Cairns

We’re now well and truly entrenched in our unit at Clifton Beach, right across the road from the beach. Such a nice change from packing and setting up camp each day, and having the luxury of an en-suite has been great.
The first full day we ticked off a few of the maintenance chores. The car had a service as we’ve already done 6000km in 4 weeks (my initial estimate of 10-15,000km for the whole trip is now looking way off the mark - at the current rate it will be closer to 20,000km!). Lachlan and I also got our haircut while Chantal, Louise, and her parents Ray & Jan caught up on some shopping at DFO. Of course we don’t have any of these shops in Melb hence the need to shop while on holidays!
Next day we checked out central Cairns, which was swarming with young backpackers. So much choice up here on what to do and see - apart from the world renowned attractions, life changing decisions need to be made on whether (and what order) to check out the lesser known gems such as the Cane Toad racing, National goldfish racing championships, jelly wrestling or the Wed night wet t-shirt comp! Cairns has changed somewhat since I was here 30+ years ago, the foreshore and esplanade are great with a huge swimming pool/lagoon. The kids and Ray gave it a test and it was thumbs up from all. We’ve found a great roadside fruit stall and I can’t get enough of the passionfruits, which are a bigger version than we get down south.
The Kuranda Scenic Railway was the next days activity. This is a very scenic rail journey and an amazing engineering feat. As this was really the first of the world famous tourist attractions we’ve visited, it was here we encountered the most enthusiastic tourists on the planet – the Japanese. Like a swarm of ants they hurried around with the guys carrying tripods and camera bags (some of which I reckon were bigger than the bag I have that contains clothes for 3 months away!). One chap kindly asked me to move aside as he whizzed through the gift shop filming everything in sight! We had a good look around the markets in Kuranda, new and old. For the return journey we jumped on the Skyrail, which is a huge cable car or gondola that hangs above the magnificent rainforest on the slopes above Cairns. It was a great ride, though Louise wasn’t that excited about the higher sections, especially when the wind picked up.
Beach day today, air and water temps are very agreeable, well at least for us southerners. Ray spent part of the morning launching Chantal onto waves with her boogie board, some of which were steep enough to dump her well and truly, and being close to shore ensured she face planted into the sand. Speaking of boogie boards, we’re down one at present. Ray grabbed Lachlan’s board to show him how it’s down (Berenstain Bear’s family holiday image here) and proceeded to launch himself off a wave - when he surfaced he was holding only half a board! Apparently manufacturers limits were only exceeded by 50kg or so :-)
Tomorrow we’re all looking forward to heading out to the outer reef for the day.
Over and Out.
p.s. Video is of Lachlan showing off his boogie boarding skills at Clifton Beach!