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We drove through the rain on Thursday from Townsville hoping that as we drove further North the rain would have passed through these regions. We had rain off and on for the trip but thankfully when we arrived in Cairns the sky were relatively clear and the sun was shining. We were so happy to see sunshine again. We had chosen our destination which is the Big 4 Cairns Coconut park before leaving Townsville. We had stayed at the same park the last couple of times we had been in Cairns and while we were quite happy here it was just a little bit rough. We were both very pleasantly surprised when we arrive here, the park is quite extensive and very well maintained, there is everything here you could hope for including two pools, a children's play centre, an outdoor movie theatre, a cafe, a bar and a shop. The rates were excellent with our member discount, although there was a special on at the moment that was even better than our membership so we took that and booked for eight nights. We set up and met our next door neighbour and then the remainder of my night was spent trying to work on my blog.
Friday we needed to spend time organising housekeeping type errands, the first of which was finding a hairdresser and making an appointment, last year when we were here we paid $300 for foils, cut and dry for me and a head and beard clippers for Robb, we were not going to return to this hairdresser so a spent a bit of time researching our options particularly with regards to cost. We found Scene Hair in the city and decided to give them a try. I made an appointment for Tuesday but luckily Robb could get taken care of straight away. it was $30 for Robb compared to paying $85 last year, much happier. After this we returned to camp where I researched doctors surgeries in Cairns, we want to have our fourth covid booster and flu shot, I managed to get us booked in for both next Friday. We went for a bit of a walk around the park but mainly the remainder of the afternoon was spent with me on the phone to our daughter Erin trying to learn about using a Mac.
Saturday we wanted to visit the tourist information centre we usually go to over the road from the Aquarium. I wanted to ask about a charter for Robb which we managed to book for Monday, a Skyrail trip taking the train up and the Skyrail back which we managed to book for Thursday and also to get some information on the roads driving to Cape York. We were given an internet site to look up and I will spend a bit of time on this trying to plan our trip. We are both favouring getting to Cooktown and then taking a tour onto Cape York from here but I will do a bit of research first. We drove from here down to the Marina to see where Robb had to meet the boat on Monday and while we were there we stopped off at the floating seafood restaurant where we had a beer before making a booking for lunch on Tuesday after my hairdressing appointment.
Sunday we were taking a drive around the Atherton Tablelands visiting some of the many food and drink outlets in this region. Our first stop was Jaques Coffee Plantation to get our morning coffee. I wasn't sure we would last as we had to drive for over an hour before we could get our coffee but we made a mammoth effort because I really wanted to visit here. The coffee was every bit as good as I thought it might be and the service here was very pleasant, Robb chose to have a slice of Pecan Pie with his coffee and I had a bit of a nibble at it, this is an excellent stop if in the area. Our next stop was to be Mt. Uncle Distillery, we like a good distillery but we do have a cupboard full of gin and whiskey but we thought we would take a look. The young girl who looked after us was very knowledgeable about their products and we chose a tasting paddle on her information and from that we chose a couple of spirits we both liked and then had to decide between the two. One was a whiskey that we thought was a bit expensive so we chose the gin and came away with a bottle that we will add to the others in the cupboard, we should start drinking them. The couple sitting next to us were Victorians and we started a conversation with them and they had just returned from Cape York and we managed to pick up some valuable information. They were both very pleasant and we spent a lovely hour with them. From here we drove to Humpy Nut World where we picked up local bananas and macadamias. There is a wide variety of local produce here both fresh and packaged and while it all looked very appealing there really wasn't anything else we needed. Our next and last stop was to be Gallo Dairyland where we planned to have a cheese platter for lunch, they have a huge variety of cheeses here and we enjoyed most of them last time so we were looking forward to visiting again. We chose the sampler platter and it didn't disappoint but once again there was far too much for the two of us and we ended up bringing home a doggy bag. Our next door neighbour at the park had given us a couple of mud crabs and we intended to have chili crab for dinner and we knew this wouldn't be enough so we thought the cheese could act as a back up. We drove home from here enjoying the beautiful country land of the Atherton Tablelands.
