Cairns

Lesson #3 - Cairns is spelled without an “e” (I think I’ve been spelling it wrong all along
Lesson #4 - it rains a lot here.
We got into Cairns 3 days ago, looking rather bulky. It’s amazing how much stuff you accumulate in your travels (apart from all the electronic gear we have added!) To cut down on bulk and weight, we both wore as many clothes. as we could on the flight, which was a little tiresome as we left Alice Springs in extremely hot weather! So there we were, in our hiking boots, jeans, heavy socks, jackets etc. and everyone else in shorts and T shirts. However, the weather is much different here in Cairns. We had a lovely first day when we just wandered around, getting our bearings. And now it’s raining non-stop. It’s a very pretty city, but extremely touristy. We are staying at the central Youth Hostel, which turned out to be a really good choice (even though it produced howls of laughter from my children when I told them we had joined!) It’s a really nice facility, right near downtown, with a pool complete with palm trees. The rooms are small but clean and we have our own bathroom - and WE ARE NOT THE OLDEST PEOPLE HERE! There is lots of white hair around and it certainly isn’t a party place. We had our introduction to communal cooking the other day (see picture!) Everyone gets a little cubby where you can keep your dry goods, and then there are banks of refrigerators where you put your stuff in a bag and hope nobody knocks your milk over. We decided to cook in last night and chose the busiest time - hoards of people, all using every single pot and pan (and probably not washing them up when they’re finished). There are 12 2-burner units plus a couple of ovens and microwaves. Everyone is very friendly and I only got a minimal look of pity when someone explained how the gas rings worked!
We joined the tourist mob the next day and took the sky rail up to Karunda, a village up in the rain forest originally home to many hippies (some of whom are still there, looking a little ragged around the edges). The sky rail is a gondola-thing that takes you above the rain forest canopy and there were a couple of stations where you could get off on the way and walk through the forest and look at some water falls. Not much water in them at the moment (but if this rain keeps up, they should be looking pretty good soon!) Again, it’s tourist heaven with lots of market stalls with every kind of soap, clothes, \pottery, hemp products (!), coffee etc. etc. etc. It was actually quite pleasant and we had planned to do some walking in the forest, but the rains came, so we hopped on the scenic railway that brought us back to town (see picture).
We had planned to rent a car and drive north today up to Cape Tribulation (doesn’t it sound wonderful?!) but by the time we had our act together, the rain was torrential and we had such an interesting conversation with one car rental lady that we decided not to bother. Actually, amongst the more useful things she told us was that if we drove to Cape Trib, there was a good chance we might actually get stranded there as you have to cross a couple of creeks that are liable to flood at this time of year, trapping unsuspecting tourists on the wrong side of them with no hope of getting across. So we have been playing cards, reading and are desperate enough to try the movies tonight!
Amongst other things, we have managed to get most of our Christmas shopping done, so Zoe and Shelly, look out for packages in the mail! You may have to do a bit of wrapping for us! And Zoe - I have just mailed off a very large box by sea mail (should arrive mid-January) with all the clothes that we don’t need! So don’t bother to open it, but please pick it up when it arrives (and let me know if it never puts in an appearance!) John has down-loaded the Garmin lady for Australia and New Zealand, (thanks again to Andy and Zoe!) so when we pick up our campervan on Sunday, we should just be able to sit back and have her tell us where to go. If the weather keeps up like this, we may well make good time south - right now we’re thinking we may just drive until it stops raining!