“Cairns is one of Australia’s hottest vacation destinations. Cairns boasts three of Australia’s great natural wonders. Just offshore, immense bastions of living coral form the Great Barrier Reef. Sixteen miles of superb beaches stretch to the north of the city – the famed Marlin Coast. And inland lays the immense Daintree National Park. Cairns itself basks in tropical sunshine, balmy breezes waft in from Trinity Bay. The city’s graceful, tree-lined esplanade was once the gateway to the gold fields of North Queensland.
Cairns graceful, tree-lined esplanade was once the gateway to the gold fields of North Queensland. A travel tip – Cairns is pronounced ‘cans.’” – Princess Patter
NOTE: We visited Cairns in November, 2004. At that time we visited the two major attractions; the Great Barrier Reef and the Daintree Rain Forest, both of which we really enjoyed and would recommend as must see sights to any traveler to this port. You will note that I did not mention the beaches cited above. There is a good reason for that. No one goes to the beach in Cairns. They are closed for two good reasons: jelly fish and crocodiles.
What we did not see on our last trip was the city of Cairns it self. So …
A TALE OF INTERNET NOMADS IN SEARCH OF WIFI!
We had agreed with our friends, Ed and Bonnie, to walk the downtown of Cairns, to shop and just be tourists. It soon became clear that the thing that we all needed was a good internet connection. As soon as we got off the boat we headed for an information kiosk in the port terminal and we were informed that there was free wifi right there in the terminal. And there was but it wasn’t any good, too slow. Next we were directed to the beach walk where there was free wifi provided by the City of Cairns. And there was and it was pretty good except after a few minutes we stated getting the following notice, “You have exceeded the daily download allowance.” So, we had to move on.
Our next stop was MacDonalds. We bought a cold drink and joined the ‘My Macca Free WiFry Club’. Alas, it only lasted thirty minutes and at that point Frances and Ed were both right in the middle of downloading. So, off we went again. The next stop was the Hilton where Frances could make a necessary international call and Ed could get plugged into the internet.
With our business accomplished we just wandered through the town. We saw some amazing aboriginal art (but we couldn’t take pictures). Ed and Bonnie, who had been in Cairns several times before introduced us to the fruit bats of Cairns …
We did a little shopping and then headed back to the ship which pulled out of Cairns Port as we were sitting down to dinner …