, sidewalk cafes etc., and another fantastic attraction is Birdworld, where the single largest collection of free flying birds in Australia is housed.
We went up through the Atherton Tablelands on our way to Cooktown visiting Ravenshoe, Atherton and Mareeba along the way
Cairns
The Esplanade, a gastronomic extravaganza. and another area we like and decided to visit again was around Malanda and Yungaburra. This is a great trip from Cairns as you go down to Gordonvale and take the Gillies Highway up to the top of the range, a drive which is one of the best winding mountain climbs on the east coast (and therefore Australia), in my opinion anyway. Malanda and Yungaburra are towns on the tableland that first catered to the timber industry and miners, Malanda in particular has since become an important agricultural centre for the dairy and beef industries and like the rest of the Tablelands horticulture also plays an important part. These two towns have some amazing old buildings (read pubs in particular!) and are great places to visit and explore.
Now I mentioned that we hoped to be in Cairns no longer than a week or so, in fact we did not get the all clear to leave from specialists and the like for 5 weeks, so we had plenty of time to get into a routine and become ‘locals’. It probably would not surprise you then that we became known at the local coffee spot we frequented in Smithfield and
at the café on Trinity Beach. It was good to get going again, but we enjoyed our time in Cairns and we have come away after an extended stay that was not all holiday, still loving the city, its amazingly fantastic Northern beaches, its climate and lifestyle. After experiencing another side to this place other than tourism and fun, we still loved it and yes we will be back here!
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faye
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just got round to reading the'blog' sounds like a place we have to visit although we will not get neil on the Skyrail!!!! so it will be 'on the road we go' if and when we get there!!!love the idea of the markets etc.