Our week in Cairns.

As previously mentioned we have arrived in Cairns. After careful consideration Gail & I decided to take the plunge and convert our Internet provider and method of accessing the Internet. We have changed over to Bigpond, which allows us to connect with virtually no additional monthly costs.

Our new Wireless Broadband modem will allow us to connect to the Internet at fast broadband speeds wherever we have a reasonable phone signal.

Unfortunately we experienced a number of major obstacles in our attempts to self-install this new device. Countless phone calls to Bigpond technical support over 3 or 4 days failed to rectify all of the problems. We are pleased to say however that Gail and I eventually managed to resolve those outstanding problems without outside assistance, simply by sitting down and talking through all the changes together. We are a formidable team!

 

Aside from all this frustration we did manage to take in Cairns and environs with a number of day trips and picnic lunches.

Perhaps the highlight of this was our day trip further north to Daintree Village, The Daintree River and Cape Tribulation. The round trip distance for this day out was about 340km’s, so it was a very full day. Our first stop was Daintree Village where we visited a very interesting timber museum and craft shoppe which had some magnificent high quality wood-turning. Also beautiful folk-art type paintings on all manner of implements including chain saw bars, circular saw discs, hand saws etc.

 

We next went to the Daintree River Ferry crossing where we boarded for a two hour boat trip on the river. The boat is constructed like a series of train carriages coupled together with small concealed outboard motors at each end to control this long “snake-like” vessel. We were able to see and come close to eight crocodiles in total plus a huge assortment of tropical birds and plants. Following the boat trip we went on a self-guided boardwalk “tour” on private property through a “wet tropics” mangrove area.

This whole outing was quite amazing. On our return journey to Cairns we passed through Mossman and Port Douglas, the latter being very trendy and expensive – similar in a way to Noosa.

 

Another day we drove to Lake Morris and the Copperlode Dam. This is about 20 km’s from where we are staying, but only 4km’s to the turn-off. The remaining 16km’s are mostly uphill and winding. It feels like it is about 10km as the crow flies but 6km straight up. Our GPS told us that we were at an altitude of 5,780 metres, consequently the panoramic views of Cairns settled below are truly magnificent. Lake Morris is the water supply area for all of Cairns and it is huge. The turbo in the Landcruiser really excelled on the steep winding road as I never shifted below third gear the whole time, even though some bends were extreme hairpins.

 

Another outing was for a swim and sun-bake at the “Lagoon” on the Cairns foreshore. This is a beautifully landscaped area with a massive man-made lagoon as the central feature. The weather was ideal for this planned activity (eat your heart out NSW), but one small problem. On arrival and after finding a parking spot we walked to the area only to find it completely fenced off for so called “maintenance”. It looked more like a major rebuild and was running two months behind schedule. So, no swim….

 

We still have another day here in Cairns before we depart and head west via the Atherton Tablelands.

 

Until next time…….

 

Gail & Kevin.