Cairns – Where to, Gumshoe?

Cairns (Day 82): Tropical Rainstorms

May 21, 2016

Today was the first day in a few days where we didn’t have anything planned for the day. We already knew the weather was going to be bad so we had a restful day ahead of us.

We took our time waking up and went downstairs and had a leisurely breakfast. We haven’t had a free breakfast in a hotel since Taiwan. They have all your typical western breakfast items, fresh fruit, and even some Asian items like gyozas, miso soup and congee. I tried the congee with Chinese doughnut and they were both pretty horrible. Other than the bad Asian options, everything else was good.

We spent most of the morning and early afternoon catching up with Masterchef Canada and the Mindy Project while finishing up some of my blog posts for the last few days. Tim worked on updating our spending and finance situation. The rain was coming down really hard and we could see from our balcony that a lot of people walking along the esplanade were getting caught in sudden downpours throughout the day.

In Cairns there, isn’t much to do when it rains. The guy at the front counter asked what we had planned for today and he suggested watching a movie at the mall. I didn’t even know Cairns had a mall! We walked to Cairns Central and killed a couple of hours walking around. We went to an Australian Target for the first time and it was really nice. Not to say the ones in the states aren’t nice, but the one in Cairns looked a bit fancier. The prices were pretty decent as well and their home decor section would be stuff that I would buy for my home (if we had one).

After browsing through the mall, we went to the food court to get a late lunch. We went around to look at all the options and decided to go to Hungry Jack’s. Since we’re in Australia and we don’t technically have Hungry Jack’s in Canada (although it’s just a Burger King) we got a Whooper meal and an extra Whooper Jr. burger to share. And yup, it tasted just like Burger King.

Before heading back to the hotel, we went to Coles (supermarket) to pick up some snacks and bottled water for our upcoming three day road trip down to Brisbane. While walking back to the hotel, the rain was coming down even harder than before. Luckily we had our rain jackets and umbrellas so we were well prepared for the heavy rain. On the bright side, at least it was still quite warm out (25°C).

When we got back to the hotel, we continued with our work and watched Fresh off the Boat in the background. We headed back out to town for a late dinner at a ramen place called Ganbaranba Noodle Colosseum. It was also another restaurant recommended by Chloe. The restaurant was located close to all the Japanese and Asian shops I mentioned a few days ago. When we got to the restaurant, we had to wait for about 20 minutes for a seat. The restaurant was run by Japanese people and, while sitting at the counter listening to all the staff interacting and speaking, it felt like we were back in Japan. Even when we went to pay at the cashier, Tim asked for a “receipto” and said “arigato” to the lady (he was on cruise control).

I ordered a cold ramen and Tim ordered a garlic tonkotsu broth ramen. His soup base was very garlicky, which he likes, but the tonkotsu tasted more like shio (salt) than pork bone. I liked my cold noodles better than his ramen (Tim: I liked her cold noodles better too). The ramen was good for Cairns and the prices were very reasonable for Australia which was great. Unfortunately we’ve both been spoiled by being in Japan recently and for even having Vancouver ramen standards (we’re lucky to have such great ramen at home).

After dinner we walked back to the Night Market to look for a hat that Robin had bought from there but then lost. We managed to find the exact hat but they only had small sizes left. We made our regular stop at Gelocchio for our last night of gelato. We tried their caramel Himalayan salt in a cone. It was delicious. I think my favourite is the lemon and basil gelato.

Tonight’s our last night here. We rented a car and are planning on leaving Cairns at about 10am tomorrow. We have about a 8-9 hour drive to our first stop on the east coast to a town called Mackay.

Steps today: 13,000

Cairns (Day 81): Great Barrier Reef

May 20, 2016

Today was the reason why we came to Cairns. It was our Great Barrier Reef day! We booked a tour with Seastar Cruises which was recommended by Chloe and it’s also rated #1 on Trip Advisor (we use Trip Advisor a lot). Our full day tour was $200 AUD = $189 CAD per person (which is the average price of full day tours).

