Cairns

(Australians don’t pronounce the letter ‘R’ so this town is pronounced ‘Caans’)

Saturday, May 28

When we landed in Cairns around 7am, our Airbnb wasn’t ready for check in yet. We tried to hang out in the airport for a bit but it meant going back through security and Karen had already collected her checked bag. The security agent harped on asking us if we had nail clippers – the least of our problems when Karen also had about a liter of micellar water- but it was funny anyway.

We did some googling and found a nice looking restaurant within walking distance of the house. We went to Guyala Cafe and it was close enough to the waterfront park so that we could see some water glimmering in the distance. We got some delicious flat whites and split tropical avocado toast (with tropical fruit) with a poached egg and bacon.

The food was good, but expensive. We sat there for a while, drank a whole jug of free tap water and started working on our second, when the waitress asked if we needed anything else. Taking the hint, we checked the Airbnb app and found the cleaners had finished early and we could check in!

We walked over to the apartment, happy to find it clean and not too hot. We all took a nap for several hours. When we woke up, Carl and I decided to explore the town on foot. Cairns is THE hub for trips to the Great Barrier Reef. It used to be a rowdier, party town but – perhaps because of COVID?- it felt a little washed up. Our Airbnb was technically located in Cairns North, in a neighborhood that didn’t feel as rich as where we brunched, but not necessarily unsafe.

We headed toward the nearest grocery store. Along the way we spotted a sushi train restaurant and we couldn’t resist. The last and only time I’ve eaten off a sushi train was when I was 11 years old in Japan, staying with a host family who picked out the food and paid for it. This time, we had to carefully check the price of each plate as we eyeballed all the amazing looking types of salmon and tuna. Sigh- if only we had our own travel show on the food network so we could try everything!

We made up for the slightly expensive lunch by getting groceries to make lunch and dinner for the next few days. At the checkout we spotted on the wall cctv pictures of people with notes written on the photo about what they had stolen. One photo was of a sad looking older man in the grocery asile and it said “stole cheese” another one was something just as pathetic like “stole one onion”. These photos seemed unnecessary and sad, and made us realize we weren’t the only people feeling like Australia was too expensive.

After putting groceries away we decided to do some yoga in the park. On the way we spotted some strange tall-legged birds hiding behind an apartment building. Later we’d see these birds again and again- they were like the pigeons of Cairns.

Carl and I walked along the waterfront park toward the downtown area. There were lots of people out, exercising or enjoying their Saturday afternoons with family. We reached the lagoon, a public pool right on the water front. Because the coast right off of Cairns is croc-infested, people can’t enjoy the beach like they would in any other beach town. To make up for this, Cairns built the nicest little fake beach – sand and all!- and public pool called the lagoon. We walked around and noticed they had even had lockers! My favorite thing at a fake beach! We vowed to come back another day for a swim.

The sun set as we walked home and gave the sky a pinkish tinge. We watched some kids throwing sand on a volleyball court and were mesmerized because the sand seemed to hang in the air. With the pink sky, funky birds, sandy air, and crocodile warning signs throughout we really got the feeling that Cairns is a weird, but wondrous, place.

Sunday, May 29

We slept in a little and then had to rush over to the aquarium before it closed. The aquarium was overpriced (like everything in Australia!) but it was well laid out. When we got there we rushed to the first show- creatures of the deep- where the guide mainly spoke about the coral reef. We learned a lot including how reefs get bleached. We also learned that the Humphead Māori Wrasse is one of the few species that can eat the crown of thorns sea star.

This sea star eats coral and has become overpopulated in the Great Barrier Reef thanks to humans (of course). Trying to get rid of the pests, humans had chopped up the sea star and thrown it back into the ocean, not realizing that the sea star can regenerate an entirely new sea star from every chopped off leg – thus the population exploded exponentially.

We then ran over to the shark and ray show and were stunned when we saw the size of the rays in there. There was a ray as big as a double size bed. Afterward we had to exit the aquarium and re-enter in order to see all the exhibits we had passed over when rushing to the shows. The whole thing is laid out to follow the cycle of water as it starts in freshwater areas, flows through mangroves, out into the sea.

