Our Itinerary
| 4/06/2021 | Fri | Sydney 6.05am to Cairns 9.10am | |
| 5/06/2021 | Sat | Cairns to Port Douglas | |
| 6/06/2021 | Sun | Port Douglas | |
| 7/06/2021 | Mon | Port Douglas to Cape Tribulation | |
| 8/06/2021 | Tues | Cape Tribulation to Daintree to Mosman Gorge | |
| 9/06/2021 | Wed | Mosman Gorge to Port Douglas to Great Barrier Reef | |
| 10/06/2021 | Thurs | Port Douglas to Palm Cove | |
| 11/06/2021 | Fri | Palm Cove to Kuranda to Palm Cove | |
| 12/06/2021 | Sat | Cairns 10.15am to Sydney 1.10pm | |
Friday 4th June, 2021
Sydney to Cairns
Our trip starts at Sydney’s Kingsford Smith Airport but at the less exciting Domestic Terminal. We were lucky to get direct flight to Cairns since a lot of them have an annoying Brisbane stop-over.
Also lucky to have a very early morning start which means we’ll have nearly a whole day when we arrive. So, at 6am we take off in the dark on Jetstar Airlines for the three-hour trip. A window seat means that we have wonderful views of the coastline as we head north but Covid rules mean that we all have to wear the dreaded face masks the whole time – a small price to pay for being able to fly even though not overseas as yet.
In fact, the only reason we’re doing this trip is because of the overseas flight restrictions. Otherwise, we’d be on our way to Thailand or somewhere else in our beloved South-East Asia.
This is another Australian destination that we thought we’d leave till we’re old (even though I already am, ha ha). But then we absolutely loved our Darwin trip and our Uluru trip that we managed to fit in last year despite all the Covid screwups.
Anyway, we’ll be able to tick this off our bucket list although I don’t think it ever was until we just added it – ha ha. But I’m sure the Great Barrier Reef is on most people’s lists and that should definitely be a highlight.
The flight goes quickly and it’s wonderful to have clear blue skies especially as we make our descent to Cairns situated on the east coast of the Cape York Peninsula and nestled between the Coral Sea and the Great Dividing Range. I like that we’re seeing all these places that we both remember learning about in primary school geography days.
So now we land in Cairns at 9am. Because this is a domestic flight we’re out of the terminal in no time and speeding off in a taxi to pick up our hire car that we’ve already booked online. And here it is, the cutest bright yellow little bubble. It’s hilarious and Mark sings U2’s ‘Lemon’ song for the next week.
Mark easily finds our hotel overlooking a palm-fringed park at one end of Cairns Esplanade which runs along the foreshore of Trinity Harbour. After booking in, we check out the pool and restaurant but no time to hang around as we want to explore the city and get out to a nearby waterfall.
We head first to the city end of the Esplanade where we find a string of cafes and restaurants all with outside seating overlooking the boardwalk and lagoon. We’re hot and sweaty and we love it – at last we’re in the tropics!
Mark has his morning coffee while I have a fruit juice before we set off in Lemon for Crystal Cascades. Heading south we pass through the Aboriginal community of Yarrabah. The Yidinji people inhabited all of this area before the colonists stole it from them. But, inevitably, in 1876 it was named Cairns after a whitey, Sir William Cairns, the Governor of Queensland at that time.
Continuing south, the scenery is beautiful, so tropical and green. After only about twenty minutes, we arrive at Freshwater Creek where we change into our swimmers then set off along the trail that runs beside the creek. A rainforest canopy keeps us cool till we find a picturesque waterfall and a series of waterholes surrounded by smooth granite boulders. We drop in for a dip loving this gorgeous rainforest setting.
Back in town, we visit Rusty’s Market, a farmers’ market selling local fruit and vegetables. Many stall holders are from the Torres Strait Islands selling unusual fruits while people from many other nationalities like Chinese, Indian and Papua New Guinean, have set up food stalls that smell so good.