We arrived at the marina at 7:30am and they began to board. The majority of the other passengers were from Australia and the US, we were the only ones from Canada. There were two couples (they looked like they were in their 20s) from China in front of us in the line up to board. One of the couples asked twice if they were allowed to smoke on the boat or on one of the cays we were going to (the answer was obviously no). Then they said they didn’t want to go in the water either. From that moment on, that girl looked like she would not have a very fun day. Tim said on the boat she kept saying that she wanted to go home (Tim: she only said it once). It’s a pretty expensive day out to be miserable!

The boat ride there was pretty rocky because it was quite windy out. I’m actually quite proud of myself for not getting sick on the boat ride (usually, I’m prone to getting sea sick). The crew was really good at taking care of people who were feeling sick. Tim and I sat on the upper deck so I think it helped that we were getting fresh air even though it was probably rockier being on the top deck.

Our seats on the upper deck. Waiting at Michaelmas Cay

Our first stop was about an hour and half away from Cairns. Michaelmas Cay is the largest uninhabited coral cay in the Cairns area, but it is full of birds (apparently 35 different species). We pulled up to the cay and some crew members went off on the rescue boat to get the glass bottom boat to bring us to the sandy beach. They gave us stinger suits to wear to protect us from jelly fish stings (although they said right now it’s not jelly fish season) and the sun. The water’s temperature was 28 degrees celsius, warmer than the current air temperature! There were two snorkel guides who took us around the reefs for about 30 minutes and then we had about an hour to go around on our own. When we went on our own we saw a turtle! We followed it for a while and probably swam quite a ways out because one of the crew members came out with the rescue boat and told us to swim back towards the boat since we were pretty far away.

We took some pictures with the GoPro but most of our better footage are videos (including the turtle and reef shark spotting). Here’s some of the better photos we have from each of the snorkeling spots. Michaelmas Cay didn’t have great photos since it was overcast and more murky as it was more shallow than Hastings Reef.

Waiting to get into the water at Michaelmas Cay

Snorkel selfies are always not very attractive

DCIM102GOPRO — Some of the reefs we saw. Pictures came out pretty murky on the GoPro

When we got back on the boat they had lunch ready for us. They had a selection of salads, deli meat, fruits and gave us a scoop of vegetable bake and two chicken wings. As we were eating, the boat was rocking back and forth. This was the only time on the boat that I felt a bit uneasy (Tim: me too). I’d rather the boat be moving quickly and be rocking than just sitting on the water that’s rocky. After we were done lunch, we made our way to the next and last stop, Hastings Reef.

At Hastings Reef, the boat stopped in the middle of the ocean and we jumped out to snorkel. There was another 30 minute snorkel tour with a guide and then we got about an hour and a half to snorkel around on our own. We both liked Hastings Reef a lot better than Michaelmas Cay. There was a lot more to see and the reefs were more beautiful and we saw a larger variety of fish. We even spotted a reef shark and we followed it for a while (actually Tim followed it longer). We saw a reef shark last year in the Maldives while snorkeling as well but this one was a darker grey and a bit larger. After we got back up to the boat we went on the glass bottom boat and went around the reefs with a crew member.

Blue large clams. I've never seen so many large clams before. — Blue large clams. I’ve never seen so many large clams before.

This really large fish was swimming around the boat

The boat ride back was an hour and 45 minutes and was even more rough because we were going against the waves. I was so happy when we got back to the marina and was actually very surprised I didn’t get sick on the boat. It was awesome to see the Great Barrier Reef with my own eyes and to experience with Tim. We took pictures with the Go Pro but looking through them the pictures don’t do the reef justice with all the different colours and things we saw down there.

We walked back to the hotel, washed up and headed down to the restaurant in the lobby. Tim got some vouchers for free drinks and an appetizer from the restaurant so we went down to redeem them. We shared two pieces of fried barramundi, coke, and a beer. The fried barramundi was very good with light crisp batter and the fish was nice and moist. It sort of satisfied Tim’s fish and chip craving.

