Cairns and nearby

Cairns was established in 1876. Named after Governor Cairns. It was reported that its pronunciation as "CANS" is because that was how the governor pronounced his name. Seems a bit strange...or is it really the way Aussies speak? Cairns is on the same latitude: 16 degrees S as is Tahiti. Temperatures range from 31 - 33 degrees C. The wet season is from Christmas to Easter, said to rain 2 meters per year. It is pretty dry now in October. Timber is the main industry with tourism a close 2nd. Tropical fruits are plentiful as are the typical Hawaii plants we are used to seeing.

We are staying at the Ibis Styles Hotel, Cairns, which is nicely small with only three stories and is two blocks up from the water. There are penty of pelicans and other birds, but no beach. Cairns was carved out of mangrove...the waterfront is a large bay with mangrove to the northeast - and the airport there, too.

With saltwater and fresh water crocodiles...no one swims in the ocean. There is a pool at our hotel. And there is a large public swimming pool at the far end of the Esplanade that runs along the water.

Since we still had our rental car, we picked Tom and Dianne up at the airport on Monday evening when they flew in from Alice Springs. just in time for some wine drinking and catching up in our room.

The next morning we took a leisurely walk along the water front toward the Marlin Marina, to the southwest. Along the way we saw many large, sleek boats, there is a substantial mooring across the inlet and beautiful condos and hotels overlook the water.

In the early years, Cairns struggled to survive. Then gold was found across the tablelands There was a gold rush, so a rail line was seen as the answer.

Wednesday we took this train from Freshwater Station in Cairns to Kuranda, which is located on top of the tablelands. This rail line is an amazing feat as it was built entirely by hand. At times there were up to 1,500 men working on the rail. It was hard scrabble...with men living in tents and some small communities erected to house the workers and sometimes their families, too. One base camp, Stoney Creek housed a Methodist church and a brewery that produced 2,000 gallons of ale per week. There are 15 tunnels...the longest at 429 meters. Numerous tressels span gorges...most remarkable one that turns 80 degrees with a water fall on the left and drop-offs on the right as we traveled upward.  They carved a stable rail bed out of the rock and earth.

We could have returned from Kuranda by rail but chose to do so by Skyrail, a modern gondola. It took eight years to complete...seven for the paper work and one year to build. The towers were placed by heliocopter...if trees were in the way they were temporarily replanted in pots and then replaced in the earth. From the high cable we skimmed over the tops of the wetlands, eventually seeing the coast, Cairns, and the ever present sugar cane fields as we topped the last cresting tower.

Just before pulling into the last skyrail station, we viewed a large oval waterway. As we decended were could see that the shapes moving counter-clock-wise around on the water wer skiiers. They are pulled by overhead cables. There are jumps. If a skiier falls, s/he just grabs hold of another handle and continues. Unique?