I actually didn’t expect much out of Cairns but was pleasantly surprised. It’s a lush tropical city with the area’s main airport.Their botanical gardens were a few minutes away from our Airbnb. The day was quite hot (33° C) and I wasn’t feeling great – my second cold on this trip. We were so glad the apartment had air conditioning and ice cubes. We rested in afternoon before heading out to explore the gardens and city center.The gardens were a mini version of the rainforest walks we did in the Daintree.
The city center is located near where a river inlet meets the Coral Sea. The Esplanade is a public park with a boardwalk along the water front. We were impressed with the huge public pool right on the water.
A festival was in progress to kickoff the Commonwealth Games that Cairns is hosting this week for basketball. Teams from India, Nigeria, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, and Malaysia were introduced. Bands were playing and thousands of people of all ages were having a great end of summer night out.We ate dinner at Yaya’s Restaurant, a Greek place with a balcony overlooking the action. Food was good.We ended our time in the North Queensland standing right under a great fireworks show. Now we move on to Sydney for the last stage of this trip.