While we were looking at a massive python we noticed it was slithering ever closer to a frill-necked lizard. All of a sudden their two faces seemed to meet and the lizard opened his frill to make himself big and threatening. It was so cool to see that happen! We stood there for a while to see if the two would face off but the snake seemed to not want to fight that day and slithered back down the branch.

We ate sandwiches in a park next to the aquarium before meeting up with Karen for a bit. Afterward we went over to Hemingway’s brewery because we had a discount coupon that I found in a guide book in the Airbnb. We ordered a flight of different beers, mostly all their IPAs, which flustered the waitress because they were all priced differently (yet she never told us ‘no’). Then we flustered her more with the discount coupon. She said she’d never seen it before but the coupon didn’t have an exportation date, so she honored it.

As we walked home we had several animal encounters. In the downtown area it was like a scene from the movie The Birds. As the sun set, the sound of birds chirping was deafening. As we walked down the street we realized that hoards of green parrots and cute little black birds were all flocking to the three leafy trees in front of the casino. Clouds of black birds swooped in low, and I thought they were going to attack us.

Then a couple blocks up we heard a chittering noise in a row of eucalyptus trees. We saw a huge bat-like figure fly out of the tree. It was a flying fox! Looking up, we could hear and just barely make out the shadowy outline of about 10 flying foxes in the trees. An Australian man walked by and advised us to close our mouths as we looked up because “they might poop in your mouth”. Lovely. Imagine just being use to having these megabats in your neighborhood!

For dinner, Carl made delicious tacos. Then we waited for Karen to go to sleep so that we could sneakily bake her a cake and decorate the apartment.

Monday, May 30

Karen awoke to find pastel-colored streamers and a mountain of balloons blocking her door. She seemed surprised, which was funny considering how loud we had been when setting things up the night before. We all got ready quickly and then hopped in an Uber to go down to the ports. We were going to take a boat to go snorkeling for our first time on the Great Barrier Reef!

It took over 2 hours on the boat before we reached the reef. We didn’t mind the long journey because the boat itself was so nice. We spent most of the time on the bow, lounging in the big net hammocks that hung directly over the ocean. There were several safety briefings and instructions given. They even told us how to put on a snorkel. Compared to our recent diving experience in the Philippines where they practically threw us in the water without introducing themselves, it was comedic how much hand holding we were being given now.

Finally we reached the reef and it was time to go snorkeling! They outfitted us with a snorkel and mask, fins, and a sting suit. They said the water wasn’t cold enough to need a wetsuit but that there’s jellyfish and stinging plankton, so it’s better to wear something that covers your skin. The sting suits had mittens and hoods and we looked like we were gearing up for a dive in Antarctica except the suits were so thin.

We swam around by ourselves for a bit and then I was happy we found a guide with an orange buoy so we could just follow him and cruise around. He pointed out a GIANT clam the size of an oven and led us to a school of huge sweet lips fish. Finally the camera guy came around and we were able to get him to take great photos of me and Karen holding the famous GBR sign that she had seen on Instagram.

Back on the boat they served us heaping portions of curry, with different types of side salads. We stuffed ourselves and then we were all craving something sweet. I had wanted the captain himself to bring Karen her cake, but when I asked the crew, they thought I was joking and didn’t take me seriously. So I brought it out to her myself. It was amazing how intact it was considering I had carried it in a tote bag onto the boat and nearly sat on it before hiding it in the boat’s refrigerator. Again, she seemed surprised which was funny because the whole apartment had smelled like chocolate before we left that morning.

We ate a bunch of cake while the boat was driven to a new location on the reef. For the second snorkel session, Karen stayed back to enjoy the boat and Carl and I went for another swim. We borrowed Karen’s go pro and had fun taking pictures of ourselves and our favorite fish.

I got out early because I was freezing and I joined Karen for some sun worshiping on the boat deck. I had told the crew it was her birthday (more than once) and yet they never made an announcement or anything. I was starting to be annoyed by this when two staff came out and -acting like she was in trouble – told her she MUST come to the bar for a DRINK. Well, Karen doesn’t drink and when she told them this it looked like they were going to cry with disappointment. Instead they gave her a chocolate bar, which made her happy.

