Travelled 99 kms today @ 90 kph. Troy drank 15.2 litres/100kms.
Back onto Highway 1, only this time on the Captain Cook Highway that hugged the beautiful blue coastline to Cairns. The city of Cairns has a population of over 120,000 and is growing rapidly. As we were in the height of the tourist season and based on good reviews on WikiCamps, we pre-booked Cairns Coconut Holiday Resort (note the absence of the words ‘Caravan Park’). Upon arrival, we were a little bit nervous staying in a place that had odd-looking little electric cars with rather large cartoon characters on their roofs alongside a large playground with screaming kids, however we were pleasantly surprised. Our site was away from the screaming kids in the pool, the helpful girls at check-in were a delight, and the amenities were very high spec (I commented to Jan that the ablution block was nearly better than what we had at home). Mind you, it was a little unsettling to see a Campers Kitchen with immaculately maintained industrial stoves, ovens, and freezers… certainly not what I would call roughing it! After setting up Dora at the swish resort, we went to explore the city.
The local swimming pool on the Cairns foreshore was very popular, and the lovely sprawling boardwalk along the waterfront is best enjoyed when the tide is in; otherwise it’s a view out to mudflats. Although hot and humid during the summer months, the payback for Cairns locals’ is the beautiful warm winter months. While we were here, we heard that the rest of Australia was experiencing extremes of cold weather, with snow falling in many places for the first time. Even Cairns’ locals were saying how cold they were, which I thought was a bit rich given it was sunny here and around 24° (apparently they usually enjoy around 27° this time of the year). We bought a kilo of freshly cooked tiger prawns from the good ship ‘Prawn Star’ in the harbour, Jan knocked up a terrific tropical green salad which included pineapple that we bought from the Port Douglas market, complemented it with a fresh crusty loaf and an icy cold Rosé and presto, another great culinary delight!
The next day we took a train ride aboard the Kuranda Scenic Railway along the ancient rainforest to Kuranda village, 1000 feet above Cairns. The train’s creaking, rumbling, rolling, and at times screeching climb up the hillside was a whimsical journey back in time, and we marvelled at the engineering and physical feat in building this Cairns-Kuranda Railway back in the 1880s.
Upon arriving at Kuranda, we enjoyed a leisurely walk around the Heritage Markets where I savoured the world’s hottest chilli (according to the 2011 Guinness World Records), before wolfing down a double-scoop of Norgen Vaaz ice cream to extinguish the pain. We stumbled onto an unusual plane wreck in the middle of the old markets, which was actually freighted in by a budding entrepreneur in 1983. We then trekked through world heritage listed ancient rainforest in Barron Gorge National Park, where the spirit of Buda-dji is said to live on. Buda-dji is the Carpet Snake who, in the aboriginal people’s Dreamtime legend, carved out the Barron River and creeks that join onto it, from the coast to the Tablelands. We took a scenic journey on the Skyrail which gave us spectacular views and a rainforest canopy experience on our way back down to the flat coastal land to end a great day!
TOP TIP: Take a tour to experience the ancient culture and traditions of the area’s rich Aboriginal culture, combined with the oldest living rainforest on the planet. Beautiful Mossman Gorge near Port Douglas has a couple of highly informative local aboriginal tours daily, and there is also Tjapukai Aboriginal Cultural Park near the Cairns Skyrail.
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