Everything is so fresh but, typical of our SE Asian love affair, we buy spring rolls, satay chicken skewers and prawn laksa all washed down with cold Kombucha. To top off a great meal, we splurge on fancy tarts to take back to our room.
Time now for a quick afternoon nap so it’s back to the hotel to have a shower and a rest. Just on dark, we make our way back down to the busy part of the Esplanade to check out the Cairns Night Market. Mark buys some Aboriginal print bamboo shirts like the ones he bought in Darwin last year.
Later we have drinks on the Esplanade but all the restaurants and bars are the same – clean minimalist lines, beige or grey, soulless – so we seek out an atmospheric old pub with a band – much prefer it here.
An early night.
Saturday 5th June, 2021
Cairns to Port Douglas
The morning is glorious with a clear deep blue sky and warm already. Leaving Cairns behind, we set off along the scenic Captain Cook Highway for the one-hour (68km) trip to Port Douglas. ‘Scenic’ it is for sure, with the Coral Sea on one side and lush rainforest and cane fields on the other for most of the way. We pass turn-offs to Palm Cove and Ellis Beach where we plan to stay next week.
Endless, brilliant green sugar cane fields scream tropical Queensland and we’re very glad we’ve come. The landscape is basically flat, backed by the rainforest-covered mountains in the distance.
In no time we’re seeing signs for Port Douglas with both sides of the road lined with tall cocos and date palms planted amongst pretty gardens and immaculate lawns. Very impressed already.
Since we’re too early to book into our accommodation, we head straight for Four Mile Beach for breakfast. An open-air café has a great summer-time vibe and busy with holiday makers. So nice to be in our t-shirts and thongs after leaving the cold weather at home.
After yummy bacon and egg rolls, we head down to the white sand beach. It’s a lovely palm-fringed bay with a mountainous coastline sweeping back towards Cairns.
Colourful umbrellas shade beach chairs and lots of people are sun-baking but no-one is swimming. We won’t be heroes either so we also won’t be going for a dip considering all the deadly creatures in the waters up here – stingers, Box Jellyfish, Blue-Ringed Octopus, Irukandji Jellyfish and, don’t forget, saltwater crocodiles! Oh and, of course, sharks and stonefish. Bloody hell, no wonder we love the tropics of Asia!
But now it’s time to head off and find our accommodation that we’ve already booked in Macrossan Street. This is the town’s main street and we’re very happy with our Airbnb. It’s actually an apartment in an attractive Spanish-looking building just doors away from shops and restaurants. And, it’s big with a wide leafy balcony that overlooks the pool that winds its way around the grounds. The water looks very inviting as we’re sweltering by now so we both jump in as soon as we dump our bags.
Later we decide to check out the laid-back little town and walk down to the waterfront and Marina. Here we have drinks overlooking the water at the Tin Shed which sits not far from a sweet little church called St Mary’s by the Sea.
Port Douglas is quite lovely with its small town-centre filled with lots of cafes, restaurants, bars and pubs. No high-rise here and most of the buildings are built in the tropical Queenslander-style of white weatherboards, wrap around verandahs, louvred windows, high ceilings and tin roofs.
And because of the hot and wet climate, all the vegetation is tropical as well – fan palms, towering coconut palms, massive fig trees and flowering bougainvillea.
Back to our apartment again for another swim and a bowl of watermelon for me to continue the tropical theme.
Late afternoon we head down to Chilly’s Pizza and Trattoria in Mowbray Street for the nightly Cane Toad Racing. This quirky Far North Queensland tradition has recently moved from the Iron Bar in Macrossan Street to this much nicer outdoor setting which also doubles as a pizza restaurant.
The cane toad guy introduces his beloved (that’s what he says) cane toads – Jerry Springer, Fat Bastard, Gay Freddie, Pidgeon Toad, Camel Toad, Aussie Aussie Aussie and Donald Jump. The crowd places bets while Mark and the other volunteer jockeys line up behind their toads.
