Chasing Summer –

February 9-13th

Cairns Reboot

After 5 long sea days, it was land ahoy in Cairns again. I don’t even care that we were here not that long ago. It was land, provisioning, a doctor’s appointment, and mall time.

Rainbows ushered us in, and I spent Superbowl Monday getting my blood work done and hitting up the mall for swim shorts and treats. For lunch, I tried out a mexican restaraunt cleverly called Mexicairns (Cairns is pronounced Cans). While it definitely isn’t authentic dishes, there were some nachos with dips and a stuffed jalapeño dish that I tried. They carry local tap beer, and I really liked the 2 that I tried.

It was a great land day.

On our second day here, I hopped on the 9:30 am scenic historical train ride to Kuranda.

The return trip is about $130 Australian and takes 2 hours to reach Kuranda village. The ride is hot as the cars aren’t airconditioned and there is bench seating with 4 to a bench. Luckily, I got a window seat, and while I had sun coming in the window to deal with, I did get the breeze and awesome photo opportunities.

While the first station is in Cairns, there is another station called Freshwater, and the website defaults to it, so many of my fellow passengers ended up taking an Uber there to get on. I don’t think they understood that they could have caught it in town for the same price without the Uber ride. Oh well.

Cairns was the original 1886 station, but was moved from McLeod Street in 1995. On the way through town, we passed the old cemetery where many of the railway workers are buried.

The train then stopped at Freshwater 15 minutes later to pick up the other passengers.

Throughout the journey, we passed through 15 hand-carved tunnels, and numerous cut-throughs.

Two bends in the railway allow passengers to view the front and back of the train: Horseshoe Bend and after Stoney Creek Falls.

Stoney Creek Falls and Bridge is one of the major features. The bridge required workers to construct it while hanging from lines on the cliff and trying to stay out of the way of the spray of the waterfall. I was focused on trying to get a picture of the bridge and going to the opposite side of the carriage to get the waterfall, but realized after I could get both, looking back on the rear of the train going over.

There were several vantage points to look back at the coast and the towns down below. Barron’s Fall Station is the last big site before the end of the line and is in Barron Gorge National Park. The waterfall is 327 meters above sea level, with a 265-meter drop.

The village of Kuranda itself is small and definitely a tourist spot with lots of shopping, cafes, hotels, and art galleries. There are also walks to go to the falls, a lake, Koala Park, and other themed areas for additional costs. I only spent 90-minutes up there, but several people stayed all day. Another thing to note is that the temperature felt cooler up top because of less humidity. It was still hot but not as stifling as the city.

On the way back, I took the cablecar or Skyrail. There are 2 stops on the way down. One at Barron Falls and the other at Red Peak. The final destination is Smithfield with a bus returning to Cairns. Even with the two stops it took only 90 minutes to reach Cairns Central Station.

At both stops, I got off to take a short loop. The Barron Falls is 350m to view the gorge from the opposite side of the gorge from the train.

Everyone has to get off at Red Peak to switch cable cars. There is also a short 175m loop and a possible ranger-guided tour (15 minutes) through a small section of the rainforest.

The entire day was lovely and absolutely worth the trip.

Townsville

A new place! Of course, my visit is never complete without hitting up the local brewery scene, and Townsville has two amazing breweries within a 10-minute walk from each other: Tiny Mountain Brewery and Townsville Brewing. Both have multiple taps and offer paddles for tasting. TM is $20 a paddle or $9-10 for a pint, while TB is $22 a paddle or $10-11 a pint. Both have a great tasting menu, but TB does have $15 lunch specials.

Townsville is also home to a variety of street art murals that I wandered in search of. Some are local artists, and others are international artists.

While wandering in the sweltering heat (summer temps felt like 42 Celsius), I came across a couple of groups of red-tailed Black Cockatoos. I spent some time stalking them and trying to get a snapshot of their red underfeathers.

One of the things to do in Townsville is to leave- and take a ferry across to Magnetic Island. Locals refer to it as Maggie Island, and there are two ferry companies that go there about every hour. Magnetic Island Ferry is a car and passenger ferry that takes 40 minutes and costs $18 Aus one way for a walk on. Bookings – Magnetic Island Ferries Sea Star is a passenger-only ferry that takes 20 minutes and costs $23 one way. Neither has offices on the island, so tickets must be purchased online or on the mainland before you go. Book your ferry to Magnetic Island | SeaLink Magnetic Island

While Sealink was faster, it was a 40-minute walk away, compared to the 10-minute walk to the car ferry. We decided to take the longer but closer ferry and save our walking for the island.

Once on the Island there were 2 bus routes that took me everywhere for a day pass of $1. First stop was the Fort Walk. This walk takes you to WWII ruins and scenic outlooks, but that’s not why most people walk it. It is also home to wild koalas, who were relocated here during the 1930’s. Koalas — This Is Magnetic Island. It is now home to over 800 koalas, and several can be spotted along this trail.

Magnetic Island also has several beaches with self-guided snorkel routes to see part of the Great Barrier Reef. Two of the beaches also have stinger nets and shark deterrents, making them a safer alternative during stinger season.

There are also several groups of rock wallabies that can be seen usually in the mornings or early evenings when the temperature goes down. They weren’t out when I was there, so I borrowed a picture from a friend to show you.

Some people spent the night on the island, and there are toad races here too. Betting is fast and furious with wagers from $30-$200 Aus.