We enjoyed the rest of the boat journey sitting on the bow in the sunshine. We docked back into Cairns at about 5pm. We decided to take showers and regroup before going out to eat. Karen picked an Irish pub for her birthday dinner. We walked down there along the water and told people it was her birthday whenever people looked at us and asked why Carl and I were wearing party hats.

Karen got a vegan burger that looked nice and Carl and I split a full rack of ribs that was small, but tasty. We also discovered a happy hour type deal for the XPAs, our beer of choice, so we were happy. That night we watched some classic episodes of Friends before going to sleep early. Happy 34 years Kare Bear!

Tuesday, May 31

Still recovering from not sleeping much the previous night (because we were trying to bake and decorate in silence, which of course, was not silent), we slept in a bit. We were a little later getting out the door than we had planned but we still managed to walk to the botanic gardens by 11am. Behind the botanic gardens is Mount Whitfield Conservation Park which contains several hiking trails. Some of the trails take 5 hours which, we would have done if we had known about them and hadn’t slept in so long. Still, we did the red trail up to a lookout and took the yellow trail back down and around the mountain.

Near the top of the red trail we stopped to look at a sign and then spotted a little marsupial in a bush. Turns out there were three of them, all scrounging or munching on leaves. They were very cute and a fun animal to stumble across on a trail.

The view from the top of the red trail looks out onto the airport and the Cairns bay below. Near the bottom of the yellow trail we saw an Orange-footed Scrubfowl (we called it a jungle chicken). At the base of the yellow trail we walked back toward the botanical garden. This park is huge (and free to enter!) with different sections like the rainforest boardwalk, salt lake, freshwater lake, garden, and evolution garden (mosses and ferns).

Entering this area, we saw a couple of very shy Australian Brushturkeys (AKA jungle turkeys). The rainforest boardwalk was really cool but full of biting bugs to the point we felt we were being eaten alive and had to walk faster. After the gardens we walked back to the house to regroup. Then we headed to the public lagoon.

When we finally got into the lagoon (pool) we found the water colder than expected. And then the sun went behind a big cloud. Brrr! Still, it was refreshing and afterward we sat on the grass near the sand and read as the sun went down.

Karen came to meet us and we all went to the Night Market for dinner. The Night Market is essentially an Asian food court in an outdoor shopping mall. Many of the stalls were closed but it was hard to tell if they were temporary or permanently closed. Carl and I got fish and chips, our first in Australia. We got the Barramundi fish and it was really good! If anything it wasn’t battered enough, which is usually the opposite of my complaint for fried fish.

For some reason we were still hungry so we went to the Chinese food stall and loaded up on greasy “Chinese” (American Chinese) food like fried chicken in sweet sauce and lo mein noodles.

Then we had some time to kill before we went to the Irish pub for trivia (and to get that XPA deal again!). We decided to go to the arcade thinking maybe we could use the $2 coins we had accumulated when trying to rent a locker at the lagoon. The games were $2.50 to $3 each, which is criminal. We played air hockey a couple times and then skee ball. Carl dominated both, of course. If only we’d had enough money to play whack-a-mole, I would’ve been able to win something.

We went to the Irish pub. We were told the night before that trivia would be at 8pm. But, when we got there the sign said 9pm. We had plans for the next morning, and beer is expensive, and we are elderly, so we decided to go home and watch Friends instead.

Wednesday, June 1

We got an Uber to the Cairns railway station and collected our tickets for the 9:30am train. After the train in Machu Pichu and in Patagonia we were ready for another fully tourist, non-authentic train adventure to ‘the rainforest!’ The ticket came with a map and guide to tell us what we were going to see along the way, but they also announced it over the loudspeaker and, unlike real public transportation, you could actually here what the lovely voiced announcer was saying.