Each jockey has a straw and blows on the toad’s bum to urge him/her along. Great excitement and the crowd is really into it. Mark and Jerry Springer actually win! And the prize is amazing – a Barramundi fishing experience at Hook-a-Barra and a Daintree River Cruise! We’ll do both tomorrow!
To celebrate we have a pizza sitting outside on the grass under an umbrella then drinks at the lovely Court House Hotel.
Oh, and just an aside about cane toads. They’re not native to Australia but were introduced here in 1935 from Hawaii to control the sugar cane beetles. They didn’t and now they’re an even bigger pest themselves numbering around 200 million. Hideous!!
Home to bed to dream about cane toads!
Sunday 4th June, 2021
Port Douglas
First thing this morning, we want to visit the Port Douglas Market which is held every weekend in Anzac Park down near the water. It’s a lovely setting under shady trees next to the pretty little white weatherboard church which sits amongst a grove of tall palms.
I buy a straw hat and some woven leather bangles from a guy with a long white beard. We really like these markets – not too many people and not many try-hard hippie wankers.
We do try to be health-freak wankers ourselves by buying fruit juices and a pineapple but then show our true colours by buying hotdogs smothered in barbecue sauce. We hang around to watch an Aboriginal man playing a didgeridoo. Amazing ! How do you do that?
Now it’s time to head off for our free Barramundi Fishing prize that Mark won last night. This is about half an hour up the coast at Hook-a-Barra near Wonga Beach. It’s a land-based barramundi farm where tragic tourists like us, catch and release. It’s definitely not our (my) thing but we’ll have a go.
We’re met by a very sweet young man who leads us to a large pond and shows us how to fish for the barramundi. But it’s just not happening. Over and over we try and I’m getting bored. But then he takes us to the next pond where barramundi are teeming. And success for both of us!! Why didn’t he take us here in the first place? We proudly pose with our catches then set them free. A rather weird but memorable experience.
From here we drive further north for our next Cane Toad Racing prize – a Daintree River cruise. Bloody hell! This must be the best prize ever!
We love this place as soon as we leave the car. Shady gravel paths wind through the rainforest where we cross a pretty green-painted bridge that spans a tiny creek. Hate to think of all the scary creatures hiding in there – pythons, crocodiles and even bird-eating spiders (tarantulas)! We will not veer off the path!
At the river, about ten of us board a sort of African Queen style boat (bad luck if you don’t know what I mean – ha ha). I also feel like Kathryn Hepburn (also bad luck if you don’t know what I mean!) Our experienced guide explains all the plants and wildlife around us. He tells us that the Daintree Rainforest is one of the oldest rainforests in the world! Oh yes, I feel a bucket list addition coming on!
We chug along scenic waterways but particularly enjoy the narrow canals where the vegetation is so close to our boat. It’s here that we have our fist crocodile sighting. He/she is lying on the muddy bank in the sun then further on we see more. The boat stops so we can all get a closer look. Some slither off the bank into the water – goosebumpy and pray we don’t capsize (no chance but creepy anyway). At one point we actually see some tiny baby crocs on a log! – cute?
Of course, we’re pointed out lots of different bird species but nothing can beat the crocs. What’s really the nicest bit, though, is just drifting along the river and streams under a brilliant blue sky.
Back in Port Douglas we head back to Four Mile Beach for an afternoon snack of fish tostadas and salsa dips. Time now for a nap then we’re up at 6pm to do some pub hopping in Macrossan Street.
First, we find some good outdoor seats at the Court House Hotel where a band a playing and a few old hippie locals (the real deal) are having a jig but then we walk back down to the Iron Bar for margaritas for me and more beers for Mark. Here we end up sitting with a lovely couple from Tasmania becoming besties in no time and promise to visit etc etc – we’ll never see them again.
Time to go to bed!
