Queensland, Australia
We have now spent seven nights in Cairns and enjoyed the weather immensely and found the city very picturesque, set against the backdrop of mountains, amidst colourful tropical plants. Cairns has a population of around 150,000. Maybe a little more! The web tells me that the polulation was 142,500 in June 2012. A brochure says the same amount, but the tourist guide told us on Sunday it was 181,000. Who knows? A few working in the tourism industry on Sunday, didn't get too many gold stars from me, but more of that later.Many people now live here and the city has always had a cosmopolitan population and from around the 1960's, a huge tourism industry. In the 1950's tourism was almost non existent. Is it the only city in Australia to have seven 'Sister Cities'? I wonder? The first was with a city in Japan in 1969 and the last was with another city in Japan in 2006. Interesting! Our drive from Port Douglas to Cairns on the 'Captain Cook Highway' was very scenic. A little like the Great Ocean Road, but far more trees on the edge of the 'Captain Cook Highway', so one only caught glimpses of the ocean.
We stopped at the 'Rex Lookout' which provided very nice panoramic views. The Lookout was named after a Chairman and Councillor of the Douglas Shire, who was an early advocate of the 'Captain Cook Highway' being constructed. The highway was officially opened in December 1933. So this 50 kilometres of ocean road was before the Great Ocean Road was constructed. Sounds like it could be worth a little more research! I think at times Peter thought he was on the GOR again!Whoops! Nearly forgot to record that we went to the 'Wildlife Habitat' on Tuesday morning, before leaving Port Douglas. It was really worth the visit. Lots of opportunity for bird photography and 'The Big Bird'! Here she is....the best of my Cassowary photos. Her name is 'Cass'. I love this info from the 'Habitat' as well: 'It's a Woman's World'. The female is larger than the male. The female is more brightly coloured than the male. The female usually only associates with males during the breeding season June to October.
The female can produce with a number of different males during the breeding season. The female will lay on average 4 eggs with each male and then leave the male to incubate them from 47-56 days. The father then looks after the chicks for 9 to 18 months, defending them and teaching them to forage.We saw the 'Black - necked Stork' as they now call the Jabiru. The 'Wildlife Habitat' is the only place to have a pair nesting. They feed on fish, frogs and crabs, stabbing and snapping with their large bills. These birds soar to great heights on warm air currents. When breeding they build huge stick nests in the tops of trees. We have stayed at the 'Cairns Holiday Park' on the north side of Cairns, which is a Top Tourist Park. They had a special, stay for 7 and pay for 6 and the cost of $36.00 a night including the discount, is very reasonable. It is a lovely park, although you can't be in the Wet Tropics without lots of trees and Peter borrowed a high ladder on two mornings, to clean the roof of the van. The gardens are very lush and there is plenty of colour.I can't believe it has taken us seven days to get a photo of our first BIG Aussie Queensland Icon. And....It is 'Captain Cook'. He stands high on 'Captain Cook Highway', looking to the south. We have gone past him plenty of times, but we have always been on the wrong side of the road, or there hasn't been anywhere to park. But on Monday it was 'Must Do Day'! Monday we also did the full walk of the Boardwalk down on the Esplanade.
It is really lovely what the Council has done with this area, especially the swimming lagoon. It is a very nice recreational area. The wharf area we checked out the first day we arrived. I wonder how Peter managed to find his way there? He always seems to manage to check out the wharf area wherever we are! We also visited the Catholic Cathedral on Monday. Ronda had given me a couple of tourist tips, and the 'doozy bus driver' had also told us the stained glass was very good and well worth a visit. Unfortunately though in doing so, we had to have another of his jokes! The stained glass in the Cathedral was really something and we were also treated to some young school girls practising for a recital. The accoustics in the church were quite something as well.On Monday we were to have done the Kuranda train ride and the Skyrail and we were going to have a leisurely stroll on the Esplanade for Fathers Day and maybe a meal somewhere. At 7.15am we got a call from the office at the Caravan Park, to say the Skyrail would be shut on Monday, so did we want to do our tour Sunday or Tuesday? We didn't want to stay another day, so Sunday it had to be. There was a bit of a scramble to be ready and on the bus by 8.30am!It was actually the last day of the Cairns Festival on Sunday, so it would have been nice to take in some of the festivities, but things don't also work as you'd planned. We did see some of the artwork on our walk on Monday though.
I had thought we were going to have three 'Wow' Monday's in a row! When the day changed, I thought "Well now we are going to have three 'Wow' days in a week"! But the day didn't tick all the boxes for me. Peter says "It didn't help that I had a bit of a cold and wasn't feeling so well"! But I'm not convinced that was the only reason.To start with the guy driving the bus was a real 'doozy'! Probably in his sixties and he had one of his kids helping him with the bookwork and he would have only been about fifteen. He said "He had got lots of presents for Fathers Day". So we presume he must have lots of kids! His jokes were pretty bad and we couldn't determine what was fact and what was fiction! I think the fact that he had had two skin cancers cut from his leg three weeks ago, at the new Cairns hospital, that cost 460 million, was true. He had told us six times about his leg, by the end of the day! And he only took us to the train and picked us up from the Skyrail!The Kuranda train host in the 'Gold Class' carriage was having a 'Bad Day' Pete reckons.
