Month: January 2013

Can’t say I have been overly impressed with Cairns. It seems to be a city full of nothing but restaurants, pubs, nightclubs, hotels, and tour operators. It doesn’t even have a beach – just a shallow public swimming pool surrounded by mud flats. Staff also seem a bit sour on tourists like they really don’t want to be working here. LOTS of tourists. Of all the cities in Australia with international airports, I would have to put Cairns at the bottom for lacking any real historical or cultural attractions. There are good restaurants, and I did discover a great coffee place that mixes beans for you that all the locals frequent (Cruze Coffee), but it really is just a party city for people spending their days on the reef. For me it was a good few days to catch up on my blog, videos, images, and shopping.

Cycling Around Cairns

Driving south back to Townsville

I saw a traffic light today! My first in about 2 weeks – since Townsville, anyway. It’s funny how you can travel that long in Australia and not really think about them. Then you suddenly see your first one in a long time and are a bit taken aback. The traffic light was near Cairns, where I have come for a few days. I enjoyed the Four Wheel Drive track so much on the drive up to Cooktown from Cape Tribulation (which was really quite quick and more direct) that I seriously considered taking it south, but I’m glad I chose to take the two-wheel-drive route instead because it turned out to be a very beautiful drive through many changing environments.

The drive from Cooktown to Cairns

I felt a little guilty leaving Cooktown this morning. It really is a tiny town (pop. ~2000), but it has a very rich history and sits in beautiful surroundings. I really felt I was probably missing out on something by leaving after only 24 hours. There is something special about standing on the same ground James Cook stood on, contemplating how he was going to get through the Great Barrier Reef while stuck there for 38 days (I think it was).

Historical connections seem to have a lot more impact when the environment has been preserved as it was (probably) at the time, and Cooktown never seemed to grow large enough to distract from the historical event. I think that is one of the special things about Australia. When you do reflect on its history, it seems a lot easier without shopping malls or suburban sprawl getting in the way.

I think I also find it a little hard to start heading south after working so hard to keep moving north. I think I had the same mixed feelings about leaving Darwin back in 2004.