Monday 7th June, 2021
Port Douglas to Cape Tribulation
Today we’re leaving Port Douglas and heading for the remote area of Cape Tribulation. Leaving town, we head north driving through acres and acres of sugarcane fields. Now and again we see bright yellow sugarcane trains which are used to transport the cane that’s been harvested from local farms to the processing mills.
Within an hour we come to the Daintree River where we need to board the vehicle cable ferry. The crossing only takes about ten minutes so we’re soon driving north in our little Lemon.
The thirty-five-kilometre drive along Cape Tribulation Road between the ferry and the Cape winds through thick rainforest with the highlight the spectacular Alexandra Lookout. Here we stop to look out across the rainforest canopy to the torquoise waters of the Coral Sea and the Low Isles beyond.
Nearby we visit a few touristy stops at Cow Bay. The first is the Floravilla Ice Cream Factory where we hang out in the tropical picnic area for wonderful home-made ice cream made from locally grown exotic tropical fruits.
Our next stop at Cow Bay is the Daintree Discovery Centre which sounds great – an aerial walkway, a 23-meter high canopy tower, self-guided audio tours, and educational displays. But then we find out it costs $41 each so we take photos outside and hightail it out of here.
The dense vegetation continues to surround us as we make our way to Cape Tribulation which is where, as all the brochures say, the Great Barrier Reef meets the Daintree Rainforest. Both are UNESCO World Heritage Sites so how lucky are we because these would be on many people’s bucket lists. As I said before, they weren’t really on ours but they are now since we’re already here – ha ha. Tick!
We drive carefully as roadside signs caution us to look out for the endangered Southern Cassowary. These large, flightless birds are native to this region and we hope to see one but we don’t.
We head straight for Cape Tribulation Beach where the rainforest comes right down to the sand. This is described as a remote, breathtaking headland – ‘breathtaking’ I suppose but ‘remote’ definitely. Not really our thing and we’re bored already.
And, of course, there’ll be no chance of swimming because signs everywhere warn of saltwater crocodiles. ‘Keep Away from the Water’s Edge’, ‘Do Not Enter the Water’ and images of snapping crocodiles.
Other signs warn of marine stingers and what to do in case of a sting – ‘VINEGAR, Pour On, Do Not Rub, Seek Medical Attention’. Okay but where do you get the vinegar? Eh??!!
It’s too early to book into our accommodation so we decide to have lunch at Cape Trib Beach House which is set on seven acres of rainforest. The rooms are built on a winding road that leads down to the restaurant. It all seems dark and damp and we’re glad that we didn’t book this place to stay. But the restaurant at the bottom is lovely, closed in by the forest and the fish, chips and salad are good.
Since the beach is out of the question, one place we can swim around here is Mason’s Swimming Hole which is fresh water and so crocodile and stinger free. It sits behind Mason’s Café which is simple and picturesque, apparently owned by the same Mason family for four generations.
From the café we wander down through the rainforest tripping over tree roots that litter the floor and get up close and personal, as they say, with the rainforest plants – ferns, vines, palms and a thousand other plants and trees we can’t name.
As our guide told us yesterday, the Daintree is one of the world’s oldest continuously surviving tropical rainforests and dates back around 180 million years – older than the Amazon Rainforest! We think it ‘mazing!
The swimming hole is pretty but shallow and we can’t be bothered so a quick look and we’re out of there.
From here it’s a short drive to Safari Lodge where we’ve booked a cabin for tonight. We love this place on sight. It sits alone surrounded by the rainforest as everything else is around here. At the entrance is an open-fronted café and information centre selling Reef and Rainforest Tours with peacocks wandering around inside and on the sunny verandah.
After booking in we find our cabin, one of many spread around the grounds. It’s so cute with a corrugated iron roof and walls with a tiny wooden balcony at the front. Inside is also cute with a big comfy bed, our own bathroom, timber floors, Aboriginal artwork and slatted windows that look directly into the forest. We love it here!
