Fitzroy Island

 Hello everyone,

We’ve had a wonderful day. We started by having breakfast at the same cafe as yesterday, and then heading to Fitzroy Island. Named after a duke by Captain Cook, the island was once inhabited on and off by indigenous people who originally named the island ‘Koba’.

Captain Cook was the first European to sail past, but he never set foot on the island. No one European did until 1819. Over the years, the island has since served a few purposes. Adventurers and explorers appreciated its easy anchorage and fresh supply of water. It was also used as a quarantine station when many flocked to this area to pan for gold (probably more effective than our country’s current hotel quarantine program!!!).

During World War II, the Royal Australian Air Force and Navy were based here and carried cement and steel by hand to the site of the lighthouse. The lighthouse was a point at which they could survey the ocean and the skies for enemy invasion, and guide ships through the passage.

We caught the ferry across which took about 45 minutes. The weather for the first two days we were here showed rain - and it wasn’t lying. The boat ride over was fairly rough and it rained a fair amount as it had whilst we ate breakfast. But then we had some luck, the rain cleared for a while as we set off for our hike to the lighthouse and the summit. It was so humid, but the rainforest was beautiful. I loved all the plants growing out of trees, and the trail reminded me a lot of Borneo. We got to the summit hot and sweaty, but came just in time. It hadn’t rained the whole walk but as we stood at the top soaking in the beautiful views, a cloud swept through and it began to rain. In the space of a few minutes the view was completely obscured. We got a bit wet, but even when it didn’t rain today the 85% humidity meant it felt very damp!

The hike took about two hours all up, and afterwards we treated ourselves to a drink and some chips at Foxy’s Bar. The view here despite the grey clouds was beautiful.

Afterwards, we headed to the Turtle Rehabilitation Clinic. Rob will tell you I booked a tour here because it featured on ‘The Amazing Race Australia’, but I booked it because it sounded interesting and remembered later!! On the tour, we saw Sonny, a green turtle, who was sent to the clinic two weeks ago from Cairns. The original Rehabilitation Centre was started in Cairns at the aquarium in 2004, but after Cyclone Yasi in early 2011, there were so many turtles being rescued that a second clinic was needed. Nowadays, the Cairns portion is like the ICU and the Fitzroy Island portion is the next step after that towards rehabilitation. Sonny was found in 2018, hatching and getting stuck in the sand. The keeper told us that they are still unsure of Sonny’s gender, as it’s impossible to tell with a turtle until they are at least 15 years old! It was so nice to see Sonny swimming around the pool at the centre in between hiding in the little cave placed in the pool!

Sadly, I was again reminded as I was in Malaysia two years ago of the troubles facing turtles such as Sonny. Turtles have their gender determined by the temperature when their egg is nesting. Due to climate change, there are now 116 females for every 1 male turtle because of rising temperatures. Also, the spikes inside turtles’ throats mean plastic easily gets stuck if they ingest it.

Our final stop for the day was Nudey Beach (not a nudist beach!). In between downpours we hired a locker and walked to the beach. Rob went snorkelling and I enjoyed a swim. It was voted the world’s best beach in 2017. It was beautiful so we could see why, but the rocks on the beach instead of sand hurt our feet!!

We caught the ferry back at 4pm. Again it was raining once we got back, so I walked to the hotel and got the car and picked Rob up, as his knee was playing up.

After a quick shower, we had a takeaway burrito at Zambrero and then enjoyed some cocktails at the underground bar ‘Flamingos Tiki Bar’ (which oddly was underneath a quarantine hotel!). The bartender’s name was Chris. He was French, and you could tell he loved his job. He made our cocktails and had a lot of fun at the same time. He even set one on fire!!

Tomorrow we are off to Kuranda and then moving to Port Douglas. We’ve enjoyed our time in Cairns!

Love to all
Claire
Xoxox

 

Wandering Cairns

 

Hi all,

We’ve had a great day wandering around Cairns figuring out our plans as we go. We slept fairly well last night and awoke to cloudy skies and warm temperatures.

Our first stop was breakfast at a cafe called ‘The Chambers’. Housed in a 1920s bank, the decor was cool and we enjoyed the food too. Rob had bacon and eggs and I had zucchini fritters with feta and poached eggs. We think we will go back tomorrow!

We then headed off and wandered aimlessly. Our walk took us past some beautiful old buildings and to the Esplanade and the Lagoon public outdoor pool. This is the only thing I remember about Cairns from 2004. We didn’t spend too much time in Cairns on that trip. But I’m sure compared to what I remembered from back then, there were lots more high rise buildings near the pool today than previously. We sat poolside for a while with our legs in and enjoyed watching a helicopter tour leave and come back a few times. It was nice sitting together in the warmth and people watching.

We made a quick stop at the tourist information to grab some brochures and then continued walking along the boardwalk. We eventually passed an area full of bars and restaurants. We commented throughout the day that many areas you would expect to be busy are pretty quiet. No overseas travel and domestic closures has really effected this area.

We saw the coolest playground, which reminded us of the treehouse at Disneyland. We eventually ended up at some old rail tracks where different products such as tin, sugar and meat used to be sent off. Then we headed back the way we came and had an ice cream. At this point the news reached us that Brisbane and a few other places including Townsville have gone into lockdown. We are so grateful that we changed our flight here yesterday so we came direct. We are trying not to follow the news too much and are keeping our fingers crossed that nothing further happens up here.

We then passed the Cairns Museum and decided to have a look around. We were glad we did - we spent just over an hour learning a little about Cairns. The city was named after Sir William Wellington Cairns, the governor of Queensland from 1875-1877 who ironically never came here! It was interesting to read that before colonisation, the rainforest here was actually one of the most densely populated areas in Australia due to 5000 aboriginal people living in and maintaining the forest. But from the outside looking in to those colonising Australia, the area probably appeared very uninhabited.

Gold, timber, land and work drew people here throughout this time. Sugar plantations started in the area in 1878, and the railway terminus was here in 1884. In the beginning of the 1900s, Cairns was a very small and remote frontier town. It was declared a city in 1923. During World War II, approximately one third of the population left fearing invasion. Taking their place were allied soldiers, immigrants and displaced people after the war. We enjoyed seeing lots of artefacts from different times as the museum and learning a little about the area.

Then we headed back to the hotel, got ready and went for a quick swim at the Lagoon. After about half an hour in the water, we headed back and had a rest for a couple of hours before dinner.

We had a great dinner and some drinks at Hemingway's Brewery. They forgot our food and Rob chased it up after 40 minutes. Due to this, they gave us some free drinks! We weren't in a rush so it was all fine, and the free drinks were a nice bonus. The atmosphere here was great and we were glad we were inside as it rained a fair bit.

We are looking forward to our day at Fitzroy Island tomorrow.

Love to all

Claire
Xoxox