Cairns, Australia

Cairns, pronounced Cannes, is the gateway to the Great Barrier Reef.  I guess a visit to the reef will have to wait until another time as the excursion was full and the weather wasn’t at its best for snorkeling the reef due to heavy rains during the past five days and a cyclone about two weeks ago.  The silt and sand gets stirred up decreasing visibility – plus the sky was heavy with dark gray clouds and high humidity.  We never did see any sunshine today.  They average 100” of rain annually, getting most of it during the summer rainy season.

Captain Cook was given credit for “discovering” much of the east coast of Australia.  That guy sure did get around. I don’t think there is any place he didn’t discover or wasn’t named for him.  The aboriginals had been here for centuries before being “discovered.”  Cairns was founded in 1876 as a port for exporting gold.  The area was swampland and mangroves but was eventually filled in for use in agriculture.  Today, tourism and agriculture are the major industries.  During WWII, Cairns was a staging place for military operations in the Pacific Theater and now has a large naval base here.

Enough of the history.  What I found interesting was the houses.  The Queenslander homes are built on stilts because of the floods and have large verandas surrounding the house.  There are plantation style shutters to protect the windows from flying debris, like coconuts and roof tiles, which are now banned.  Tin roofs are required by law.

By law, kids have to wear hats and sunscreen as Australia has the highest rate of skin cancer in the world.  I wonder how they get the little kids to keep hats and sunglasses on.  Sunglass stores have a large kiddie section. 

Michael and I took the Skyrail up the mountain and to the town of Kuranda.  This was a surprisingly delightful 4.7 mile gondola ride over the tropical rainforest canopy.  We saw cockatoos but no animals.  We got off the gondola twice and walked through the forest on a nicely maintained boardwalk.  At the second stop, we were treated to Barron Falls, which was really running at full bore due to the heavy rains.  The water was a red brownish color from all the silt from upstream.  We even got a bit wet from the waterfall spray.  The humidity was high and I was sticky and sweaty.  Why did I bother to shower and wash my hair this morning, and put on clean clothes???

After the gondola ride, the bus took us to a cute little touristy town of Kuranda.  Unfortunately, we had little time to explore as we were at the end of the line of seven bus loads of passengers and had to wait to board the gondola, so that took up the a lot time for Kuranda.  I did manage to get one souvenir – something called “lollys,” which looks and chews just like saltwater taffy, just not as sticky.  They said it wasn’t the same.  I was sold on the licorice flavor and even bought a small bag as a treat.  Then back to the bus for the curvey ride down the hill and a brief tour of the city before returning to the ship.

At this point, we were hot and needed air conditioning, and Michael was hungry.  So off for lunch – and where did we eat??  Outside!  I did not choose that.  Time to cool off again and rest.  The heat and humidity really gets to me and wipes me out.  On our way back to the ship, we passed a huge mall that was within walking distance from the pier and it had a Target store.  I wanted to get a spiral notebook for taking notes and some more pretzels.  Regent has most things, but not pretzels, so off we went to the mall.

I am stubborn and sometimes I wonder what in the world was I thinking to go off on this walk in the heat and humidity with my blasted foot hurting me.  I am afraid I might miss something; I think I have to prove that I am OK.  I had to stop and rest several times along the way; it must have been close to ¾ mile there (and then back).  Anyway, we finally got there and ah, the blessed A/C greeted us.  There were 180 stores and two levels so more walking, and of course, Target was at the far end.  It is the Target we know in the US, but it is not the same.  It is mostly clothing and bedding, housewares and toys.  No sundries, pharmacy and very few school supplies and such.  There were many empty shelves.  Wound up at a Big Lots type of store and found my notebook and the grocery store for pretzels. 

Then the trek back to the ship.  Uggh.  I made it and welcomed the A/C and the bed.  My foot is killing me and I don’t know what it is or how to fix it.  I have tried different shoes.  Resting it doesn’t always help and sometimes walking it out helps.  Any doctors or podiatrists out there with an answer????