After our usual afternoon nap, we decide to have dinner at a place that looks fantastic on Tripadvisor. This is The Cassowary Restaurant built in a tropical Balinese style. It’s dark when we arrive and the restaurant looks magical, warmly lit up amongst the trees. A wide boardwalk leads to the entrance that opens up into the timber-lined restaurant. In fact, everything is timber, flooring, furniture and the vaulted ceiling.
The theme is eco with classic Australian cuisine and locally sourced ingredients. Mark orders a huge plate of ribs and eats it all! After dinner we move to an undercover outside area to watch the tropical rain pelting down – we are in a rainforest, after all.
Back at the Lodge, we have drinks on our little verandah while Mark does his usual Billy Connelly nudie run – ha ha. Always cracks me up!
Tuesday 8th June, 2021
Cape Tribulation to Daintree to Mosman Gorge
Our plan for today is to visit Mosman Gorge, staying overnight at the Mosman Gorge Airbnb.
We backtrack along Cape Tribulation Road to the ferry then continue on to where we hope to have breakfast at the Daintree Ecolodge. This is close to Mosman village and nestled in the heart of the Daintree Rainforest. This place is stunning with the lodge’s bayans (treehouses) perched above a pond opposite the Julaymba Restaurant.
We feel very rich and famous sitting on the low deck overlooking the water which is overhung with ferns, palms and red ginger. Cute green frogs keep us company as we have our ‘locally-inspired seasonal’ breakfast of tropical fruits like mango and lychees plus an impressive quiche and home-made bread and scones.
While we’re here, we book a snorkelling trip to the Great Barrier Reef for tomorrow when we return to Port Douglas. We could have done a reef tour from Cape Tribulation but we want to do a full day Outer Reef trip which they didn’t offer.
Anyway, the weather is supposed to be better tomorrow – sunny and calm!
Driving south back through the cane fields (makes me think of that Ganggajang song – ‘This Is Australia’). We soon pull into the Mosman Gorge Cultural Centre which is super busy compared to everywhere else we’ve been. It’s a popular tourist attraction being close to Port Douglas and only eighty kilometres north of Cairns.
Besides the entrance fee, we pay for The Ngadiku Dreamtime Gorge
Walk which we’ll do this afternoon. Now, though, we’ll just do a self-guided walk which really means we just wander up the track past the river. We’ve been told that swimming isn’t allowed so we leave our swimmers in the car only to find everyone else splashing around having a wonderful time.
Very disappointing as the water is crystal-clear as it flows over the smooth granite boulders. We do the two-kilometre riverside circuit and the long, elevated boardwalk before returning to the Cultural Centre and setting off to find out Airbnb.
This is close by, set on the side of a hill surrounded by the forest. A friendly lady greets us and shows us our room off a wide covered verandah that looks down into the valley.
After settling in and having a snooze, we drive back to the Cultural Centre where we meet our lovely guide. He’s a sweet young Aboriginal man of the Kuku Yalanji people who’ve been the Traditional Custodians of this area for tens of thousands of years. So he knows a lot!
With a small group of eight, we follow him into the forest on a path away from the other visitors. He stops now and again to demonstrate
traditional uses of certain plants and how to make bush soaps
and ochre paint. He shows us how to identify bush tucker and explains how different weapons were used to catch food.
It’s fascinating especially experiencing it here in this special tropical environment. But the really wonderful part is the Welcome to Country, preparing us to respect the land. This is performed in a small clearing where he burns paperbark on hot coals while we all walk in a circle around the fire and let the smoke waft over us.
In a basic hut nearby, we have afternoon tea of freshly made damper and billy tea. It’s been wonderful to be a guest on Kuku Yalanji Country.
Having a face-to-face insight into the Aboriginal culture has been eye opening even though we thought we knew a lot anyway. We felt the same when we visited Uluru and Darwin in the Northern Territory last year. We’re both very grateful to have had these experiences to become even more empathetic to the Aboriginal plight and to appreciate their ancient culture.
