Arriving in Cairns

We got up this morning to catch the free shuttle from Port Douglas to Cairns from our hostel. Today, the owner of the hostel was the shuttle driver and he quite literally and humorously pulled out the red carpet for us (he had a red carpet that he rolled out into the sidewalk leading to the shuttle bus).

The drive back to Cairns was as beautiful as the drive to Port Douglas, but this time with dark grey clouds pouring over the mountains like molasses. We were kindly dropped off right at our hostel in Cairns, where we left our bags. From there, we found a grocery store to buy our standard lunch - hummus, pita, and tomatoes... but this time with the fancy edition of celery and tzatziki. Then we sorted out our plan for tomorrow and found the dock where or ferry to Fitzroy island will depart.  We will be going on a kayaking tour around the island, which is quite mountainous and was a lookout point during the second world war.

After finding the dock, we hopped on a bus to the botanical gardens. They were amazing! In addition to the more designed gardens, they have built trails and boardwalks through a beautiful bit of rainforest. Across from the rainforest was a little lake, where we saw several lovely birds including a pelican!

After wandering through the rainforest, we came across a sign that pointed to "the tanks". It was an unusual name, so we followed the sign and found tanks! Huge circular buildings that looked to have been built to store massive amounts of something or another. Today, however, the tanks are used for art! At the particular time that we dropped by, there happened to be an artist workshop in one tank. It was filled with easels and artists, painting or critiquing each other's work. No one seemed to mind the random Canadians who wandered through, enjoying all the art. In the next tank, there was a stage and it was evidently set up for a performance. On the stage, a dancer was practicing his routine. It was mesmerizing.

Finally, we caught the bus back to downtown and found dinner for a hungry Jeremy. We even contemplated going to a film, until we saw that tickets were $17. Things are quite a bit pricier here. So we returned to the hostel, and now I'm about to sleep. It'll be an exciting day tomorrow!