20th – 23rd November 

Fitzroy Island

As I wasn’t loving Cairns itself, I booked a boat trip to the stunning Fitzroy Island, which had been recommended to me by Emily’s friend Petra (thanks!), of course at a half price discounted rate on bookme.com! The boat dropped us off and you were free to spend your time on the island as you wish. The boat ride was lovely and as we approached the island it looked truly tropical! I started out with a wander along the beach, then decided screw it with saving money, I may only be here once, I’m hiring snorkelling equipment (inclusive of the sexy stinger suit 😉). So I did, in search of turtles as they often graze in the shallows round a particular beach on the island close to where the boat dropped us off unfortunately I didn’t see any turtles, but still amazing coral structures. 

I then took a walk to Nudey beach, which had also been recommended by Petra, a beautiful postcard location. I had my peanut butter sandwich and apple for lunch, then got back in my sexy stinger suit and went off snorkelling again. The coral round this side was absolutely incredible! So dramatic as it hugged the island. There were sooooooo many fish and I actually freaked out as a saw a Mauri wrasse that was literally over half he size of me, it was insane!!!! I loved listening to the parrot fish feeding on the coral, it made a little sound every time they pulled and any that they dropped. 

Socialising 

To save a bit of money I spent the next day gymming and back down at the esplanade for a little swim. Emma had left that morning, but her sister Matilda was staying for a couple of days, so that evening we shared a couple of ciders with a German girl in our dorm and had a good chat. We then all decided to go out to the token Irish pub in Cairns, they had a karaoke night on and we were offered a free drink from the hostel. It was good fun singing along to people’s varied renditions of Oasis, Killers, ABBA and many more classics. We ended up at the same bar/club as I had last week to get our free glass of ‘fizz’ – I again decided it wasn’t for me after the freebie and headed home, taking place as Grandma again 😁.

Kuranda 

On my final day in Cairns I went to the gym in the morning, then to the rainforest town of Karunda. There were various ways to get there, a cable car and scenic train ride combo being the most popular, but I hadn’t heard raving reviews about either and as they were quite pricey I opted for the bus. 

The town is up in the hills and set surrounded by rainforest – it’s main feature being the markets with lots of local products. I had a mooch around what I thought were the right artsy, trinkety shops and bought a lovely GBR small painting. Then I took 2 of the trailer walks through the rainforest and along the scenic river – the weather was great and it was very relaxing. At the end of my walk I came across a sign saying ‘rainforest markets’ – this looked exciting! Of course they were all closed up by then, as everywhere closed around 3.30pm, and they were the proper rainforest markets with a lot more eco shopping & eating options……. typical. But hey ho, I got a nice feta & spinach pastie & some fruit from the supermarket and watched an iguana running along the ground before the return bus 👍.

Lunch with a friend of a friend 

Friday was the day I was heading to Sydney! I was ready to see somewhere new. I went to the gym first thing & checked out of the hostel. Leaving my bag in the storage room, I went off into town for the final time to see the weekend market. It was huge!! There was soooooooo much fresh produce, plus an array of yummy food stalls of all different types and a few jewellery or random stalls. Love a good market!

Round the corner I had arranged to meet Emi’s sister, Nicci, for lunch at a Vietnamese restaurant. Nicci lives in Cairns and Emi had kindly got in touch with her to see if she could give any advice or meet up. As she had been away, Friday was the only time she could do, so we just squeezed in a really yummy lunch and a really nice chat before I was off. Nicci also very kindly offered to drop me off at the airport. 

So it was bye bye Queensland and hello Sydney!