Cairns

The Esplanade in Cairns

We had planned to stay another day at Hayman Island in the hopes of doing some snorkelling or even to try a dive but the weather was disgusting and the water temperature was still far too chilly to be enjoyable.  By lunch time, we hadn't steeled ourselves sufficiently to get into the water - much too chicken - so we upped and left for Magnetic Island just outside Townsville, an overnight trip which proved to be rather boisterous but got us there in time for breakfast the next day. 

As we neared the island in the early light of day, we felt as though we were playing dodgem cars with some huge tankers, all obviously waiting to navigate the channel into Townsville. However, for a tiny yacht, it's a bit scary to see one of these monstrosities seemingly heading straight towards you until you finally realise that they're actually at anchor.

My but it was cold. We're starting to think that there's something wrong with our navigation 'cause it apears to be getting colder rather than warmer; where's the nice tropical heat we've been hoping for? The winds, which are euphemistically referred to as the trades*, are actually from every which way and don't seem to know any other speeds than 0 and 30 knots! *Trades are meant to be consistently from the south-east at around 15 to 20 knots, maybe up to 25.  Yeah right!

The following morning, we took it fairly leisurely as we'd decided that we'd simply go as far as the Palm Isles to a spot on Orpheus Island, a distance of only 30-odd nm, where it was purportedly fairly protected from the south-east winds. It proved to be a very pleasant but fairly fast trip and we found mooring balls in our chosen anchorage which is always such a pleasure. This group of islands is inhabited by Aboriginals and visitors are, purportedly, not particularly welcome there - hence we didn't go ashore.  The winds remained fairly intense but we had a peaceful night's sleep and decided that the next run would be an overnight trip right through to Cairns, a distance of approximately 110 nautical miles.

We rested until after lunch then headed out with moderate winds which picked up to 25 to 30 knots by evening. The passage during the night was anything but restful as we were hit by constant squalls which brought driving rain and high winds from the stern as well as some tight corridors where we had to share the limited space with some rather large container ships, but we arrived at the entrance to Cairns fairly early in the morning and motored down the long dredged channel, dropping anchor in time for a late breakfast and straight to bed for some catch-up shuteye.

Cairns is a lot smaller than we'd thought. It appears to be a town geared very much to backpackers and Great Barrier Reef dive tourism so we came across a host of souvenir shops surrounded by tour operators and diving operations. Fortunately, a good supermarket was nearby and the marina had excellent showers and laundry facilities.

Gorgeous Banyan Tree

The tree-lined streets are a wonder in the evenings. As the sun sets, the noise of the rainbow lorikeets is incredible. It's impossible to carry on a conversation at this time.  Just as they're all vying for a branch to settle into, look up and one can see groups of ibis heading wherever ibis head for the night and then the sky darkens with thousands upon thousands of bats setting off to who knows where but all going in the same direction. Quite amazing.

 

A few more provisions and a couple of loads of laundry done, we are off to, HOPEFULLY, warmer water where we can actually go for a swim without worrying about stingy things and crocodiles.

 PHOTO GALLERY:
 

A swimming pool on the esplanade

Coral jewellery at the Cairns Market

Fresh Produce Market

Street scenes around Cairns: