A Week in Cairns

We landed in Cairns around 12:45 and luckily didn’t have to wait around for our luggage so stepped outside into the humid night air we had all anticipated on our arrival in Australia two months earlier. Our hostel, the Koala Resort was a fifteen minute taxi ride away arriving around 1 am. Being that it was so late we got our key out of a security box outside the front door only to find it was to a room with only four beds for the five of us. We all ended up staying up a little later before Mallory and Mary-Beth went to bed while Julie, Brett and I stayed up all night. We walked just a short ways down to the beach to watch the sunrise before returning and preparing for our day at Fitzroy Island. We went down to the marina around 7:30 and met up with Keian, Mike, Ben, Tosha and Erica and we all left on the boat to Fitzroy Island at 8:00. It took about 45 minutes to get to the island through the very choppy water but it was all worth it as the island was beautiful. Our boat of no more than 100 people were essentially the only ones on the island. There’s a resort there that they’re doing restoration work to making it shut down so the only other people were the construction workers and people working in an outdoor café. We first went to a beach covered entirely in small coral which was right next to the dock but we kept walking through the forest for about 10 minutes and reached a beach named “Nudey Beach” (no implications) which was a sandy beach where we ended up staying. We had the beach basically to ourselves for most of the day as not too many people ventured down. We were a little skeptical about swimming because there was a sign warning of jellyfish in the water from October to May and we were there the last week of September but the water was too nice to stay away. In the afternoon Mike, Brett and I took a hike to the peak of the island which was a rigorous hike but very rewarding as we could see in all directions; from the islands surrounding us to crisp blue open ocean. We left the island around 4:30 and stopped by a restaurant on the esplanade for dinner before heading back to our hostel and the other group headed back to theirs. Everyone went out later that night to check out the town but I was too exhausted so stayed in.

The following morning we got picked up at 4:15am to go hot air ballooning. We got to the sight a little before sunset and saw them “blowing up” the balloons, which was really neat to see. There were two balloons each holding 20 people and we set off still before the sun had risen. The pilot was telling us they don’t have much control over horizontal direction, only vertical by using the fire. There are different wind patterns at different heights that they get in and communicate with the other balloon about at what height they’re at. The whole experience was amazing, just floating up in air to about 4,000 feet and watching the sun come up over some mountains. We were in flight for about half an hour and landed not even close to where we started as the pilot has no idea where he’ll land until he descends close enough to the ground and spots an open area and calls it into some guys to pick us up. After our flight there was another flight that we waited around for and then helped them pack up the balloon before heading back to a museum where we had a buffet breakfast. At breakfast they had any animal keeper come in and show some of his animals and with him he had a spotted quall, a while owl, a large bird that’s related to the bald eagle and a baby crocodile and we were able to hold the crocodile and the owl. The quall was about the size of a cat with a longer tail and they’re trying to get it domesticated here in Australia. We arrived back in Cairns before noon and met up with Erica for lunch and the six of us went to a lagoon for the day which was near the marina and was filled with both ocean and chlorinated water. Cairns itself is a very touristy place, with many hostels, restaurants and shops around, although the “center” of town isn’t that huge nor much different than the rest of the city. There are a few square blocks of things to do but where we were staying, only two blocks from the center as pretty much the end of the shops. That night we went to a place called the Woolshed for dinner and drinks and we got a coupon from our hostel for $10 for a meal, drink and desert and the food was pretty good. This was the last day the other group was in Cairns with the exception of Mike who was staying to do a 3 day, 2 night scuba diving trip.

Thursday was another jam packed day but enjoyable as well. We got picked up early in the morning again to head up to Cape Tribulation which is where a portion of the rainforest is and is much quieter than Cairns. This was a guided tour with stops along the way and our first stop was at an animal sanctuary. There we saw many of the animals we had seen before but they never get old as seen by the countless pictures I continued to take of kangaroo’s. This time the kangaroo’s came right up to us and were very lively unlike the other places we had seen them and there was even one with a baby in its pouch which I had yet to see. There were many of them small and large and were just roaming around their huge caged area among emu’s, ducks and various other animals. There were a few tree kangaroo’s which look like a cross between a wallaby and a possum and live in trees in the rainforest only in Northeastern Queensland and New Guinea. We also saw a variety of birds, one of which being a cassowary which is the third largest flightless bird and considered the most dangerous bird in the world and is also a very rare bird. After hopping back into the van we went a little further and got out and walked through the rainforest and started to learn about all the hurtful or deadly things that live in there. There’s the “wait-a-while” which starts as a vine and grows spikes on it that if you brush up against it, it can scrape your skin and it will puncture you before you break the spikes. There’s also a leaf with similar qualities with thousands of tiny spikes on it which will stay in you if you brush against it and the best way to remove them is by getting it waxed like a leg wax. If not treated quickly, any small change in body temperature will re-irritate it for at least 3 months. It’s known to be the most excruciating pain that won’t kill you. Luckily, the area’s we walked through were all regulated and the paths were clear of both of these, with the only exception being the 1 they kept slightly off the path to show us. We made our way through the forest and came upon a swimming hole in a river where many of us went for a swim. It reminded me of swimming back home in Vermont but this water was so fresh you could literally drink straight from it, it was that pure. The local village had a pipe coming straight from the river directly to their town with no filtration. After a quick swim we continued north and went on a boat to look for crocodiles. We spotted three of them, all along the edge of the water and one being a baby. Afterwards we continued on to where we were staying at the Cape Tribulation Beach House and arrived around 4:30 in the afternoon. It was just like staying at summer camp with the huts really being more like cabins and a communal bathroom but we really didn’t need anything special for just the one night. We walked down to the beach and sat for a little while before going for a swim in the pool. We had learned about two types of jellyfish in the area, one that’s so small you can’t see and will sting you 100 times and once you realize you’ve been stung you have 15 minutes to live while the other larger one is very painful and again can lead to death. After that we stayed out of the ocean for the rest of the trip. We ate dinner at the bistro right next to the beach and I had a type of fish called the Barramundi which is native to the area and was delicious.

