Cairns

Let's pick right back up where we left off!  

After we left Port Lincoln, we flew back to Melbourne for the night and packed up all our stuff and the next morning (January 20) we took a flight to Cairns (pronounced "cans").  Cairns is like the Florida Keys of Australia: it's humid, it's tropical and there are crocodiles galore.  We've got 4 days in Cairns and so much to see!  Here it is from the plane:

Aaron missed it:

We're here!

We checked into our hostel:


I forgot to take pictures of the inside, but just imagine an old-timey prison cell with bars on the window and 2 bunk beds and BAM, you've got Corona's in a nutshell.  The best part of Corona's was the dinner deal:

For $7AUD (about $4.50 USD), you get a huge plate of food and a drink.  Needless to say, we ate there every night (and of course, we took pictures):








Keep in mind, most of these were taken with flash in the dark pub.  Take my word for it, everything was so bomb.  Here's the restaurant:


It's an Irish Pub and it was the place to be.  If you're ever in Cairns, look up P.J. O'Brien's!

Let's look at more of the city itself:

Since there are crocs on the beach and no one can swim in the ocean, they build a salt-water lagoon, complete with sand right behind the beach:

It's actually a really nice area, with picnic tables and BBQs and tons of grassy area for picnics.  

We liked it so much we did our own picnic one day:

There was even a live band playing:

This was our favorite tree: Bat tree:

That's my bat impression.  Uncanny.  Bat tree video.

From the other side.

Here they are flying around at night:

Night video.

We did a little shopping:

Kangaroo, anyone?

Aboriginal boomerangs:

Kangaroo bottle openers:

Hey, that kangaroo's flipping me off!  I've heard kangaroos are pretty feisty.

What a complete look:

We went out one night and checked out a few bars:

So, that's basically Cairns.  I loved everything about it.  It was a really pretty beach town with tons of charm.  I hope we get to come back again someday.

We did way more than just walk around town, so get ready for some Great Barrier Reef!