Rainforest and Reef - Cairns

March 23-26, 2023

Good day mates,

Having gotten a little taste of the Great Barrier Reef, I decided that I wanted to see more of it. One of the best cities in Australia for seeing the reef is Cairns, which is one of the northernmost major towns/cities in the continent. Since Australia is in the Southern hemisphere, the farther up north we went, the more tropical and warm the weather became.

Mel and I started our seven-hour, 600-kilometer drive in Airlie Beach, but it took us longer than that because we made a couple stops. Our first detour was in a town called Home Hill for free coffee and a restroom. A friendly volunteer gave us coffee, several pamphlets on attractions in the area, and a fruit he said was a lime that was actually a lemon. He was local to the area and was quite different from the people we’d seen in Sydney and Gold Coast. Based on his personality and mannerisms, he almost seemed like he could’ve been from the American South if not for his accent. He was very friendly and we appreciated his kindness.

Next, we stopped in Townsville because we were considering going to Magnetic Island, an island with pretty beaches and exotic wildlife, but we decided against it because it would’ve been rushed. The island supposedly has tons of koalas and wallabies, but by the time we got to the ferry over to Magnetic Island it was already early afternoon, and we would’ve either had to pay an exorbitant amount to take our rental car over on the ferry, or rely on the public bus system which would’ve been challenging given how little time we would’ve had over there.

We continued on for a few hours to the town of Innisville, where we stopped for dinner at a fast food restaurant called Hungry Jack’s, which seems like the Australian version of Burger King. We finally arrived at our hostel around 7pm. The hostel had major deficiencies with a kitchen that was far too small and bare bones rooms with broken lights, but it had a cool bar and hangout area at least.

The next day we drove up to Daintree National Park, the world’s oldest rainforest, an hour north of Cairns in Tropical North Queensland. Our first stop was at Mossman Gorge, a rainforest area with a gorge and river. We did the 2.4-kilometer Rainforest Circuit trek and saw some cool trees and plants. The area was very lush and tropical, much more so than the other coastal places we’d seen in Australia.

We tried to do a crocodile and wildlife spotting cruise farther north but the water was too high and the guides said they hadn’t seen crocodiles that day. We continued up north on a ferry across the Daintree River to drive up to Cape Tribulation, which is the end of the Daintree Rainforest area. After passing through the tiny town of Cape Tribulation, the road turns gravelly for 30 kilometers and it requires a 4-by-4 vehicle that’s specialized for off-road driving.

We spent some time in Cape Tribulation walking around on boardwalks in a swampy, rainforest area. The area is unique because it’s tropical rainforest but right on the coast. We were in thick jungle but the ocean (and, further out, the Great Barrier Reef) was just a few minutes of walking away.

We hoped to see a crocodile since we saw signs that said there were saltwater crocs in the area, but we were unlucky (or, probably, lucky) and didn’t see one. With all the wildlife signs we’d seen, we were starting to gain an appreciation for why people say everything in Australia is trying to kill you. The beach looked friendly and inviting for swimming, but getting in the ocean could be lethal because of the crocodiles, jellyfish, stingrays, cone shells (a tiny little shell with a sting so venomous, our skipper Tommy in the Whitsundays told us, that it would kill within 10-15 minutes, far before a helicopter could bring help), and probably a few undiscovered species, too, just for good measure.

We drove back 2.5 hours to Cairns in the afternoon and chilled at night. The kitchen was a total warzone, with 20 people whizzing around fighting for stove top space and clean pans in a kitchen that shouldn’t have had more than 6-8 people. We were also exhausted from driving and walking around all day, so we took it easy at night, watching more of “The Good Place” and calling it a night.

The next day we hung around the town of Cairns and our hostel. In the morning we played beach volleyball at the courts in the Cairns Esplanade, the lovely beachfront park in Cairns. I was impressed by the park. It stretched on for probably a mile and there were opportunities for all types of recreation like walking, running, biking, rock climbing, tennis, volleyball, basketball, swimming, and more. Since the beach was dangerous and couldn’t be swam in, it was nice that the town had made an effort to provide some quality outdoor opportunities.