That night we have a quiet evening on the verandah of our homestay and have an early night ahead of an early morning getaway.
Wednesday 9th June, 2021
Mosman Gorge to Port Douglas to Great Barrier Reef
Today, a cloudless blue sky is a good sign for our snorkelling trip to the Great Barrier Reef.
By seven o’clock we’ve packed the car and setting off for Port Douglas less than thirty minutes away. We head straight for Crystallbrook Superyacht Marina where we grab our day packs and towels. The Marina sits in a beautiful setting, just a short walk to Macrossan Street and surrounded by the Daintree Rainforest and the mountain ranges of the Atherton Tablelands.
Restaurants, shops and bars pack the wide wooden wharf while boats of all kinds and sizes are tied up to the outer piers. As the name suggests, the water is crystal clear and smooth as glass so we really do have the perfect conditions for our trip to the reef.
After lots of research we decided to do a full day Outer Reef tour which takes in the seaward edge of the reef system, about two 2 hours offshore by high-speed boat. It’s recommended for higher visibility, more vibrant hard coral formations and bigger fish.
Soon we’re on our way with about forty other people. The boat, owned by Wavelength, has plenty of room with an air-conditioned indoor area set up with lots of tables and chairs plus tea and coffee making facilities. Outside are sundecks and a top-level viewing deck while we choose to sit at the rear deck to catch a cool breeze.
Google says that the Great Barrier Reef stretches for over two thousand kilometres and includes around three thousand individual reefs so we’ll only be experiencing a smidgen today.
After about two hours we stop at the first of our diving/snorkelling sites. In the meantime, we’ve both been kitted out in wetsuits, masks and flippers. Getting into the water is easy via a spacious dive deck and sunken platform where we just push off into the ocean.
We swim off together holding hands as we always do when snorkelling – so romantic but I’m also scared of being swept away. And like every other time, the underwater world is magical. We see vibrant corals, turtles, giant clams and all types of beautifully coloured fish. It’s said that this Outer Reef environment is what most people picture when they think of the Great Barrier Reef.
For lunch we’re given a buffet of hot and cold dishes, salads, tropical fruits and drinks. While our lunch settles, we move onto the next dive site and spend another fun hour under the sea enjoying more of the reef’s colors and marine life.
It seems a long trip back to Port Douglas as we’re tired by now. Back at the Marina, I check out a few hippie-style clothes stalls but don’t buy anything. From here we book into our accommodation at the Mantra On the Inlet. It’s in a great spot just off Macrossan Street but the room is boring and expensive at $158 for the night. We won’t be spending much time here though as we’re off to Palm Cove in the morning.
Tonight we walk back down to the Marina for dinner then wander up to the Yacht Club, locally called The Yachty. Like everywhere else in Port Douglas, the Club is situated in a picture-perfect spot on Dickson Inlet. We really like the Yachty’s historic clubhouse – casual and welcoming, typical of the laid-back charm of Far North Queensland. A lawn set up with tables and chairs separates the clubhouse from the boats tied up against the pier.
The view is truly like a postcard with coconut palms and boats reflected in the mirror calm water. On the lawn tonight, a huge tv screen is showing the big attraction – the NRL’s State of Origin between NSW and Queensland.
At half-time, we wander up to the Iron Bar beer garden which is packed with footy fans. Surprisingly there are a lot of NSW people cheering like us. Not a football fan at all but nice to get into the spirit. NSW won!
Thursday 10th June, 2021
Port Douglas to Palm Cove
Another day of clear blue skies has us heading south to Palm Cove where we have a room booked at the Paradise On The Beach Resort – $189 – expensive for us but apparently cheaper at the moment because Covid is keeping tourists away – pussies!