We had booked a fishing charter for Robb for Monday and I was looking forward to catching up with all my photos and blogs. Robb had to be up at 5.30 to meet the boat and after he left I went back to sleep for a couple of hours. I managed to get through heaps of work today and Robb came home with three fish, one of which he gave to our next door neighbour as a reciprocal offering for the crabs. We didn't need any more than two fish as our freezer is not big enough to store them so we will have to eat them in the next couple of days. Tuesday I had an appointment with a hairdresser in the city at 10.30am, we had visited here to make the appointment so were confident with finding our way back and arrived in time. We had a lunch booking at 1.00pm which we thought was plenty of time but I had to contact the restaurant and move the time forward when I was running late. I had a lovely experience at the hairdressers, the young hairdresser was a gorgeous girl and I spent a very pleasant time there, I just thought 3 hours was a bit long for foils and cut. Not to worry our booking was updated and we arrived with a couple of minutes to spare. We found our table and ordered our food and drinks and sat back and enjoyed a lovely conversation with the people opposite who we were able to share traveling stories with. We ordered the jumbo platter for two and everything on the platter was fresh and tasty, I think we will return here before we leave Cairns. Part of the enjoyment of travel we have are these casual meetings we have on the way, the information we get from people is often quite valuable.
We didn't have anything planned for Wednesday so we had our morning coffee at home while we had a read, I am loving the book I am reading at the moment and was happy to have time to sink into it for a half hour or so. After coffee we searched for a supermarket to pick up a few items we needed before driving to Bunnings for a new shower mat, we drove back to camp from here and had lunch and after lunch we took a walk around the park we are staying at. We both love it here and will be sorry to move on but eventually we will have to, this is a huge park and would be perfect for young families, we will have to recommend it to our son Matthew, I am sure it would be perfect for them. We finished up our investigation at the Coconut Bar for a quick drink before walking back to our site. We will certainly stay here next time we are in Cairns.
We had booked another trip on the Kuranda Railway and Skyrail Cairns for Thursday. This was the third time we have taken this trip and I am sure next time we are in Cairns we will do it again. The last couple of times we have taken the Skyrail up to Kuranda and the train back down but we find this turns out to be a really long tiring day by the time you get home. The problem is the train only runs at certain times so when you are finished looking around Kuranda you have to wait for the train and then the trip down is quite long and then when you arrive back at Cairns you have to wait for the buses to be taken back to Skyrail where your car is parked. This time we took the train up and the gondolas down and it worked out much better for us, it meant we were back home at a decent time in the afternoon. When we arrived in Kuranda we walked up to the Village and in and out of the street shops and onto the Butterfly House. We hadn't visited the Butterfly House on our other visits as there was always something else we wanted to do so we thought today was the day. It was well worth the visit and apart from the many beautiful butterflies we saw we learnt a lot about the lives and cycles of these beautiful insects. From here we walked over to one of the markets, there are two on Thursday, we will save the other one for next time. The markets remind us very much of Bali so if you are missing this holiday destination and still can't get there maybe Kuranda is worth a visit. After the market we walked down to the Kuranda Hotel for lunch before walking over to Skyrail to return home. Once again we had a brilliant day and this time we arrived home refreshed mid afternoon.
