Cairns

Cairns is quite small but it does have a man made lagoon (due to the fact that you can't swim in the sea because of the crocodile and stinger warnings) that was freezing and neither of us managed to get the whole way in. We did however manage to take advantage of the public showers that were open from 7am-9pm daily that spoiled us, as everywhere else we have been if they even have showers they are ice cold. We have also managed to sneak into a couple of hostels and use their facilities when needs must. When we are really desperate though any water source will do as Gemma demonstrates at this water fountain outside the van
















There are a lot of nice beaches just North of Cairns, the first of which we chose to go to was Yorkeys Knob. We also went to Clifton and Palm Cove. Here are some pictures from Yorkeys Knob beach:















Another of the beaches we went to was Kewarra, where we had our first bbq with Ian and Amy as everywhere you go in Queensland there has been public bbq facilities. Although they are not the traditional type, the best way of describing them is an electronic stainless steel frying pan. It does make it easier for the council to clean them and beats eating more noodles or spaghetti on toast!

One of the good things about Cairns is that a few of the pubs have free meals on offer for backpackers which you can pick up vouchers from hostels or from people on the street. The portions weren't the biggest but the food was usually quite good and therefore we usually enjoyed 2 meals per night in the Rhino bar and Heritage who were next door to each other.