October 25, Cairns Australia
A century ago, Cairns (pronounced “kanz”) was a wild-west style gold rush town. The pioneer legacy lingers in the city’s airy, plantation style buildings. But modern Cairns also has a first-class wharf and the international airport is just a short drive away.
There is a wide Esplanade along the river front lined with picnic tables, a park area, jogging and bicycle paths, and inviting benches. The northern part of the city is located on Trinity Bay and the city center on Trinity Inlet. Some of the city’s suburbs are located on fertile flood plains while its center is located on a mud flat.
The city has developed into a railhead and major port for the exportation of sugar cane, gold, precious metals, and agricultural industries from the surrounding regions, and is the stopping off place for tourists interested in snorkeling or diving on the Great Barrier Reef (GBR).
We arrived at 5pm, ate dinner and walked into town for a short evening stroll. As we left the dock area we were met by two of the local bird population also taking an evening stroll. Continuing on we walked along the Esplanade and found the Central Market area, where we spent some time looking around. While we didn’t buy anything there they did have some pretty good deals on various T-shirts and other items. “Authentic” Australian stuff however seemed very expensive.
The next morning we were off the ship around 7am to walk down to meet our boat for our GBR snorkel trip. While it was about a 2.5 hour ride out it was worth every minute of it. We had a beautiful day with smooth seas, very few clouds, and clear water. In fact the sun was so bright that underwater photography was difficult. But we did manage to get a few good pictures while there, including one of Sharon actually hand feeding some batfish!
We spent about 2.5 hours there, had a really nice lunch and then departed back to the ship. On the trip back they served up some cheese and crackers, fruit, and wine. All in all we really enjoyed it, After getting back and finding out how disappointed some folks that had booked HAL’s GBR tour were, we would suggest that anyone coming here do your research and book your own tour. They are much cheaper and go where the fish and good coral are.
Next is two days at sea as we make our way down the coastline to Brisbane, where we have hop-on hop-off tickets and will wander around on our own.
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