Saturday, 10th March 2018
When I woke up this morning, I was lying in a proper bed and not in the camper van!! What luxury!! And at night when I needed to go to the loo, I just stepped into the bathroom, instead of taking a hike on a camp site to the camp bathrooms!! And something else – more important – the rains had stopped and when i went out onto the verandah, I could see spots of blue skies amid the white fluffs of clouds!! It was still very early to wake up Gerry but my first thought was : let’s make good use of this dry spell – let’s go out for a walk along the esplanade and enjoy the views of the bay. Up to now we had only seen Cairns in the rain!
When we were ready, we went outdoors and it was ever so pleasant – the air was so fresh and not yet sticky – so we crossed the road to have breakfast at the Aqualuna, the Aquarium’s restaurant. We sat outdoors just to enjoy the weather!
After breakfast, we strolled along the esplanade, where there was also a Saturday market specialising in arts and craft and while we were taking a rest in the park, we got chatting to this Aussie guy dressed as ranger and he started giving us some interesting historical information about Cairns. Also an interesting fact: the man made lagoon is actually designed as the state of Queensland but upside down – but then that’s OK as we were down under, he told us!!! Anyway, what we did do is follow some of his suggestions and visited the Jungle Dome above the Casino and also the St. Monica’s Cathedral ( just a block from our hotel)
In the Jungle Dome, we met all the animals we’ve seen in their natural surroundings especially the red tailed black cockatoo, the kookaburra ( who swooped down at our first campsite in Port Stephens to snatch one of our oysters), white cockatoo and parrot. Luckily, we had not encountered any of the crocs or snakes during our travels, even though we had seen enough signs to be aware of the danger!
At St. Monica’s Cathedral – a modern church – we were amazed with the beautiful glass windows which depicted the creation of the world and then specifically Australia and then at the back two stained glass windows depicted the Battle of the Coral Sea during WWII.
After our walk about, we went back to our hotel to have a siesta by the swimming pool and I could finish reading my book as well. We still had some wine in our room and some snacks so we sneaked that to the pool area ( we were on our own) and enjoyed a glass of wine with crackers and cherry tomatoes . However the skies started turning greyish and before we knew it we had a drizzle – it didn’t last long but we thought better go back to our verandah! Finally I finished my book while Gerry did take a nap!
By now it was time to get ready to go out for our dinner – our last dinner in Australia and we thought we should go back to the Italian restaurant, Villa Romana, as i wanted to have my pasta al Scoglio again with all the seafood and of course as a starter I was having my beloved oysters – it will be the last time for a long while……. We had a lovely dinner and it remained dry all evening so that we could enjoy our stroll back to the hotel through the night market and the town centre. At least now we have some good memories of Cairns too, just like all the other places we have visited.
Tomorrow we will be packing up our gear and flying out of Cairns in the afternoon and getting back to Amsterdam on Monday afternoon with two stops in between: Melbourne and Doha. And then start planning a new trip………..
