Cairns 10th April
On the drive from Innisfail we visit a few of the attractions enroute. Our favourites were the Boulders and St Josephine falls
where we went for a cooling swim in the tropical rain forest pools and stream.
Cairns is the self proclaimed capital of north Queensland. Its whole reason for being is tourism due to the diversity of the countryside and natural attractions . These range from tropical rain forests, waterfalls, beaches, and of course the barrier reef. Now fill the gaps with all the outdoor sport and activities from fishing to bungee and river rafting and you get a glimpse of the picture here. Thats the reason why it is the backpackers mecca fro Australia. It was very noticeable in the caravan park because it was full of little camper vans with backpackers crammed in compared to the grey nomad caravans we had experienced elsewhere.
The campsite was 4k out of the city but the walk into the cbd was all along the esplanade which was fantastic as it gave us views of the beach , the inlet and the mountains opposite cairns.
The caravan manufacturers organised young Dan to come and sort out the dust ingress problem. He spent three hours under the van applying sealant , I took off the wheels so that he could get right under the wheel arches. It looks like the sealant is applied when they put the metal sections together in fabrication ( best practice I’m told ) but they had applied enough sealant or put it in the right place. One of the areas that was letting dust in was the shower cubicle. There was a vent on the back of the van which turned out to be an access hatch for the water pipes. So we made a blank and put that under the vent so it was sealed against dust but still looked good. We wont get to test the van out on bull dust roads for quite some time so fingers crossed ……..
The aircon was a different matter. The accredited engineer told us that there was a 5 days wait . We will try and weave that into our ever evolving plans
We had gambled on doing Cape York earlier than most advised in the hope that it would be dry enough. However with a late wet season nature has been against us . So rather than head straight up we plan to explore the tablelands and beaches north of cairns for a few weeks. The tablelands start inland some 25k after going up and over the mountains that run down the coastline. The weather is much drier and also less humid.
Now you may remember Heidi and Stefan from the land of chocolate and cuckoo clocks that we met at the campsite in Innisfail . They told us a very moving story that caused us to take a day to visit a remote station and campsite out in Kingsborough near Dimbulah up in the tablelands. The campsite comprised of a homestead and pastures nestles around three dams created by the owner.
Heidi and Stefan’s son Marc died of cancer . The converted old land cruiser had been Marcs and he had traveled Australia post diagnosis. When he had to go home for treatment he had not sold his car because he “was coming back” Unfortunately Marc died in 2004 before he could make it back to Australia. The car is now stored in Cairns and Heidi and Stefan come over every 2 years or so and use the land cruiser as vehicle and accommodation. The car clearly has a very strong emotional meaning to them and a link the their son Marc. Heidi and Stefan made a memorial to Marc at this remote and very beautiful place up in the tablelands above the wet tropics.
To see the lovingly tended memorial was very moving.
We also met Ike who owned the station and he was quite a character. An old Swedish gent who reminded me of his fellow Scandinavian Thor Heyerdal of Kontiki fame. He looked fit as a fiddle and brown as a berry with shocking blond/grey hair. He first ventured into the area to pick tea , then chased gold then settled down. It was a surprise to me and Kate that both tea and coffee are grown in this area , after a bit of thought its not surprising given the climate ! Kate even discovered Coffee World -more on a future post.
The sky around Cairns is fantastic for photos with the usual big expanse of skies but the tropical laden clouds that roll in then roll out again provide some great opportunities. This was taken in the middle of a run from the campsite to the wharf and back – 8k earned me beer brownie points later in the day.
We took a day trip up to Kuranda by scenic railway and back by the skyrail.
As we boarded the train we were amazed by the level of specification this tourist facility had with reclining seats , in seat entertainment etc
Then of course we saw this was the Brisbane to Cairns express. Ours was a little more …scenic.
It was the same as boarding any train , in that you are always on the look out for the crazy/noisy . The good news was we had an empty carriage , the bad news was a crazy noisy family had been allocated seats right behind us . 
I actually felt sorry for this family as it appeared to be more of a combat outing than anything fun . Then some Karma where the lady who booked our seats ran onto the train and said she had better seats for us that had less crazy noisy going on !
Now Kuranda is full of arts and crafts shops – I regressed into the petulant 5 year old as we walked through the first mall of beads,crystals and dream catchers made from organic local seasonal rafia . Kate suggested that maybe I would like to go for a walk around the rain forest and we could meet up later . Petulant kid plan comes up trumps again. Few ks around the rain forest and a few pots in the local establishment hit the spot. The skyrail trip back was great with views from high above the forest canopy. I had a laughter fit when i realised the skyrail cars reminded me of Mike from Monsters inc
Beer Brownie points being redeemed
