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Published: November 5th 2011
Esplanade Pool
The large pool at the center of the EsplanadeWednesday November 2, 2011
This is our first full day in Cairns so we decided walk around the city to get our bearings. Our first impression of the city is it is small and somewhat like Santa Cruz with lots of touristy things to do and lots of character. The esplanade is full of restaurants and a nice walking path along the ocean. There is no real beach in Cairns as at low tide all we could see is the mud flat with thousands of small crabs crawling around. Because there is no beach the city built a large salt water swimming pool at the main part of the Esplanade which is very nice. During our walk we came across a huge flying bug that sounded like one of Jim's small helicopters flying around. The bug got way too close and we were jumping around swinging our arms and shouting at the bug to go away to the amusement of others. Once we were able to get away from the bug we headed back to the hotel.
Our hotel is the Novotel Oasis which is quite nice and the pool area has a swim up bar which was one
Sky walk in rainforest
This is the sky walk heading to Mossman Gorge of the selling points for Jim to book our room there. Since we had spent the last 5 days walking all over Sydney we decided to veg out by the pool for the rest of the day. While sitting at the pool bar we met Gabby and Steve from Sydney and chatted for an hour or so. They had been in town for a wedding and were flying out later in the day. Gabby was trying to soak in all the warm weather she could before flying back to Sydney. They provided some good insight on Australian wines and Steve and Jim chatted about whisky. We also met Ryan the bartender at the swim up bar and he provided some advice on where to visit if we decided to drive north to Port Douglas. While in the pool we attempted to play volley ball with a ball we found but with our lack of coordination and a few beers it was more like "hit the ball go get the ball." We decided to get ready for dinner and went to the Rattle and Hum restaurant on the Esplanade since they had a wood fired oven and the menu said gourmet
Mossman Gorge
The river that flows though the Gorge pizza. Let's just say our definition of gourmet is much different that the Aussie meaning. The pizza was OK but more like a pancake with ketchup than a gourmet pizza, and very expensive at $20 for a 10 inch pie. That might be our last pizza in Australia as twice we have been disappointed, then again we are spoiled when it comes to pizza.
Day 8 Thursday November 3, 2011
We decided to hire a car and drive to Port Douglas for the day. The tour desk operator suggested Billabong to hire from as they were the cheapest. The rental agent was a hoot as we could hardly understand her as her accent was hard for us to understand. Her instructions were simple, fill it up before returning the car, and clean off any bat or bird shit or we will be charged a cleaning fee (her exact words). Even so we ended up with a decent car, nothing fancy, a small two door that rattled more than we would have liked but it was cheap. As you may know Australia drives on the opposite side of the road as we do in the states and even though
Interesting Fungus
We saw lots of interesting plant life including this tree fungus Jim has driven in England it still takes some getting used to. We made it out of town onto the highway traveling north but we were both very nervous. Just when Jim got a little used to driving straight we came across a round-a-bout, a circle road in the middle of the highway where if a car is in the circle they have the right of way. Talk about nerve racking, driving on the left, cars coming at us from the right, and Jim turning on the windshield wipers every time he wanted to signal made the experience very interesting, good thing we paid for full insurance on the car!
Based upon Ryan the bartenders recommendation we decided to drive a little north of Port Douglas to Mossman Gorge which is located in the Daintree Rain forest. We drove up a hill onto a single lane road to get to the gorge, again nerve racking. This part of the drive was like Mr Toad's Wild Ride. This is considered a deadly stretch of the road and we can see why. They drive way too fast on the winding road with blind corners. It is not that they are speeding,
Our Rattle and Hum
Our rental car that was an adventure in itself. the posted speed is too fast for the conditions. Jim started to get the hang of it and Lisa just held on.
Once there we parked the car and walked about 1000 feet into the rain forest on a cat walk structure until we got to the river and gorge area. Lisa would not admit it but she was on snake watch the whole way. She made Jim walk in front to scare away any snakes if they were around. The gorge was nice and we did see a lot of interesting plant life. We were hoping to see a Cassowary bird which can also be very dangerous because of their large claws, but no luck. Did we mention that Australia is home to some of the most dangerous bugs, animals, and reptiles in the world?
