Cairns, our departure point

We have been in Cairns for just over a week now. The city of Cairns is a real tourist destination with international flights coming and going all the time. We have been busy trying to get everything ready for the trip to PNG. We are now organized and have been cleared by customs to leave by Thursday. The boys have even had a go at buskin they earnt themselves a couple of dollars each but it was a good experience for them.


While we have been here we have also checked out the area. We have been swimming in the lagoon, a huge pool on the water front which is free and used by everyone as there is no beach just mud flats at low tide and crocs in the river. We have been swimming a few times there which has been fun. There are signs all along the foreshore warning people not to swim because of the crocs.



We have met up with a few boats here some we had met before we came and had BBQ’s and even a movie night most of the boats we have met have kids on so our guys have had a ball playing with everyone at every opportunity they get. We have even been to the movies here.
We took the sky rail up to Kuranda up in the hills behind Cairns. It was the longest sky rail I have ever been on it is 7.5km long with 114 gondola’s on it. We got off on both of the stops along the way to check out the sights, waterfalls and rainforest. The trip without stops goes for 45 minutes and the view back to the ocean below is amazing. Amy was a little scared to start with holding onto my arm but was fine after a while. At Kuranda we had a look around there was supposed to be a market on but the whole place was set up like a market. A lot of shops along the street looked like market stalls. We didn’t really think a lot of the place itself we did this trip for the sky rail and scenic train ride back down through the valley.

The train ride was great the train is the original train which was once used to transport hospital patients and workers to and from work. The trip was 1hr 45mins during that time you heard about different things that happened along the train tracks construction and other things as well, it was very interesting. All the windows open right up and we could take heaps of pictures and see everything at a slow pace. We almost stopped in front of one of the waterfalls the boys were busy taking photos of the falls and the train itself as it went through tunnels and over bridges. It was a great day out. It was all too much for Amy she fell asleep on the train on the way back.