When we first arrived in Cairns and set up I started to make enquiries about having our fourth Covid vaccination as we were now due and while we were there if we could I would like to have our flu shot. I found a great little surgery in Cairns City and they were very helpful and the first available spaces they had were for today, Friday, so I made a booking for the two of us. We were originally meant to leave Cairns on Friday so we walked down to the office and added another four nights to our stay, mind you we were very happy to do this as we do love this park and Cairns itself. So today is the day and we eventually found the centre and checked in and filled out the appropriate forms releasing the practice of any responsibility for anything that happens to us after the shots. We were interviewed by an Indian doctor who was very friendly and kept making jokes about Covid killing us all and if not that then the Russians, unfortunately we could only understand 30% of what he said and Robb wasn't any help so I had to pretend I could understand him and laugh when he did, I have no idea who I condemned in the conversation. We were then ushered down to one of the nurses who was to give us the shots. When we mentioned we couldn't understand the doctor she said no one working there could either as he mumbles everything, we had a laugh about it. We had our shots and waited the recommended 15 minutes and then we were released and feeling pretty happy that we had taken care of this requirement. We didn't have much planned for the remainder of the day but had planned a visit to Hemingway's Brewery and on our way there I noticed Gilligan's Market was in full swing. I luckily saw a very handy parking spot that was empty out the front and quickly instructed Robb to pull in there. There is nothing either of us like better than a good fresh produce market and this did look like an excellent one as it did turn out to be. We spent a good hour here walking up and down the aisles and we picked up much more than we had first intended to do because everything looked so good and the prices were excellent. So with the car full of fresh fruit and vegetables we drove around to Hemingway's Brewery which is at the end of the Wharf in Cairns. This is a very impressive building and it seems to be quite popular with the locals as it didn't take too long to fill up and seemed to be a popular place for business lunches. We had a table overlooking the water and there was a lovely breeze coming through, we were only there for drinks but we tried one each of their beers before returning home. On the way home we picked up a crusty loaf to have with the fish Robb was cooking for dinner.
Saturday 21 May 2022 was Election Day in Australia and we had to vote, not that I mind I take my right to vote quite seriously and would not waste the opportunity. I had researched where we were to go and we had the address in the GPS but unfortunately the address we arrived at was not the right one so we spent the next 30 minutes looking around for where we were to go. In the end we were heading somewhere else when I saw the signs for a polling booth and we found a park out the front. This was the original building we were looking for and the only one where interstate people can vote. We joined on the end of a long line and waited one and a half hours to caste our vote. When we left we drove down to the Cairns esplanade and had a quick walk around and then sat at one of the cafes and had a beer overlooking the beach.
We only have two more days left here in Cairns and the last day Monday we want to spend doing a few housekeeping things and packing up what we can ready to move on the next day. We have a long boring drive ahead of us and don't want to be held up in leaving. We decided to visit the Prawn Star again for lunch so I made an online booking for Sunday, we plan to drive to Yungaburra for a look see in the morning, we passed this little town on our way home from the Atherton Tablelands and it looked very quaint and worth a better look, added to this my hairdresser in Cairns told me it was her favourite place to visit around here, on the way home we will drive to the marina for lunch. Yungaburra is just over an hours drive from Cairns up the mountain with about 40kms of winding road, we saw one car pulled over with one occupant vomiting out the back door. We were both glad to arrive and after driving around the streets we found a parking spot and then took a closer look at this Historic Town. There wasn't a large variety of shops, most were cafes or restaurants and even the couple of candle and clothing shops sold coffee. There is one hotel that we can see and a few accommodation offerings either B&B or Cabins. The shops in the Main Street are painted colourfully and are very pretty and every one of them has at least a couple of tables and chairs out the front, all full. After walking around we called into the Whistle Stop Cafe for a cuppa and Robb had a scone/jam/cream for morning tea. We had to leave here at 11.45am to get back to the Prawn Star in time for our booking and we were running out of time. On our way back we turned off to Tinaroo Lake for a look and we found a very pretty spot that looks to be quite popular for water sports around here, there were people boating, on paddle boards, jet skis and skiing. At the back of the lake there is a lovely little campground that looked quite busy too, must remember this for some other time. Back on the road driving down the mountain around all those curves again and we thankfully arrived at the Prawn Star with 1 minute to spare. We enjoyed our lunch and struck up a conversation with the people next to us. Back to the van and a chance to catch up with my photos and blog. We will just have cheese and bickies for dinner tonight.
We planned an easy day on Monday so after coffee at home and hanging out some washing we drove to Woolworths to pick up a few items, filled up with fuel and then return to the van. After lunch we packed up as much as we could and Robb hitched up the van ready to take off in the morning. We have a long drive tomorrow and want to get going as soon as we can. We are so sorry to be leaving Cairns but we will look forward to returning one day.
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