Cairns and the Northern Beaches

Neal and I were fortunate enough to get to see the infamous “Tropical Australia” for a week in the beginning of November. We headed up to far north Queensland with Neal’s parents B&A to enjoy a week of sun, warmth and adventure. Now some of you must be thinking that we already live in Australia and we must already have this… Melbourne’s winters are damp, cool and wet (think winter in Vancouver, but not quite so cold). So we were really looking forward to the trip. The climate is fantastic as the weather was 30-32 degrees everyday with blue skies and sunshine. There wasn’t much humidity for this time of year and it was the shoulder season so it wasn’t too busy. November is also to start of stinger (jellyfish) and crocodile season. The geography, climate and laid back attitudes reminded me a lot of holidays in Hawaii. There are even sugar cane fields and several surrounding hills. We absolutely loved it!

We stayed 20mins north of Cairns in Trinity Beach at the beautiful Blue Lagoon Resort; where we had a fantastic 2 bedroom apartment for the week. http://www.bluelagoonresort.com.au/

The location was good with several delicious restaurants in walking distance. Such places were the Blue Moon Grill, L’Unico and The Lime Tree. The beaches were nice and the infinity pool was great! The only downside to this area is that there isn’t anything to do after dinner; you would need to drive to one of the nearby communities to find a pub or some night life such as Palm Cove or Cairns itself.

Our first day trip was with The Adventure Company Australia; that we booked through viator.com. We were collected by the lovely and very knowledgeable Shane and taken on a full day trip in an air conditioned coach. Our first stop was the Wild Life Habitat Port Douglas where we got to feed Wallabies and Kangaroos as well as take plenty of pictures of Cassowaries, Crocodiles, Koalas and Kookaburras (just to name a few).

Our second stop was impressive Mossman Gorge. I definitely could have spent more time here and had a swim but we did get a quick tour around to see it and a part of the rainforest.

The Daintree Rainforest is a must see if you are up in the area. If any of you have done the Road to Hana in Maui it is very similar with hairpin turns and tons of scenery.  

We had lunch in Cape Tribulation that was really impressive. I had the steak and Neal had Barramundi, both were delicious and considering what we paid for the day trip we definitely got our money’s worth. After lunch we got to walk the beach and explore Cape Tribulation. It’s unfortunate it has such a miserable name for such a beautiful, stunning place. Apparently Captain Cook hit a part of the reef that actually connects to the Cape and was not impressed so he named it as such.

After lunch we got back on the bus and made our way to the Daintree River for our Crocodile tour. Our guide was impressive and was able to locate 5 crocodiles that I wouldn’t have had a hope of seeing on my own if it wasn’t pointed out to me several times (thanks Neal!) They blend in so well with the Mangroves and brown river water that you would never see these monstrous creatures coming. It didn’t take much for me to remember to keep my arms inside the boat at all times!

We then made our way back home and stopped at a few look out points along the way. It was a great trip and well worth doing through a tour as it was a lot of driving with some very windy roads. It was nice to sit back, relax and just enjoy the day trip. Well worth the money and completely recommended by us!

Tuesday was the infamous “Race That Stops A Nation,” The Melbourne Cup. We headed to a nearby sports bar that was packed with people trying their luck punting on the horses. I had the most luck of the day and bet on the winning horse, Fiorente.

Our second day trip was to the Great Barrier Reef. The four of us SCUBA dive and couldn’t wait for this trip! We drove to Port Douglas and took “The Poseidon” to the outer banks. It’s a 90minute boat ride out there and the ocean conditions were “average” according to the crew. As I have gotten older my sensitivity to sea sickness has gotten worse. I took my sea sick tablets but still battled it the whole way out to the dive site. Unfortunately I was also surrounded by people who lost the battle and were heaving their breakfast up. Once in the water the sea sickness resolved, thankfully. Neal had a GO PRO HERO 3 Camera and Go PRO Pole that was our early Christmas present from his parents (Thank you!). Neal shot some great video at all 3 dive sites. We had 40min dives in each spot and saw a huge amount of underwater creatures such as a white tip reef shark, a green turtle, clownfish (Nemo!), 3 different kinds of Cuttlefish, giant clams and a Hump Head Parrot Fish. The air temperature was 30 degrees and the water was 27 degrees! Awesome! The crew was amazing and our dive instructor Pete was great. We arrived back to Port Douglas and were completely exhausted. After forcing ourselves to stay awake through dinner, Neal managed to drive the 45mins back to our resort before we all collapsed and were in bed by 9pm. http://www.poseidon-cruises.com.au/

Our Third and Final day trip was on Friday to Fitzroy Island with Raging Thunder Adventures. We took the 45min ferry (in much calmer waters) to the Island. The Island has overnight accommodations and a restaurant/ bar. We headed there for a day of Sea Kayaking and Snorkelling. Our guide EJ was great and our crew was complete with 3 Kiwis and 4 Canadians. The coral was incredible and the best I have ever seen snorkelling. We were all decked out in our stinger suits and once you got used to them they were great to wear while snorkelling because I wasn’t paranoid about being stung by the potentially lethal Irukandji Jellyfish. We saw plenty of fish and I found Nemo! We saw some giant clams and since there is no hunting allowed in the waters around Fitzroy Island it is now the home to several Green and Hawksbill Turtles. We were fortunate enough to be able to swim with a green turtle for about 10mins while we were snorkeling. It was amazing! http://www.ragingthunder.com.au/

That night Neal and I took the bus into Cairns and enjoyed some dinner and got to explore some of the city. It’s very hippy with tons of backpackers. There is definitely a lot of things to do for tourists especially if you want to party every night, but we were glad to have stayed away from the hustle and bustle of the town. We found PJ O’Brien’s Irish Pub and got to listen to a talented live band while we danced the night away. It was a blast having our own mini pub crawl and meeting people along the way.

Unfortunately all good things must come to an end. On our last day we explored Palm Cove and were impressed with the massively long beach and the extensive choice of restaurants and pubs. We would definitely recommend staying in this area if you are looking for a nice compromise between the busy atmosphere of Cairns and the remote and very relaxing area of Trinity Beach.

That’s all for now. So sad our holiday is over...

We’ll keep you posted on our next adventure over Christmas!

Laur