Breakfast first at one of the lovely cafes facing the Coral Sea – bacon and eggs for Mark and banana bread and pineapple juice for me. Williams Esplanade runs along the shoreline and is lined with lots of more lovely cafes and restaurants, all sophisticated but low key. We love the architecture, no featureless boxes here just character-filled Queenslander style all shaded by tall palms and the impressive centuries-old “paperbark” Melaleuca trees. We take a stroll along the shaded pathway that runs next to the beach then find our resort which looks amazing.
Booking in early, we’re super impressed with our room that has a wide verandah overlooking the pool and even a view of the beach just a stone’s throw away. We were lucky to get a room here tonight as they’re usually booked out and we will have to move somewhere else tomorrow.
The rest of the day is just swimming in the pool (not the beach, of course – remember stingers and crocodiles) and just chilling out till dark. With no shortage of choices to eat and drink, we check out them all and decide on the verandah of a cute place right on the esplanade.
Heading home, the famous melaleuca trees look quite amazing as they’re uplit at night showing off their paper-like bark. Apparently, the locals are very protective of these old giants, so buildings and landscaping have been developed around them. Very cool!
Friday 11th June, 2021
Palm Cove to Kuranda
This is our last full day in Queensland so we have a busy day planned, catching the Scenic Railway to the rainforest village of Kuranda on the Atherton Tableland. Could this be another new bucket-list experience, we wonder?
The train leaves from Freshwater Railway Station back towards Cairns. The station is cute with a historic feel and surrounded by tropical gardens. We leave Lemon in the nearby carpark to board the heritage train made up of only fifteen carriages. Each carriage has long red leather bench seats, a pressed metal ceiling and warm woodwork throughout.
Although the journey is only thirty-seven kilometres, it takes almost ninety minutes to get there. We climb through the rugged mountain terrain of the Macalister Range passing the Barron Gorge National Park and stopping at Barron Gorge Station where everyone piles out to take photos. More photo opportunities as we pass Barron Falls and Stoney Creek Falls and, of course, the tropical rainforest.
Brochures tell us that all the tunnels and bridges were built over one hundred years ago by North Queensland’s pioneers.
Finally, at over three hundred metres above sea level, we pull into Kuranda Railway Station. It’s the prettiest station imaginable and said to be one of the most photographed railway stations in the world with its tropical gardens and heritage-listed buildings.
First impression of Kuranda itself isn’t great with a lot of shops selling trashy souvenirs from China. Even the Heritage Market isn’t impressing but much happier when we find the Rainforest Walk through the hippie markets. We stop at a tiny Japanese tea house for a cuppa and buy tie-dyed tshirts for the dollies. We spend another hour checking out the town then make our way to the Skyrail Rainforest Cableway. This will take us to the bottom where we left our Lemon.
In a little green gondola we take off for the seven-kilometre journey back across the Macalister Range. We glide only metres above the rainforest canopy then get off at Red Peak then the Barron Falls Station. Here we visit the Edge Lookout with its glass-floored section of boardwalk floating 160 metres above the gorge.
As we descend, we have long views of Cairns and the surrounds far into the distance. It’s been a nice experience but maybe not bucket list worthy.
Back in Palm Cove we check into our new accommodation for tonight at the Sarayi Boutique Hotel. ‘Boutique’ it is not! What a dump! Our room is set in a row of cheap and nasty motel-style rooms at the back of a nicer place. Nothing we can do as everywhere else is booked out and we’re not precious anyway.
After showers and a rest we dress up for a posh night at the Temple of Taste Restaurant at the Pullman Hotel. In a lovely tropical setting, we order beers for Mark and Margaritas for me. Later we move into the restaurant for an excellent meal before heading back to Williams Esplanade and finish off the night at Jack and Shanan’s Pub singing along (me) to the band – Country Roads, of course!
Saturday12th June, 2021
Cairns to Sydney
A 6am start to pack and drive the twenty-five kilometres back to Cairns. We say goodbye to Lemon and catch the 10.15am Jetstar flight back to Sydney. Landing at 1.10pm we need to get the Airport train to Central Station then the three-hour train trip home
