For our last day in Cairns, we wanted to take it quietly but, at the same time, do something interesting. So, we looked again at Chat GPT’s second, land-based, itinerary. It included:
**Midday:**
3. **Cairns Botanic Gardens:** Head over to the Cairns Botanic Gardens, known for its diverse tropical plants. Explore the Rainforest Boardwalk, which takes you through lush greenery, or visit the Butterfly House if you’re interested in local fauna.
4. **Lunch at Edge Hill:** The nearby suburb of Edge Hill offers several quaint cafes and restaurants. Stop for lunch before continuing your day.
Being the radicals we are, we didn’t do it at midday but first thing in the morning! We could have walked to the Gardens but that would have taken an hour and a half and I, in particular, want to preserve my feet for our main holiday. I don’t want to be dragging the chain for other people, so we Ubered over to the gardens. They were probably not at their best, with many plants seeming to be at the end of their flowering. But, gardens are always interesting, and tropical gardens (like desert gardens) have so many weird and wonderful plants. They are so stunning, even when they are not at their best.
We wandered around the main Frecker garden, the conservatory, and the rainforest boardwalk. We saw some plants that we recognised from the Singapore Botanic Gardens, which of course are also tropical, and we recognised some of the plants we saw in the Daintree yesterday. In the middle of our strolling, we had coffee in the gardens cafe where the service was a bit disorganised and perhaps not as cheery as we’ve been experiencing, but we weren’t in a hurry so all was good! (And, Carolyn, the pavlova we shared was delicious, and not too big.)
Continuing with ChatGPT’s recommendation we walked into Edge Hill. We’re not completely sure about the “several quaint cafes and restaurants” though clearly ChatGPT had got that from somewhere. However, we found a stylish looking cafe/restaurant called Noa, where we sat on their outside deck, had a drink and shared a healthy salad which included halloumi, hummus, chickpeas, avocado, almonds, dates and greens. A bit different from the usual which we enjoyed.
We then Ubered back to our hotel and enjoyed talking with the Japanese driver, who told us he came to Australia in 1988 – to the Expo in Brisbane – when he was 19, and stayed on.
The tour starts
Our tour started with dinner at the hotel tonight. Looks like there are 20 of us, which is a little less than the 26 maximum that they take. This is great because it means there’s a little bit of breathing room on the coach. We met our co-passengers, and had some entertaining getting-to-know you chats with those sitting near us at the dinner table, including a couple for Sydney (who included a member of the Jane Austen Society of Australia), a couple from Melbourne, and a woman from Adelaide. Of course, everyone looks to be around our age, give or take a decade in one direction or the other! We have two guides, Maddy and Robin, who, funnily enough seem to know what they are doing.
Let the tour begin …
Today’s pics
We haven’t identified most of the plants we saw today, and many did not seem to have labels near them.
Rainforest vine wrapping around tree trunk 
Orchid (in the Conservatory) 
Anthurium (in the Conservatory) 
In the Conservatory of the Gardens 
In the gardens 
From the Heliconia family 
Medinilla speciosa pendula 
Scarlet Flame Bean (or, Brownea grandiceps x coccinea, native to Venezuela) 
Ornamental red pineapple 
Beehive Ginger (or, Zinger spectabilis) 
Yellow Saraca (SE Asia)
How clever of you to use ChatGPT to plan out your pre-tour schedule of Cairns. We’ve talked about ChatGPT before and I even used it quite a bit for a while, but I have forgotten about it lately.That was very smart of you to save your feet From that long walk to the botanic gardens, which sounded lovely. Yumm.. I will take any disorganization of service if they have good Pavlova.
That’s great that the tour is only about 75% full. Do you think you’ll be sitting more toward the front or more toward the back of the bus? With me it’s more about which window on which side of the bus offers the least obstructed view. Those are stunning photos from the botanic garden! I like that beehive ginger one.
Haha yes, Carolyn, we have. I hadn’t tried it for an itinerary before but it’s just another useful tool isn’t it?
This tour company has a clever seat rotation policy which ensures – if everyone cooperates – that no one gets stuck in a seat they don’t like. Even then we’ve experienced uncooperative people but it works pretty well.
I liked that beehive plant best too. I wanted to touch it but didn’t as some plants are poisonous or fragile.
Good idea to rotate the seating like that!
It is because it’s about as fair as you can be, and it works well with this group because everyone understands the system and is doing the right thing.
Lovely pics of all the tropical flora!
Great photos thankyou! Such perfect forms and vibrant colours! For some reason – I’m not sure why – I’m fascinated by the Yellow Seraca…. those delicate blooms on such little stems attached directly to a tree trunk! I remember enjoying how everything seemed so lush and ‘magnum’ sized when visiting the Botanical Gardens in Cairns some years ago.
The Yellow Seraca was the first to catch my attention do that very reason, Mary. The fascinating thing is that the blossoms grow on the branches as well as the trunk. I’ve never really seen that before. They are great gardens, aren’t they?