Back to Cairns!

Saturday July 7, 2012

My one word to describe the day: Distance

The rain woke me up this morning around 6 AM (I am in the rainforest after all) and I was a little disappointed because Clare and I were planning to go sit on the beach before we had to check out of Cape Trib Beach House.  The rain eventually subsided and we were able to go check out the Pacific one last time from this amazing view. 

After checking out, Clare and I drove down the incredible road in the daylight this time, stopping at a few places along the way.  We saw a fruit farm stand and immediately pulled over, hoping to get some soursop, but they were all out!  The fruit stand was interesting.  The owner harvested all her crops and placed them in the basket by the road with a box that says “Thank you for your donation.”

It wasn’t long until we found another sweet spot, Flora Villa Ice Cream!  We heard many of our tour guides and new friends talk about this particular ice cream place, so we pulled over despite it being 10:30 AM.  There were actually 26 different flavors to try!  The owners were Bill and Betty Hinton and started their ice cream shop with Italian culture.  I couldn’t believe how many choices there were, from macadamia coconut to black sapote.  Clare and I decided to split mango coconut water ice and goji berry rainforest honey yohgurt.  Delicious! 

Continuing on this journey, we made it back to the ferry and back to Mossman and Daintree.  After about a 3-4 hour drive through the cane fields, we reached Cairns once again and checked into our Queens Court Hotel.  After carrying my massive bag up 3 flights of stairs, I was ready to pass out, but we still had to return the rental car and explore the city!  After returning the car with no issues (yes, surprising) we got a ride to downtown from our Dutch rental car friend.  He was telling us the “cool” places to go and actually informed us that eating crocodile and kangaroo isn’t that cool.  Oops.  Well, after playing that off we hopped out of the car and explored the vast markets in Cairns.  We saw the infamous hostel Gilligans, where some friends we met at the beach house were staying.  We met them when we recognized their accents (or lack thereof) on the first day we were there and found out that they were from Virginia and just traveling around Australia before college.  They were hilarious!  I was amazed that their parents let them do this (Ahem Ahem) but they were appreciative and seemed to be living up every moment, including putting sunglasses on a kangaroo.

Clare and I walked to the dock where our scuba diving boat leaves from tomorrow and walked through marketplaces, shops, and a Ukele festival! We even passed a restaurant called “Outback Jacks” a rip-off of Outback Steakhouse?? All on the boardwalk of the Pacific, the waves and ocean never escape my peripheral.  We quickly jogged back to the hotel, where we have wifi and took a much-needed shower and got ready to treat ourselves to a “fancy” dinner.  Around 6, Clare and I set out to the pier and checked out every menu, including some entrees around $50!  After what seemed ages of watching rugby on the pier and talking to some interesting people from Wales and New South Wales, we looked at each other and nodded.  We ditched our fancy dinner and headed to Outback Jacks for some stereotypical burgers and salad.

The Esplanade Boardwalk in Cairns 

We’re in our cozy little room waiting our scuba experience for tomorrow!  It is safe to say that the distance I traveled today, although leaving Cape Tribulation, was worth the trip.  The same road will take me to airport to Sydney to cover even more distance and then to the Solomon’s.  I hope in the distance I cover I can really make a difference, but for right now I am appreciating each and every mile (1mi=1.609 km).