It’s been a couple of years since we posted on our OzTravel site, which is because we’ve not done much travelling. Actually, that’s only partly true. We’ve done a lot of travelling since we last posted here but most of it has been trips to Melbourne to see family. There have been a few other trips but they’ve all been short ones – to Sydney, the Southern Highlands, the South Coast, Wagga Wagga and Rutherglen.
However, having done our big move last year, we decided it was time to start exploring again. We had planned to go to Japan this September, but were advised that it was typhoon season in the part of Japan we had wanted to visit. We took that advice and are very glad we did because right now a major typhoon is passing right through those areas we had planned to visit. I’m not sure quite why we did this, but when our Japan plan fell through, our first thought was to stay in Australia and do Outback Spirit’s Longreach and Outback Queensland Spectacular tour instead. And here we are …
… in Cairns, a few days before our tour proper will start. We have been to Cairns once before, but that was over 20 years ago with our children who were teens then. We did the usual things one does in Cairns – the Great Barrier Reef, Kuranda, Daintree, Atherton Tablelands and Port Douglas – some on tours and some self-drive. So, we won’t be revisiting all those again in the three days we’ve given ourselves pre-tour. We have some rough ideas about what we’ll do, but it will depend on the options available. We will sort that out tomorrow. If you are interested you’ll just have to follow along to see!
Meanwhile, after a day on the road, so to speak, we are tired and ready for a snooze. But first, a little shout out to our lovely Kingston apartment community for the lift we were given to the airport this morning by one of our wonderful neighbours. Apartments might have their challenges, but they have real delights too.
P.S. Cairns
A very brief note on Cairns for the non-Aussies reading this blog. Cairns is a city of around 150,000 people on the tropical east coast of Far North Queensland, over 2,500kms by road from our home in Canberra. Its biggest industry is tourism, and it is a popular gateway for those wanting to visit the Great Barrier Reef. (I assume I don’t need to explain what that is – or the threat it is under?) The Great Barrier Reef and the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area (which included the Daintree Rainforest) are UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
Cairns is also home to the Yidinji people, who have claimed sovereignty over their traditional lands.
I hope to share more with you about Cairns over the next few days.
(And sorry, no photos this post, but hopefully there’ll be some in future posts. You never know your luck!)
Looking forward to your travels! I wasn’t sure from your letter when you were leaving, but now I know. Safe travels!
Sorry Carolyn , I thought I’d said but clearly what was in my mind didn’t make it to the page!
Hey Sue-Terry & Len,
Have a great time on your tour. Neighbours are not long back from Outback Spirits Arnhem Land tour, which they enjoyed. We will look forward to armchair travelling with you.
Safe travels, Sue-Percy
Nice to hear from you Sue-Percy! We did the Arnhem Land trip in 2018 – you will find a link to the posts in the Sidebar under Arnhem Land Trip 2018. It was utterly memorable. Your neighbours would have had, I think, an extra day at Seven Spirit Bay – 3 nights instead of our two. Outback told us that people loved it so much they were adding an extra day there from the next year. If you ever do the tour start at Nhulunbuy as we did and end at Seven Spirit Bay.
Hi Sue and Len, I’m just catching up with your trip now. Glad you got to Cairns safely! How lovely to have the lift to the airport from your neighbour in the apartment complex.
Thanks Mary … glad you are following along. I won’t then be tempted to bore you with all the details on our return.
Ha ha, nonsense Sue! I’ll look forward to chatting about the highlights on your return.
Be careful what you wish for! Haha, Mary!