Friday we went to a zip-line place about 15 minutes from where we were staying. It was up in the rainforest and we went on four separate lines, going from one platform to the next. For the first two, two of us went at a time but the other two we did alone and the last one we were able to do upside down. It started to rain a little when we started but luckily that only lasted for about 5 minutes. After the zip-line we got dropped off at a separate hostel down the road from where we were staying to get some lunch but they didn’t have anything we wanted so we walked along the beach back to our place. The walk was much longer than we anticipated but we weren’t in much rush to get back because there wasn’t much around to do. Along the beach were hundreds of small holes with sand balls around them, often in a certain pattern and we finally figured out they were made from small white crabs but some of the designs they made were really interesting. We headed back around 4:30 and about half an hour down the road there were two cassowaries crossing. Our tour guide from the day before had said they are very rare to see in the wild, even some natives had never seen them so this was a very rare occurrence and if someone were see one and hit them with a car it’s a $75,000 fine. Once we got back we went back to the Woolshed for dinner and then to a hostel called Shenanigans which had a bar and live music.

On Saturday we went out to the Great Barrier Reef which was absolutely amazing. It was about a 2 hour boat ride out to our first stop which was an island surrounded by birds. The island had actually been made by bird droppings and became their habitat so only a small portion of the island can be used as to not ruin their home. We did a glass bottom boat tour which drove around the reef so we could see different coral and fish that lived there. Afterwards Brett and I did an introductory dive which we went down a meter in the water with scuba equipment on and stayed under for about 10 minutes before resurfacing and it was really cool. We didn’t have time to go back out snorkeling like the others did so went back in the boat and had lunch. About an hour later we were off again to our second destination in the middle of the ocean and went snorkeling over a portion of the reef which was beautiful. The reef was very colorful and diverse and there were lots of different fish as well. In some spots the reef only about 2 feet below us so we were able to see a lot. After being able to snorkel for about 45 minutes we headed back to the boat and back to the port. There was a special dinner meal that night at our hostel so we ate there and met up with Mike who was back from his scuba trip for a few drinks.

Sunday we had another guided tour for the day, this time up to the tablelands. These are high up in the mountains next to Cairns where the forest on the drive up turns into the rainforest. Unfortunately not too soon into the day my camera broke so I was unable to take pictures but thanks to the digital age I can take some pictures from the rest of the group. Our first stop was at a fig tree nicknamed the “Cathedral Fig Tree” because it reminds you of a cathedral. It was formed over hundreds of years and I believe is made by birds dropping seeds in the tops of trees and then the roots running down and around the tree to the ground and then stealing the nutrients from the original tree and suffocating it with it eventually dying leaving it essentially hollow and then this process being duplicated many times. Our next stop was at a lake for a picnic style lunch and then a few of us went swimming for a short while before moving on. The next stop was an amazing one at a place called Milla Milla Falls which is the most photographed waterfall in the world with a height according to wikipedia as 18.3m high which is about 60 feet. A few more of us went swimming this time and we were able to swim underneath the waterfall to a pile of rocks to go to on the other side. We stayed just a short while longer before moving on again. Our final stop was at an enormous gorge in the rainforest and then to another swimming area. This swimming area was just down the river from the Milla Milla Falls and the water was very cold as well. There was a tiny waterfall here that we went under and behind it was a cave but not a very big one. We got back on the bus and made one final stop at a hostel to drop some people off before heading back into Cairns, finishing our day around 7pm. We went out and got dinner and then stayed out for a little while longer before calling it a night.

Monday was our final day in Cairns. Since we had booked our flights at separate times we were not all on the same flight. Brett left early in the day around 10am and he and I went out for a coffee before he left. After he left the four of us went out for breakfast and then wandered around Cairns a little before going to the lagoon to hang out and enjoy the sun. Mallory left around 5 so Julie, Mary-Beth and I went and got ice cream and stayed by the pool at the hostel before we had to leave. We picked up dinner at the airport before boarding and arrived in Melbourne around 11:45, right before Mallory’s flight got in (she had a layover in Sydney). This time we had to check our bags through but luckily didn’t have to pay a fee for doing so, although we did have to wait an extra half hour at the airport for our luggage. Our only way to get home was by taxi which ended up costing about $80 although split 4 ways wasn’t too bad.

Overall the trip was amazing. It was fairly exhausting at some points but in the end was all worth it. My favorite part of the trip was probably snorkeling on the reef but everything else we did was truly amazing as well. We all had a great time and didn’t regret a single thing we did. I will surely remember this trip over the course of my lifetime.

*Here’s my photo’s from Cairns: Click here and here.

I’ll post some photos that other people took soon on a separate place.