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