I love Cairns

So we've been in Cairns - gateway to the great barrier reef - 5 nights now and while we haven't actually been out on the reef yet, I'm pleased to report we have had an offer accepted for a camper van, which we pick up on friday evening! Exciting times! It's a basic little thing but still very suited to what we were looking for and for a reasonable price too. We also managed to get $600 off the asking price as well! 

Cairns is a lovely city. A welcomed contrast compared with Sydney, even though Sydney was unbelievable. Cairns on the other hand is very small, so everything easily accessible on foot, and comprised of ocean-skewed grids of mixed low rise architecture; the only high rises being the leading hotel chains. It has a luxury marina and cruise terminal, overlooked by high end restaurants. I enjoyed probably one of the best cocktails I've had at this japanese inspired beauty!

A little further inland, Cairns is a proper seaside town with gift and beachwear shops on every corner, but filled with plenty of character. The flagship area is the palm tree lined esplanade, flanked with restaurants and bars, with the communal lagoon nestled in amongst the greenery. The lagoon is a well used and much needed feature, considering you can't go in the sea. Unless you fancy your chances against crocodiles!!! I love the atmosphere here. Very chilled out and full of friendly people willing to help. Like most Australian cities, its very clean and well maintained. They have a dedicated team employed by the council to kill the smallest weed in the edge of a paving slab or prune a stray leaf from a palm tree. And the public BBQ areas are always clean and ready to use. The only ones leaving rubbish behind here are the disrespectful foreigners, which must annoy the locals so much.

Anyways, so now we have our own van (pics soon) we are planning on heading north to Port Douglas, the Daintree rainforest and Atherton Tablelands for the couple of days before stopping back of at Cairns to do a reef trip. After that its pedal to the metal as we start driving to the first few towns en-route down the coast! 

Tonight we're going for a celebratory meal at one of the waterfront restaurants as we're still so chuffed that we've got our camper van and we have so much to look forward to!

This is my view as I'm writing this :)