Even though the ride was 2 hours and the train car was warm with a breeze that could lull anyone to sleep, we managed to stay awake and listen to the guided tour the whole way. Perhaps the best part was going over the old bridge with the beautiful falls on the sheer rock wall next to us.

At one station, the train paused and we were allowed to get out to look at Barron Falls. The river was dammed so the falls are skinnier than natural, but during the wet season they let the dam overflow and the falls swell up, eroding the rocks around them. The effect is that, in the dry season, you can see the path for the falls and the different levels of pools.

Upon arrival at the adorable, vintage rail station (with some vintage staff working the vintage cafe) Karen got a delicious looking cheese sandwich (toastie) and a mango smoothie that I snuck a taste of. Then we strolled up the main street to look at the shops.

As we had feared, the tourist activity of ‘going to the rainforest’ was really take the train to a bunch of shops, that happen to be in the rainforest. But, there was lots of indigenous art (questionable how much was authentic) and opal shops, in addition to the cheesy tourist shops. Also we saw some familiar faces – the loud, belching couple that had been on the flight next to Karen had also taken the train to Kuranda for the day- small world!

Carl and I decided to pony up for a trip to the butterfly aviary. It was overpriced (duh) but an exceptional site. We’ve been to a couple of these butterfly houses now (key west, Peru,) and we think this one may have been the best. Right upon walking in we saw tons of beautiful butterflies.

I think our favorite butterfly was the Cairns Birdwing butterfly, the largest Australian butterfly. The female is brown but the male is as big as the palm of your hand and is bright blue and green. We saw a few of these flying around us, in addition to some very pretty blue ones, lots of yellow, and a few that had iridescent purple spots and may have been moths actually. There was also a caterpillar nursery and some Hercules moths emerging from their cocoons – those things are massive!!

Afterwards we met back up with Karen and went over to a burger place to get something to eat. We shared an Aussie burger that had a big slab of beet on it! Then I was hankering for an iced coffee but as we walked back toward the train station we found that all the cafes and restaurants were closed! Like any tourist place, they closed the same time all the day-trippers left. So, with nothing open and not enough time to do any kind of hike, we decided to head back.

On the way down we took the cable car. The system was identical to the teleférico we had ridden in La Paz and Medellin so the three of us had our positions and roles down (warn Karen when we are approaching the station).

We soared over the canopy, at first parallel to the river and then crossing over it- it was so cool! It was like being a drone over the rainforest. Then the cable car came to a station and we got out to look at the Barron Falls from the opposite side. The platform was built recently and the designer had decided to put a glass floor over the ledge.

Most of the tourists were not fans of this scary drop away and were tip-toeing around the edge while cursing under their breath. We enjoyed looking at the falls from the other side and decided they should really open up one of the waterfall pools as a swimming hole, in the dry season.

Back in the cable car and then we stopped at another spot for a nature walk. We walked out onto a wooden boardwalk that winds around massive trees. Signs described the competition for light that happens on the forest floor. Then we ran into a park ranger speaking to a group of tourists. He told us about the basket ferns that grow in the canopy and create their own soil and ecosystem, high up in the trees.

Walking back to the cable car we read some really well designed signs about Australia’s evolution. To summarize, when Pangea broke up ( 175 million years ago) it become two parts: Laurasia (North America and Asia) and Gondwana (everybody else). Eventually (85 million years ago) Australia drifted apart from the Gondwana team and about 43 million years ago started colliding with the Asian plate. Actual land didn’t touch again, but sea systems and islands did, so birds and fish mixed but mammals didn’t. This explains why Australia has such different (weird as) mammals and scary things, but many of the same fish and birds as in other parts of Southeast Asia.

We then took the cable car down the rest of the way, admiring the view of Cairns bay as we dropped down the cliff side again. At the base we got an Uber back to our Airbnb to drop Karen off and then Carl and I headed downtown to go to the dive shop. We signed our liabilities away and got fitted for gear, in preparation for a multi-day liveaboard trip the next day.

Then we walked over to a bar called The Pier that our Uber driver had recommended for their happy hour deals. They had the XPA on tap so we had two and then headed back to the house to make a dinner out of everything else left in the fridge.