Days 208 to 210, No Camping in Cairns

After Port Douglas it was a quick trip down to Cairns. We stopped at Kurunda on the way down. Kurunda is an Aboriginal town on the side of the mountain with a spectacular railway running up to it and a sky rail that runs over the canopy of the rainforest below. We decided to drive up ourselves following a few tips from some people who had done this before. The drive up was beautiful, though when Sarah read the lonely planet's comment of, 'if you want a Boomerang from Korea or a Didgeridoo from China, go to Kurunda!' we expected to see alot of tacky market stalls. Our expectations weren't far wrong and we didn't spend too long in the town.

We took the 5 km drive down to Barron falls instead, a waterfall that can be seen from the sky train and Railway, but also has a canopy walk through the trees if you drive there.

We parked our campervan on the Esplanade and slept there one night. When we woke in the morning we had a notice on the window saying that if we 'Camped' on the street again, we would receive a $3750 parking ticket. Whoops! We checked into a campsite the next night and met some other travellers to have a few scoups with. We frequented a couple of bars while in Cairns, including P J O'Briens & Gilligans. Cairns wants to be described as the new Ibiza. Lets just say that this isn't for everyone.

The Esplanade along the sea front at Cairns in beautiful and the man made lagoon at the end is very well looked after, with free hot showers and great facilities. It is very busy on hot days for people to come to and relax and cool off.

Our next stop would be mission beach where we plan to do our skydive. I guess our finger nails will be all gone by the time we get there!!

Till then, M&S

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