Cairns, Queensland

We have managed to switch the desert dry weather for the humid climate of tropical Cairns in Queensland. Before we made it over to Cairns, we received a booking acknowledgment email from our hostel (Asylum) with the heading stating that if we are not ready to party or don't like to have a good time, we should not come :). Well, this basically describes the city of Cairns for the most part. A tropical metropolis of backpacker parties, free dinners with hostel bookings, awesome/cheap BBQs and Great Barrier Reef (GBR) trip shops on every corner. In most hostels and pubs, each day of the week has a particular nickname or a venue associated with it (Mad Mondays, Thursday-Ladies night, Friday BBQ etc.).

So, now that I have got you in the mood, let me tell you what went on during our stay. No, I will not be talking about doing the coyote ugly style dancing on the bar :). Most beaches in Cairns are on the north side where public transport goes quite regularly, however, during this time of the year there are infestations of jellyfish, so some of the beaches are closed. However, do not worry, there is a great place to chill out by the water right in town. The man made Lagoon pool is open for free to public, so we took advantage of this and had a couple of lazy days lounging around that area.

Since we were in Australia, we wanted to get more info about the aboriginal folks out here, so we decided to take a trip to Tjapukai park which is run by the local tribe and is supposed to educate us about their culture. The park is nicely situated about 15 minute bus ride from the town, so no problems getting there. You can spend about 3 hrs in the park to get all the attractions in which encompass boomerang and spear throwing, dancing and digeridoo acts and also some videos about the history and culture. I think, I speak for both of us if I say that this place was just ok and it is very much geared toward tourists who have probably never seen an aboriginal person before. Since we already had some introduction into their culture in Alice Springs, we were quite disappointed with the park. The videos are quite good, but the other performances could definitely use some choreography and screenplay to begin with :).

The highlight of the trip to Cairns is of course its proximity to the GBR (see above if you have no idea with this stands for). We took part in liveaboard trip with the Pro-Dive shop in town for 3 days and 2 nights with a hell of a lot of diving to be done. I don't really have words to describe the underwater experience out there. So many fishes, corals, sponges and of course some jellies for which we were equipped with stinger suits. When you are dressed in one of these, you feel like a professional speed skater, only the thigh muscles are much smaller :). The trip went well, with some sea sickness to be expected, but overall a wonderful experience.