After a 4,500 km drive from Mt Gambier, and two more overnight stops, at Injune and Charters Towers, we arrived in Cairns in far north Queensland on Wednesday afternoon 6 August with a full day to spare before the wedding. We last came to Cairns a few years ago when we brought our teenage children here for a tropical beach holiday. One of the highlights then was a day boat trip out to the Great Barrier Reef just off the coast where we snorkeled over the colourful coral amongst tropical fish.The wedding was at high noon last Friday at the groom’s house in Kuranda, a beautiful rainforest village in the mountains 30 kilometres west of Cairns. The nuptials went very well with my zany niece ensuring it was a fun day to remember. The food was great; much of it from the warm Coral Sea not far to the east. We spent a few more days in Kuranda walking in the stunning rainforest that forms part of Queensland’s World Heritage Wet Tropics Area. We hiked to the Barron River Falls and happened to be there when the Kuranda to Cairns Scenic Railway train came through and stopped for 20 minutes at the Barron River Falls stop. Several hundred passengers from many different nations spilled off the train and put their digital cameras through their paces before returning to the carriages and leaving us alone on the platform as the train commenced its descent down the Barron River Gorge and on to Cairns.
On Tuesday we made the descent ourselves, stopping at Cairn’s northern beaches to do some grocery shopping before booking into a motel near the esplanade. After the oppressive heat and humidity of Guangzhou and the wintry cold of southern Australia, it was very pleasant sitting by the barbecue tonight in shorts and sandals in warm air carrying just a hint of pleasant balminess. One of the things we always miss in China is fresh ocean fish. Now in Cairns with our own wheels, and fishing gear in the boot, that’s a deficiency we now hope to address. Intensively.
