A Few Days in Tropical Paradise
Photos:
Cairns City
Cycling Cairns
Green Island (Great Barrier Reef)
Kewarra Beach
Palm Cove
Trinity Beach
Maps:
Visiting Cairns in far north Queensland, about 2,400 Km north of Sydney, is like being in a different world. With temperatures around 30 degrees every day (even in springtime) and a high rainfall, Cairns and surrounding district is truly a tropical paradise.
We have just returned from a fabulous five days there last week. Melveta was attending a conference there on Thursday and Friday, but with lots of good, safe bike paths around Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef just a short cruise away, there were plenty of ways to entertain myself.
I couldn’t have picked a better day on Thursday for the Big Cat Green Island Reef Cruise, with clear blue skies and around 30 degrees Celsius. There is no shortage of things to do on Green Island, with good snorkelling, flat bottom glass boats and semi-submarines to view the tropical fish and coral, rain forest boardwalk, paragliding, helicopter rides, and a beautiful beach (although this was closed for a while during the afternoon because of a hammerhead shark sighting).
On Friday I hired a reasonable hybrid bike from Cairns Scooter and Bicycle Hire and enjoyed a 48 Km ride around some of the great bike paths in Cairns.
But the highlight of our few days was on Saturday when our good friends Robynne and Howard picked us up and gave us a fabulous tour of Palm Cove and the neighbouring district including Yorkeys Knob, Trinity Beach, and Kewarra Beach. We had a most enjoyable lunch at Vivo Bar & Grill on the beachfront at idyllic Palm Cove then finished up with coffee at their delightful nearby house that they only moved into a week ago. It was so good to catch up with them and I am so pleased they have found such a beautiful place to spend their retirement.
With all the mangroves and mud flats surrounding Cairns, crocodiles are in abundance. I did not get to see any in the wild, but perhaps it was just as well! My only other disappointment was not having time to experience the Kuranda Train and Skyrail, but there will definitely be another time to do so.
Sounds like a great week Kevin. We went to Low Islands from Port Douglas when we visited FNQ a few years back. Peter
Yes it was a great week, more so for me than Melveta who was attending a conference on the Thursday and Friday. I enjoyed cycling around Cairns on the good bike tracks and the cruise to Green Island was good.
Right now I am sitting in the departure lounge at Kuala Lumpur, where I have to wait another 4 hours until the next leg to Seoul. I have 4 days of sight-seeing there before starting my ride to Busan on Monday. Hopefully the bike will get to Seoul in one piece!
Yes Kev I spend my time in a very cold air condition room over loading my brain with all the medical knowledge that it contain while you rode off in the beautiful sunshine paradise. I did make up for it when we were picked up and shown around by Robyn and Howard. How sweet of them to show us a bit of Cairns. Love the place, we will return for a holiday next time. Love Melx