My mother was born in Cairns, way up on the spike in northern Queensland. I think when she lived there in the 1920s it was a dusty little town serving a port that exported sugar cane and timber. Even in the 80s, when she went back to visit, she described standing at an uncontrolled intersection wondering how to cross the street safely, and suddenly realizing there was not a car in sight in any direction.
The mountains just south of Cairns. A tiny shift to the right would reveal a row of hotels and a casino.
Cairns is not like that any more. It has been turned into a playground for tourists wanting to escape the cold and visit the Great Barrier Reef. Its shore is lined with big hotels and a casino. The beach is backed by a boardwalk thronged with teenagers and tourists. The harbor is dominated by big ugly boats that will take you out to the reef.
And yet – it is still a beautiful place. Surrounded by mountains covered by tropical forests, fronted by a graceful sweep of sand along the shore and bathed in warm breezes – you can see why the sun-starved English might regard it as a paradise. My mother only lived here for about four years, but it seems to have left her with a lifelong craving for warmth.
The Reef
A buff-banded rail - eying someone's dinner
Our three days on Green Island were the lap-of-luxury part of the trip. The island is close enough to Cairns to be a popular day-tripper destination, but the last boat leaves around 4:30 and the whole place is left to the overnight guests. (It was apparently the New Year holiday in China and a fair part of the population was in Queensland on vacation.) In the evening they serve drinks on the beach to get you ready for spending a lot of money in the restaurant. Dinner was lovely but would be a lot more relaxed if not for the buff-banded rails hanging about. These birds are described as “very shy, except at the Reef resorts,” where they will hop up onto your table and snatch your food if you’re not diligent about shooing them away.
Green Island
To be honest, I’m not really the target audience for a vacation on the Great Barrier Reef because I don’t swim, which means I don’t snorkel or dive. I loved lounging about in the spectacular room and reading. It was Tom who really loved the Reef. He took the boat out to the outer Reef and snorkeled for hours. Too bad we didn’t have a waterproof camera along. It was stinger season. Stingers are the jellyfish that live in tropical waters and their stings range from excruciating to lethal. So the resort staff insisted that everyone who went into the water wear a neoprene suit that covered your entire body except the part of the face covered by the mask. I resisted the opportunity to take a photo of Tom in this getup – I know you’re disappointed.