Cairns

Cairns is a funny place. It's branded a city, but then everywhere, according to the locals, is classed as a city. It cannot though deal with anything too specific, as we found out with the netbook, and relies upon its bigger neighbours down south to help out.



It's also and more obviously a tourist destination. Two million people arrive in Cairns each year just to visit the Great Barrier Reef! If diving's your bag, you go to Cairns. Don't forget Cape Tribulation and Kuranda too!




It's a shopping district. Due to the masses of high rise hotels, hostels, apartments that attract the people for business and pleasure, plenty of shops line the seafront and the nighttime markets and geared for everyone's needs.






It's also an ex-pat haven. Many Brits head to Cairns to enjoy the spoils of the hot weather and up to very recently the impressive exchange rate between the pound and the dollar. Needless to say this has now slowed! (We're only getting 1.7 dollars to the pound!)



It's also end of the line, or start of the line, for many backpackers. Deals including the free meals at the Woolshed bar for hostel users are commonplace...



...as are the $10 pitchers for televised matches such as the appauling England vs Slovenia match so watch out for some roudy-ish behaviour!!!






Fellow travellers that we bumped into weeks ago turned up out of the blue to form a mini-reunion...goon and all...and at one point we knew 6/8 people in an adjoining dorm just between here and Brisbane.



It's also home to loads of Australians and what a home it must be. The Esplanade, the walkway along the seafront is a marvellous feature that itself is home to memorials,




parks, benches, trees



and information boards about Cairns' history that are sensitively lit up at night.



At the far end is the Lagoon, a man made swimming area to protect the residents (and tourists) from the dangers out at sea (it was being refurbished when we were there!).



Behind that is more grassland for evening fitness classes, football kickarounds, picnics etc that looks out to sea but has its own toilet and changing areas.

It's a good place for foodies. Due to the cosmopolitan nature of the city, outside eating is the norm especially on the forward facing streets out to sea. Restaurants, takeaways, cafes for every budget can be found here and it seems like pizza is the city's favourite. Amber & I with Mel & Sophie were fortunate to be entertained by Anthony, another Whitsundays alumni member, who cheffed at one restaurant, with superb pizzas and ravioli with lamb & truffle oils!!!



It's a place for outside entertainment. The Esplanade was playing host to an event promoting local Aboriginal artwork and music by an organisation called UMI (You-Me). It was inspiring to hear of their work trying to break down some of the boundaries and prejudices between modern day Australia and modern day Aborigine communities.



So, to summarise Cairns, its just an allround great place. I loved it here.




The amount of outdoors living, be that socially or recreationally, is important to the people and seems too be recognised by the town authorities. There's plenty of activities going on within the community, but also provides an outlet for the more adventurous through scuba diving, skydiving, bungee jumping, you name it!



As with Poole & Bournemouth, the urban centre isn't very far from interesting natural countryside that can offer camping, 4WD, walks etc. It probably isnt that suprising that I like it here then :)

Emu Park

Emu Park could be considered as another unconventional decision to make to explore the country but as with Rocky where we had a great time, Emu Park proved to be just as good. The signs were good. Emu Park is a new addition to the Greyhound route, so new in fact that when we started booking what we wanted to do, the tour operator didn't have it on their list.

What was even better, that due to the location of the YHA hostel that we stayed in at Rocky, the Emu Park hostel being only 30mins away decided they'd be okay to come and pick us up for free. What a bargain...

A brand new minibus came specifically to pick us up driven by Pam, one of their workers who was a happy bunny all the way home to Emu Park chatting about films, photography, our trip, the weather etc. Instantly we were at ease.



The hostel was more than a hostel. It was a hotel along similar lines to Spanish apartments. A sparkly blue pool was the focus for the place with apartments either side looking down with a large kitchen/veranda/TV room at the top. Due to the winter months we had a 4 berth room with en suite all to ourselves so managed to charge everything in one go..more on this in a future post...

Our reasoning behind coming here was twofold; peace and quiet and the close proximity to the Capricorn Caves and the Dreamtime Cultural Centre, the largest in Australia.



The Dreamtime Centre was brilliant and the best taste of Aboriginal culture that we'd come across. A purpose built exhibition in an old hangar set in grounds with native trees and wildlife, set the scene and explained the Aboriginal culture including the importance of their stories, history and relationship with the country. It gave interesting insights into how Aboriginal life is fitting in to the modern day Australian thinking of conservation and ecology as well as how the two histories are being viewed as one in modern society.



One highlight was listening to our guide play the didgeridoo and explaining how circular breathing was the secret and how the shape and size of the instrument can create the various deep tones. It was set in an artificial cave that provided excellent acoustics.

The second highlight was learning to throw boomerangs. Both of us had a go but by the funniest example was Amber..Sit comfortably for this...





The afternoon was spent visiting the Capricorn Caves.



These spectacular caves located north of Rockhampton are a unique system of above-ground caves in a limestone ridge that give opportunity for group tours.



It was stunning with many 'rooms' appropriately lit showing different shapes inside the cave system. Each school trip finds new and exciting shapes in the rocks.





The darkness inside these caves once the lights were off was incredible. We had a group of lads with us on holiday who were a bit cheeky so can only imagine what they were getting up to!! The guide had a job with them!!!!



One of the photos not uploaded is of the largest 'cathedral' cave where weddings, concerts and other private events can take place. The acoustics naturally found in this cave are almost perfect and only a couple of points away from absolute perfect.



One of the days spent here was a write-off with persistant rain and cold winds so managed to catch up on reading with another day bright and sunny that allowed us to see the "Singing Sail", a modern piece of art high on the hill and walk along the secluded beach. Again, photo not uploaded but will try and sort :)