Cairns is way up yonder in what is known as Far North Queensland. I landed and it was a bit hazy, and cloudy, but warm and humid. Palm trees abounded. My hostel was right on the Esplanade, the boardwalk if you will. Further south from my hostel was all the main tourist area, more hostels, loads of restaurants, bars and the reef fleet terminal. Thats where all the boats headed out from.
Cairns is a gateway city. Its a gateway to the reef, the rivers and the rainforest. Apart from spending money to leave Cairns, there isn't a whole lot to do. It is situated on a mudflat bay so there isn't a nice beach. There is the 'Lagoon' which is an artificial children's area that is right downtown. And there are barbies throughout the Esplanade area and Zoomba in the main green two nights a week, but no museums to speak off. The botanical gardens are a ways out of town as well. So Cairns is a gateway. Which was fine by me. I needed a gateway to the reef. And on one of my free days I wanted a gateway to the Tully River to go whitewater rafting.
Unfortunately, Far North Queensland in February is tropical monsoon season. So while my first trip was gorgeous and sunny, my second one had a bit of rain, and my days in Cairns were thoroughly drenching. The road to the river was under about a meter of water the morning I tried to go rafting. So I was told to go back to bed. I was pretty disappointed by that, but my wallet was grateful.
As a gateway, Cairns gets a lot of international travelers. Hostels abound and it seems there are more non Australians than there are Australians. They even had Blondie selling Corona and margaritas.
Whereas the hostel in Sydney had its own cheap backpackers bar, the majority of the Cairns hostels share a single central bar. The bar provides free or half price meals for anyone staying in a hostel. So I could have had a free dinner each night. But that would be a little boring. But, the Woolshed had meals each night, drink specials and a themed party. And a pretty strong reputation for being where all the hostel children spend many a night going too hard.
But in my rainy down time I did get to see the city pretty thoroughly, at least the water front area. The Catholic church is home to the largest themed stain glass windows in the world. This is just a quarter of it.
The Pacific International Hotel had a restaurant called Bushfire which was a Brazilian place. For one, admittedly a bit steep, price, you sit down at a table and are given a small set of sides. After that, waiters holding skewers of meat wander the floor offering you slices. And you can keep on asking for more. Its an all you can eat, slice it at your table, meat buffet. I went the night I got off the boat which was a mistake since I had lunch. Should have gone for an early dinner and skipped lunch one day. But for about an hour I sat eating slices of pork, beef, lamb, chicken, ribs, chorizo and for dessert, grilled pineapple. It was pretty fantastic. Cairns also has heaps of flying foxes. Which are absurdly loud, even in the day time. There is a tree that is a nursery in the center of town, and walking up to it you think its just birds. But no, its the screams of countless large bats.
In addition to the bats, which I don't think can kill you outright, along the Esplanade were signs like this:
This gist of it is, a crocodile lives here. It will eat you whole. Stay away. And thats just at the gateway. There is still the reef to get to. Oh Australia, you are a strangely potentially hazardous place.
No comments:
Post a Comment