We walked down to the Cairns night market to see what they had to offer. It was basically a Chinese food court with stalls of cheap souvenirs and massages. I often crave westernized Chinese food so this was actually perfect for me. All the Chinese food stalls were the same. You pay for what size plate you wanted and you can put as much food on it as you can. Since we had a small appetizer, we just shared a medium plate ($13.50 AUD = $12.75 CAD) and I went through and piled as much as I could too (so Chinese of me. Tim didn’t want any part of it).

After we finished eating we walked around a bit and headed for Gelocchio (of course) for dessert. This time we got two scoops, strawberry and passionfruit, in a cup. Two scoops are supposed to be $5.80 AUD but the guy only charged us for one $4.80 AUD = $4.50 CAD. I’m really enjoying all the fresh and delicious gelato.

It started to rain so we went back to the hotel and watched the much anticipated 2 hour finale of Survivor. This already aired back at home but we haven’t been able to download and watch it until we got to Cairns. It was a nice chill night and we planned to just take it easy tomorrow. We originally thought of going to the Daintree Rainforest but we’re both feeling pretty tired and it’s going to rain all tomorrow. So we’ll be taking tomorrow to catch up on blog entries and future trip bookings.

Steps today: 7,000

Cairns (Day 80): A Warm Queensland Welcome

May 19, 2016

Our flight this morning was at 7:40am to Cairns. We woke up at 5:45am and finally had the crumpets Jess bought for us. She toasted them and I had mine with jam. It was delicious! Jess and Robin both woke up early to drive us to the airport which was really nice of them. It was great being able to spend time with them. Since they live in Australia, I’ve only been able to see them once a year, if even. It’ll be nice when they eventually move back to Canada closer to us!

The Adelaide Airport was recently renovated but is quite small for a city its size (1.25 Million people). We were flying on Jetstar for the first time. Jetstar is Qantas’ discount carrier that’s based out of Australia and flies throughout Oceania and Asia (mostly SE Asia). Like any discount airline, you have to pay extra for everything – like checked bags (different cost according to weight class) and preassigned seats. Our flight from Adelaide to Cairns cost $212 CAD per person (including seats and checked bags). It was the first time I’ve weighed my bag since Japan and my bag has lost 6kg (it’s so light now)! It’s mostly because Mom brought back most of my Korean and Japanese purchases back home. And then the remaining deliveries to Melbourne and Adelaide.

The flight to Cairns was 3 hours and we slept the majority of the way there. When we got off the plane, we felt the hot air hit us and it was like we were back in summer weather again (29 degrees C when we landed at 11am). We’ve been going back and forth between hot and cold weather quite a bit during our trip.

Cairns (pronounced “cans”), is the gateway to the Great Barrier Reef (GBR). Cairns is in Queensland and is on the north east coast of Australia, so it experiences tropical like weather all year round. Cairns is a small town but since it is the access point to the GBR, it is quite busy and full of tourists all the time.

The only options to get into town from the airport is a taxi or a shuttle. We read online that the taxi would cost around $25-$30 AUD to our hotel so we opted to take the shuttle which drops you off at your hotel, but each shuttle holds about 20 people. The shuttle costs $22 AUD for up to 4 people, so it cost us $22 AUD for the both of us. Luckily, we were the second ones to be dropped off.

We’re staying at the DoubleTree which is on Esplanade Street (the main drag in Cairns). After doing a lot of research and reading countless reviews on our options here, we decided to just book the DoubleTree. It was not that much more expensive than some other places ($150 AUD/night) and it looked a lot nicer. Tim also has a lot of perks when he stays at Hilton properties (thanks to all his previous work travel), like free WiFi, free breakfast, and room upgrades. Also, I wanted to stay in a nicer hotel since we were relaxing more in Cairns (and after all the motels we stayed in).