She was 'doozy' as well! Not with it at all! We paid extra to be 'Gold Class' passengers and we had lovely seats and a yummy morning tea. We could have started drinking wine or beer at 10.00am.It was and amazing accomplishment for those gangers who built the Kuranda railway line in the late 1880's. They began construction on the railway line in 1886, with up to 1500 men at a time working, armed with only picks, shovels and dynamite. The men had to provide their own tools. Almost 3 million cubic metres of earth was removed from the unforgiving landscape to build the 37 kilometres of track. It was officially opened in 1891 to serve the bustling mining industry. There were 15 hand-made tunnels that were cut through the mountain, the longest being 460 metres, the last one we went through. There were 40 bridges and 98 curves. There was a nice waterfall at 'Stoney Creek' beside the track. The train stopped at 'Barron Falls' for 10 minutes, to enable a photo shoot. It was only another five minutes from there to 'Kuranda Railway Station'.
We arrived there just after 11.00am, having left Cairns Central at 9.30am.The carriages of the 'Kuranda Scenic Railway' are pulled by locomotives adorned in colourful 'Buda Dji' colours. The painting has been created by George Riley, a local artist, and it portrays the legends of 'Buda-Dji' the carpet snake, said to have carved out the Barron Gorge. The 'Barron Hydro Elecricity Scheme' is also at Barron Falls. The concept for construction of a hydroelectric power station on the Barron River was first suggested in 1906. It was nearly 30 years before completion was realised. It was the first underground power station in Australia and supplied the Cairns area with electricity for 28 years. It had a major upgrade in 1963 and further work in 2006.We had over 3 hours to wander around the little settlement of Kuranda which has become a tourist attraction with its seven day markets and other tourist attractions. Heritage buildings are now home to cafes and restaurants, galleries, shops, handcrafted pieces and Aboriginal artefacts.
The aboriginal building was unusual with a very nice display of the locals work for sale. They all have a large price tag these days, but we did actually buy a boomerang and a small canvas painting. The artist we chose had actaully done the mural on the wall outside. Kuranda is 1,000 feet above Cairns. The first Europeans settled in Kuranda in 1885. The first wave of settlement was based on timber felling, agriculture and grazing. Kuranda soon became known though as a tourist destination. It was 'The health resort of North Queensland'. It was a cool mountain retreat away from the hot humid conditions of the tropical coast. The Kuranda lifestyle prompted a 'hippy invasion' in the 1960's. The alternative lifestyle movement provided the base for vibrant arts and crafts that gave Kuranda its first 'market economy'.There is quite a bit of unusual street art as well. One shop sells old fashioned candy. There was an aboriginal playing the didgeridoo, and he put up his hand for no photos.
I wasn't even going to take a photo! I was more interested in the candy shop! We visited the beautiful butterfly tourist attraction whilst in Kuranda. What a challenge it is to try and get a photo of a 'Ulysses Butterfly'. They are so vibrant, but only colourful whilst they are flying, because as soon as they land, they close their wings up and they are black! Now to the Skyrail! It was good, except for the final leg which should have been the best! Coming down the mountain from 'Red Peak'. There are two places where you can get off the Skyrail. At Barron Falls and Ped Peak. We paid extra to have a 'Diamond View Gondolas'. This gave us a glass floor, so we had great views of the rainforest below as well. There are 114 Gondolas and only 10 of them are Diamond View. We were told we should give ourselves plenty of time for the ride back. Well it wasn't an issue as there wasn't very many people who had paid the extra, and the queue for our gondolas was one tenth the length of the other.
All went well until Red Peak.At Red Peak you have to change anyway, as that cable comes up the mountain and back down again. So we went for a walk around the boardwalk and came back and got into our queue again. There were two in front of us who were not young, but then not old either! Still young enough to be kissing and cuddling! When the 'Diamond View Gondolas' arrived the guy told them to get in and before we knew it, he had us in there too! Of course it was us who had our backs to the view! I'm sure we spoilt their fun going down as well! Peter reckoned he was probably going to join 'The Mile High Club'. The other guy I'm talking about, certainly wouldn't be Pete! So we strained our necks and enjoyed what we could of the view! I was so annoyed. Why didn't I react quicker and tell him "No way"? So no gold stars for three people working in the tourism industry on Fathers Day 2014. But we did finish off Fathers Day by going out to dinner at the 'Bushfire Flame and Grill' on the Esplanade.
Ronda had told me about the restaurant and it was great. No 'Bo Jangles' in Alice Springs (although we have since read it is going to re-open Ronda), but our meal in Cairns was tops. We haven't dined out very much at all whilst we have been travelling and this meal really hit the spot. It was an 'Aussie Churrasco'. 'Churrasco' originated in Brazil. Brazilian cowboys would sit around the campfire and BBQ meat on skewers over a fire pit. The turning of the skewers served to baste the meats, resulting in a succulent evenly cooked creation. The carvers came around to the tables offering seasoned and marinated selections. There certainly was no shortage of it. And then to finish we had 'Aussie Style' flame grilled pineapple with cinnamon sugar. Yummy! We had seconds of that!
Finally, and this blog does seem to be all over the place, we had a BIG mud crab for entree on our last night, Monday. We have purchased quite a few feeds of seafood whilst in Cairns. Delicious fish, prawns and oysters! Peter had been eying off the mud crabs. He just had to try one! Not sure if it was good enough for the $40.00 he paid for it though! But it was a different way to celebrate visiting another town in our adventure of 'Travelling Oz'. 18 photos
2025-05-22