Thursday, February 23, 2023
Because our excursion had been moved to 1:25 PM, we had plenty of time in the morning to explore the city’s portions closest to the ship in Cairns. Alongside the ship was the long building of a brewery, Hemingway’s. It wasn’t open yet, so we promised ourselves to visit it later on after our tour. We walked along the waterfront walkways, enjoying the fabulous views of Cairns Harbor and the parks along the Esplanade.
Cairns, which has a very tropical climate, is located in the extreme northern area of Queensland. It is the gateway to the Great Barrier Reef, but surrounding the city is the oldest rain forest on earth, with over 2,800 species of plants. From the port area, the city is beautiful and modern. As we walked the Esplanade, we came to a tunnel of enormous trees. Never in my life have I ever heard the calls of so many birds in one place, most of which I had never heard before. It sounded like the rain forest was right inside the city. Two gorgeous yellow birds I had never seen before were trying to fly out of a restaurant, which had plastic coverings over the windows, trapping them inside. Their chirps and songs were extraordinary.
Alongside the harbor, the city had created a huge “lagoon,” which was part of the waterside park. It had a sandy bottom and was very shallow. The waters in this area are too dangerous to swim because of the deadly box jellyfish (the world’s most venomous marine animal) and stingrays, so the locals were enjoying the cooling waters and fountains of the lagoon. Even if there were no box jellyfish, divers and snorkelers must wear protective diving suits because the coral will slice you up, like hundreds of paper cuts all over your body. The diving suits don’t last very long because they get sliced up so quickly.
We walked a bit into the city, with wide avenues for pedestrians, looking for shops. Woolworth’s sounded like a good place to start looking for items on our short shopping list. What an amazing store! I thought it would be clothing, but it was actually a gigantic grocery store, like a Publix, Whole Foods, and Fresh Market combined. We found a few things we were looking for, but what I enjoyed the most was gawking at the gorgeous fresh vegetables and fruit.
By now, the heat was starting to get to us. I took my shopping bag up to our room and freshened up, while Joan continued to shop, and Cliff enjoyed a beer at Hemingway’s. By the time Joan returned to have a beer herself, her face was beat red. Definitely the tropical heat at Cairns this time of year is a challenge.
We gathered with our tour group in the terminal and boarded an air conditioned bus that took us out of the city, through sugar cane fields, and up into the mountains. Like all other bus tours we have taken on this trip, the driver sped along the roads so rapidly, it was difficult to take in any sites. When we got to the curvy mountain roads, all I could do was pray I wouldn’t get car sick. Thank goodness I had taken Bonine right before boarding the bus!
Cairns and the surrounding rain forest are the natural habitat of the Cassowary, the world’s most dangerous bird. We have seen them in zoos before, but we didn’t catch site of any in the wild. This huge flightless bird, which weighs about 157 pounds, has a powerful downward kick that breaks bones and can easily kill you. They are endangered, so if someone accidentally hits one of the birds while driving or sees one dead on the road, it is required to report it so that the government can track the population. What’s very interesting is that the male cassowary actually incubates the eggs — not the female — for over 50 days.
The bus took us to Kuranda, a village in the rain forest, where there are many shops, a butterfly garden, the Skyway Rainforest Cableway, and many other sites. We had only one hour to get a refreshment, visit shops, and make it down the hill 400 meters to the Kuranda Scenic Railway. Unfortunately, we were only able to visit a couple of shops and get some ice cream (or in my case, the best strawberry gelato I have ever tasted, which was very refreshing) before heading to the train. I would have loved to have had more time to visit shops, especially one we passed, which had the most incredible, huge, brilliant blue opal pendants displayed in the windows. I discovered that Australia is famous for its opal mines.
Cliff and I love trains, so we were very excited about traveling the historic Kuranda Scenic Railway through the rain forest. Unfortunately, the guide assigned seats. She gave us single seats facing each other, on the right side of the train car. 95% of the all of the views were on the left side. We had to peer over the heads of fellow passengers to try to get a glimpse of the gorgeous valleys and the harbor below. The only photo we were able to get was of a lovely waterfall that was on the right hand side.
Mostly, though, we saw the mud, tree roots, and rocks of a hill on our right.
We were fortunate that our friend Joan was on the left side and shared some of her photos.
Additionally, the train did stop at one point so that we could get out and take photos of an incredible twin waterfall and river.
The train was refurbished original red-wooden heritage carriages, and open air. It was built between 1886 and 1891 to connect Cairns with the North Queensland goldfields. We passed by deep gorges, through rugged mountains and 15 tunnels, through Barron Gorge National Park, and crossed over 37 bridges.
Our train trip included all of the wine, beer or sodas that we wanted. I tried a truly excellent Pino Grigio that I would buy if I ever saw it in a store, Jacob’s Creek, Australia. They also gave us roasted almonds, and brought us each a little tray with delicious cheeses and dried fruit.
If you ever have the opportunity to take this train trip, be sure that you schmooze up with the tour guide and ask her to seat you on the left side (going forward). The Gold Class Train Trip was our most expensive tour that we purchased ahead of time for this trip, so we were exceptionally disappointed. The tour promised photo opportunities of breathtaking scenery, but we didn’t get that.
Before returning to the ship, we enjoyed wonderful fish and chips at Hemingway’s. It was probably the best fried fish I have ever had — with a crunchy seasoned crust and firm white reef fish.
The ship did not leave until 8:00 PM, so from our balcony we were able to enjoy the city lit up at night. Cairns is definitely one of my favorite stops so far, certainly because of the unique flavor of the city, but mostly because of the many exotic birds that made us feel as if we were walking through a faraway, remote rain forest — but it was right in the city!
Missing Darwin
Our next stop, after three sea days, was to be Darwin, Australia on February 27. However, not long after we left Cairns, the Captain announced that the winds were expected to be as high as 69 miles per hour during the time we were to be docking. The Coral Princess had made it into the harbor before we did, but the window for our arrival would be too dangerous to attempt.
This meant that it would be a total of seven days on very rough seas before we reached our next stop, Komodo Island.
So far, rough weather has prevented us from stopping at four places that were especially important to us: Picton, NZ; Wellington, NZ; New Plymouth, NZ; and Darwin, Australia. Rain made the stops at Tangalooma, Australia and Airlie Beach, Australia too difficult to enjoy as well. We are keeping our fingers crossed that we won’t miss any more ports, but of course, we are depending on the good graces of Mother Nature.
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