We arrived at the hotel at noon and checked in. They gave us an upgrade with a ocean view, some vouchers for free drinks and food, and their signature warm chocolate chip/walnut cookies. Since we wanted to check in earlier and didn’t want to wait until 3pm for another ocean view room, we took the next one available – which happened to be another double bed room. Oh well, we’re used to them now.

We were excited to just relax and chill. I love warm beach towns. Tim says I’m the happiest when I’m in places like this (Hawaii, Koh Samui, Maldives, Kenting, Okinawa). I think it’s because I’m a summer baby so I like warm weather and being able to just wear flip flops everywhere (maybe if I were Australian I would walk around barefoot too). We looked up places to eat for lunch and found a Japanese restaurant called, Four Cinq, that was highly rated on Trip Advisor, so we headed there.

Four Cinq is a ramen place that also serves other Japanese dishes like tonkatsu and karaage. Tim ordered the chicken ramen ($13.50 AUD = $12.80 CAD) and I had the tonkatsu ($16.80 AUD = $15.93 CAD). We sat on the patio and enjoyed our meal. The food was surprisingly good, but I guess I shouldn’t be that surprised because on the way to the restaurant we noticed that street was full of Asian stores and a supermarket catering to Asian tourists (mostly Japanese tourists).

After lunch we walked down to the Marina to check out where we would have to meet tomorrow morning for our snorkel tour. Along Esplanade Street, there’s a public salt water swimming lagoon which was very packed when we passed by. It was a good day to be in the water since it was quite warm out.

We made our way back to the hotel to relax for the rest of the day. I changed into my swimsuit and lounged on the balcony catching up on some blog posts. The sun was pretty strong and I thought it would be nice to go for a swim in the pool. The pool was busy when we left the hotel for lunch but when we came back the pool area was all shaded so it wasn’t very busy any more with people who just wanted to get some sun. I went downstairs and went into the pool and it was cold. I guess the water would’ve felt nice if the sun was still beating down. I stayed in it for a bit then jumped into the hot tub.

We washed up and looked up what to eat for dinner. We decided to go to an Indonesian restaurant close by that had good reviews and seemed a bit more local than touristy (although most of Cairns is pretty touristy). Bagus Cafe is on Esplanade but the part of the street that isn’t very busy. Bagus Cafe is a family run restaurant that has seats outside and you order at the counter. We ordered a chicken mee goreng ($13 AUD = $12.30CAD) and a beef rendang curry ($15 AUD = $14.19 CAD). When we arrived it was very busy and after we sat down we realized most of the people who were around us did not have their food yet, so we knew we would have to wait. There was an Indonesian family beside us (I didn’t know they were Indonesian until they started speaking to the owners) and they really enjoyed all their food so it made us look forward to our meals even more.

We waited for about 20 minutes for our dishes but it was worth the wait. The dishes were great and one of the owners came out (after they weren’t as busy) and was very friendly. He apologized for taking so long but they want to make sure everything is very fresh. I haven’t had Indonesian food before but from the menu items, it was very similar to items they would serve at Banana Leaf at home (Malaysian food). If I lived in Cairns, I would go there regularly.

After dinner we walked over to a gelato place that was highly recommended by my cousin, Chloe. She had just been to Cairns a couple months ago and said Gelocchio had the best gelato so we went to try it out. There are tons of ice cream and gelato places around town. If I didn’t know to look for Gelocchio we would have probably not tried it out (unless we read about it on TripAdvisor). It’s around the corner from Esplanade St. and the decor on the outside is a bit tacky compared to some of the other gelato places we passed by. But once you go inside the walls are covered in messages from happy customers and the flavours looked legit and are all homemade. Gelocchio is run by a local Italian family and their gelato did not disappoint! We tried the lemon basil gelato, it was awesome and refreshing. We’ll be back again.

We headed back to the hotel and slept early. It was a long day and we had another long day and early morning ahead of us. Tomorrow we were going to snorkel the Great Barrier Reef!

Steps today: 11,000