Cairns: Four Days in Paradise

Hey all!  I suppose I should let you know how the rest of my trip went.  The second part took place in Cairns, Queensland.

Sunrise over the Pacific

Day 4

We flew up on Easter Sunday to Cairns, one of the most northerly cities in Australia.  Cairns is well known for its location close to the center of the Great Barrier Reef.  It's also located at the edge of the rainforest, so it's quite a place to visit.

The first night we stayed at a hostel in town.  It was quiet and a bit removed from the city center, but it was well needed after the hustle and bustle of Sydney.  We got food in town and walked around downtown a bit.  The weather was great: a couple showers here and there, but in the mid to high 20's C (low 80's F).

Day 5

Camping:  Rainforest and Beach style

The next day we met up with our friend Dani who lives at St. Mary's with us.  She was gracious enough to let us stay with her as she lives in Kuranda, a small town a half hour from Cairns.  The first day Dani and a couple of her friends took us to Ellis Beach for some camping on the beach.  I've never camped on a beach before, it was so cool!  We went swimming, cooked spaghetti and had a campfire that night.  The stars at night were incredible.  You can see the whole milky way and the southern cross.

Day 6

I woke up early in the morning to watch the sunrise, too.  Northern Queensland is just full of natural beauty.  We had a lazy morning, made some pancakes and had another swim.  Then we went back into town to do a bit of shopping and walking around Cairns in the day time.

After shopping, we drove up to Kuranda, which is in the mountains surrounding Cairns.  The road to Kuranda is an 8 mile long, twisting, curving, steep, treacherous pathway cut out through the forest.  It felt like riding on a roller coaster.  Once we arrived safely at the top, we enjoyed the hospitality of  Dani's parents who made us dinner and entertained us for the night.  We had a quiet night in, just relaxing and enjoying being in a home and not a hostel.

Winding road to Kuranda

Day 7

Dive day!!!  We hopped onto a catamaran owned by Passions of Paradise and took a two hour trip to the outer reef.  While the day started nice, we had some inclement weather and a rocky ride to our dive site.  When we reached there, however, the rain let up and we had a pleasant day for a dive.  We each had two dives, Dani and me being certified divers and American Dani and Susan doing intro dives.  There was so much to see!  Here's just a little taste of what we saw at the bottom.

We also did some skin diving (snorkeling) and saw some beautiful coral and sea creatures as well.  But  nothing quite beats the experience of diving.  Hopefully I'll make my way back up to Cairns to do some more diving!

Dani and Susan before their dive!

Relaxing on the catamaran

Another trip back, this time we sailed because the wind was to our backs.  Once safely on land again, we went to Dani's friend Sam's place to make tacos.  I've been missing tacos; they don't have much mexican food here, so I'll take whatever I can get.  Afterward, another quiet night.

Day 8

 Our second travel day, we had enough time in the morning to travel on the SkyRail from Kuranda to Cairns.  It's a gondola service which gives pristine views of the rainforest and mountains.   We even went up into the clouds for a bit.  It was beautiful.

That afternoon we said goodbye to Dani and thanked her for her generosity for showing us around Cairns.  It was a great experience and we couldn't have asked for a better four days.  We left on an airplane for Brisbane to experience another adventure.

One more leg to go!  Up next: Fraser Island, largest sand island in the world.

Cheers!
Paul