We then headed to Port Douglas which is a very nice somewhat upscale resort town on the edge of the rainforest and is known for a 4 mile beach. Unfortunately this time of year there are stinging jellyfish in the water so the only place to swim is inside a net so not to get stung, which can be very painful. In
Port Douglas
4 Mile Beach at Port Douglas fact along the beach there are warning signs with bottles of vinegar in case someone gets stung. We decided to just dip our toes in the surf inside the net so not to have to use the vinegar and endure the pain. One creature we found that did not seem that dangerous was small sand ball crabs. When the surf recedes these little crabs burrow their way to the top and then eat detritus from individual grains of sand. Once done with the sand the crab rolls the sand in little balls and leaves interesting patterns on the beach with hundreds of sand balls. The larger the crab the larger the sand balls. It was time for lunch so we found a small cafe and then finished walking around town. We did find a shop that is famous for their pies so we purchased a small warm apple pie, Jim's favorite, for the ride back to Cairns.
After leaving Port Douglas we stopped at a few other small beach towns along the way and all were very nice if not out of the way. Shame the only place to swim is inside the stinger nets. There is no surfing
Stinger Net
The only safe place to swim in Port Douglas is inside the stinger net along the North Eastern coast of Australia as the Great Barrier Reef blocks the big waves from coming ashore. Ryan also recommended that we stop at Barron Falls as the river has been running high due to the high amount of rain this year. Barron Falls is close to the town of Kuranda, a small aboriginal historical area with touristy things to do which we bypassed. We followed the signs to Barron Falls and along the way saw warning signs about Cassowary and Kangaroo crossings so we were excited to think we might actually see one. No luck but we did see a colorful wild turkey that came right up to the car thinking we were going to give him something to eat. Lisa was worried he might jump in the car so we rolled up the window and continued on. Once at the car park, Aussie for parking lot, we walked up to the welcome sign and Jim thought Lisa would run back to the car. On the sign it made mention of the carpet snake with a metal replica on top of the railing about 5 feet long. Jim figured he would have to take pictures of the
Sand Ball Crabs
These little balls of sand are all over the beach falls and then meet Lisa back at the car. She did muster up enough courage to make the trek to the lookout platform for the falls but Jim could hear her heart beating like a jungle drum. Once at the lookout the falls were beautiful so we snapped a few pictures and headed back to the car. We were both a little nervous about that carpet snake.
We jumped in the car and rattled down the mountain and headed back to Cairns. We had to fill up the car with petrol so we found a station close to downtown. The Aussies must be very trusting as they do not require pre-paying. At the pump you are asked how much money you want to spend and then the pump starts and payment is made inside when complete. It took Jim two tries to get the car filled up and he did not punch in the right amount of money to fill the car. The attendant got a chuckle out of it but we did get the car full. We decided to return the car the same day even though we could have kept it until the next morning. It was
Warning Signs
An example of the many types of warning signs posted on the beach including a bottle of vinegar in case someone gets stun by a jelly full and there was no bat or bird shit so we felt we hit all the requirements. There was a different woman at the counter and her questions were similarly simple as the instructions from the first person we talked to, did you fill the car, and did you hit any kangaroos? We answered yes and no and were on our way.
We got back to hotel in one piece and considering the car, the distance traveled, and driving on the wrong side of the road it was time for our first cocktail of the day. The hotel has a happy hour between 5:30 and 6:30 PM so we took advantage of the situation and then headed out for dinner.
Overall a great day, tomorrow should be just as fun as we booked a trip out the Great Barrier Reef for the day to do some snorkeling and relaxing. So far we have had so much fun it seems like we have been away for three weeks, hard to believe it has been just over a week. All Jim keeps saying is "I love vacation".
Aussie Translation
Parking Lot = Car Park
Food to go =
Wild Turkey in Kuranda
Colorful wild turkey that came right up to our car looking for something to eat. Take Away
Rent a car = Hire a car
Small aluminum fishing boat = Tinny
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