The volleyball was great; it was our first time playing on a real net since more than two months earlier in Phuket and it was so fun to get some real hits. It made me so excited to get back into beach volleyball in Hawai'i.

After a couple hours we were starting to overheat and went to the Cairns Esplanade Lagoon, the town’s large public pool by the beach, to swim. In some of the shallow parts around the edges, there was real sand, which was something I’d never seen before in a pool. It was really comfortable to lie in the sand, submerged mostly in the water, and I’m surprised more pools don’t have it. The interior of the pool was about five feet deep and it was big enough that we could carve out our own little space even though there were hundreds of people in the pool. Outside the pool, there was lots of grassy picnic areas, some grills, and small cafes. I loved the lagoon and would spend a lot of time there, since it’s hot year round, if I ever lived there.

After, we went back to the hostel and booked an Airbnb in Melbourne, which would be our next stop after Cairns. By the time we wrapped up logistics, it was the 3-4pm happy hour and pitchers cost $5 AUD ($3.33 USD). That was a deal too good to pass up and I got one pitcher for us and then another two right before happy hour ended in a buzzer beater to score the deal. It was a lovely time drinking by the pool with the golden hour light and slightly cooler temperatures.

We then played volleyball for an hour or so with other backpackers at the hostel. The volleyball was surprisingly alright and it was a fun way to meet people. I talked with a few people from Brazil, Spain, and England afterwards about their travels. They were all doing long travels, with the Brazilian and Spaniard living and working in Australia for several months, a pretty popular plan for backpackers who are typically on 12-month working holiday visas.

On our last day in Cairns, we took advantage of the free breakfast served every day, a pathetic assortment of cereals and bread, and then had the free pancakes since it was Sunday, which were actually good.

We then made our way to the airport for an 11:30am scenic Great Barrier Reef flight. We got upgraded from a 40-minute flight to a 60-minute flight but it ended up being more like 80 minutes. Our pilot was friendly and the experience was awesome; we got to see several beautiful reefs in the Great Barrier Reef and many other popular tourist attractions. I learned that Steve Irwin, the famous Australian crocodile hunter, died at Batt Reef in the Great Barrier Reef, where he was stung by a stingray in his heart. My favorite sight was Green Island, a tiny island in the middle of the reef that had a beach for swimming and plenty of reef for snorkeling and possibly diving.

We flew north along the reef to Port Douglas and then back along the coast, seeing the road we drove on a couple days prior. I was surprised at the color of the ocean and reef from above. When we first started flying, there were some shadows from the clouds above that I thought were the reef. The color was subtle, but I just thought that’s what the reef would look like from above. Once we made it far enough out to the real Great Barrier Reef, I realized that the reef looked much different from the shadows, and that it was obvious with a light bluish-greenish color. The surrounding water was also a bright, turquoise-blue that was unmissable.

After the flight, we went to the Kuranda Koala Gardens, a small wildlife sanctuary where we saw crocodiles, koalas, kangaroos, wallabies, wombats, snakes, lizards, quokkas, and more animals. We saw freshwater crocodiles at the sanctuary, which are about six feet in length and relatively benign. It’s the saltwater crocodiles that should be worrying, though, since they grow up to 15 feet in length and are extremely aggressive. These were the ones the sign right by the ocean in Cape Tribulation warned us about.

We had some spare time in the afternoon so we went back to the Cairns Esplanade Lagoon for a swim before going to the airport for our 7:25pm flight to Melbourne. It was nice to hang out at the lagoon again before our flight.

I wasn’t really sure what to expect in Cairns but it ended up being a fun destination. Daintree National Park lived up to the hype with its distinct and beautiful combo of rainforest and reef. The flight over the reef was another highlight of Cairns, and all my world travels. It was especially cool seeing the reef from that perspective after having snorkeled a different part of it at the Whitsunday Islands. I was also a fan of the recreation in Cairns; the Esplanade was a fantastic park. If I had a lot of time there, I might have tried to get scuba certified since I can’t imagine many better places than right by the Great Barrier Reef. That’s all for now. Coming up next is Melbourne, my last destination in Australia. Thanks for reading!