Cairns (The "r" is silent so say "cans") is often described as
unimportant compared to the Great Barrier Reef and other attractions
that typically bring the tourists. However, as a fully first-world
tropical resort town, it is a bit different from colonial or developing
world tropical resorts. It's also fairly cheap though we elected to
use that low price to stay in the best hotel in town for about $140 per night.
The most popular non-ocean attraction is the ski-gondola style trip (SkyRail)
over the rainforest mountains to the town of Kuranda, or the alternate
Kuranda Scenic Railroad. Most people, including us, elect to go in one
way and out the other. However, frankly the railroad, while interesting,
is not really "one of the world's great scenic railroads" as they bill it,
and since it takes quite a bit longer than the SkyRail, I might recommend
the faster and cheaper appraoch of taking the gondola both ways unless
you will particularly enjoy the railroad trip. Otherwise, take the
rail out if you can because the gondolas leave every few seconds, giving you
lots of flexibility.
Cairns does not have its own beach but on the waterfront they have built
a remarkably pleasant artificial lagoon, surrounded with free BBQ stations
to which families come for a swim and grill. Aussies love a good BBQ.
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This pool had a cable running in a circle over it, which had ropes attached for all-day water-ski fun without the boat.
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Detail on Baron Falls
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I like this shot of me before Baron Falls
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K relaxes as the dive boat heads out from Cairns, in a long line of other dive boats
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Now they're starting to think about the aesthetics of their surveillance cameras, which I think is a bad sign.
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At Raw Prawn restaurant (which had astounding prawns) you observe the Aussie serving size
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The SkyRail leads us up over the mountain
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Model poses in Skyrail
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Tropical rainforest tree at skyrail stop
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Other side of the mountain the cables snake down to Kuranda at the river
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Look down into the rainforest from the gondola
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Model checks the guide to rainforest sights
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Baron Falls from the gondola, snapped quickly
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Baron Falls
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Baron Falls
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Gondola travels over the Baron river, upstream
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Baron Falls from the view of the Kuranda Scenic Railway stop
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The Kuranda scenic railway computer voice told me to take this picture
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Cairns' lovely artificial waterfront lagoon
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More of the lagoon and sunset
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K enjoys the tropical sunset
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