My Wonderful Trip from Gold Coast to Cairns

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A few months ago Archie and I decided to go to see Archie’s brother and his wife in Gold Coast for a holiday.




We spent a few days at their house in Gold Coast playing with Archie’s niece . We had a great time doing some barbecue and talked about getting away for a few days. Archie came up with a plan to visit Cairns where we've all been wanting to visit.




We found out through an internet search that the only direct flights to Cairns were on Jetstar Airways. They had two morning flights. Booking round-trip flights for the four of us on the later flight, we were set there.

Our trip to Cairns started the next day. We were looking into parking at Gold Coast airport. While we were searching and comparing Gold Coast airport long term parking rates, we found that one of the most reasonable Gold Coast airport parking prices could be found at Reddy Airport Parking. So we parked our car here and took free Gold Coast airport shuttle to and from the terminal which was an added bonus.




The flight took about 2.5 hours from Gold Coast to Cairns. It was a warm, sunny day in Cairns, a great way for the trip to begin.




Our first day in Cairns we just unwind a bit in town and at where we were staying. We did some shopping at the Cairns Central Shopping Centre, a nice mall with stores selling everything under the sun. The rest of the day was spent by the pool at our lodgings and took a nap.




In the evening after taking a nice nap. I’ve asked a few locals about Cairns day trips (and as it turned out, there are a whole lot of them), we decided to make our first full day a Fitzroy Island Day Trip.




This expedition, which lasted almost nine hours, included a very enjoyable 45-minute high speed ferry ride from Cairns and back.




This tropical island, on Great Barrier Reef, is indescribably beautiful. Of the many activities to do there, we decided to take a glass bottom boat tour. I just can't describe in words how gorgeous this area is. With clear water and amazing views, everyone needs to see the Reef at least once in their lives. This was such a great day!




The next day was our last full day in Cairns, we decided to take the Atherton Tablelands Tour from Cairns which took a half day, started off with boarding a bus at a nearby hotel. Our ultimate destination, about 80 km southwest of Cairns, seemed like it may be a long, drawn out journey. But I was dead wrong there. It was fabulous!




I was able to view three magnificent waterfalls here in the rainforest- Josephine Falls, Dinner Falls, and Millaa Millaa Falls. I took pictures of Crater and Lake Eacham, both formed by volcanic activity, and the 500-year old Cathedral Fig Tree, an amazing sight in itself.




Time just flew by much too fast for us here. The next morning, we were on our way back to the Gold Coast airport to pick up the car, and wrap up our trip. If and when I get the chance to get back to the beautiful Cairns area again, I'm going for a much longer time next time!

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