Two baked beans are backpacking in Australia. Where do they end up?
As soon as we got off the plane, we started talking to one of the locals. She was a woman that was in her upper 50’s. We had mentioned that we couldn’t wait to visit Cairns and she said that she couldn’t wait to leave. She had lived there for a number of years and was looking for a change of pace and decided that she was going to move to Brisbane. Undeterred from having a good time, we continued down the jetway and into the airport.
Cairns is 1800 km north of Brisbane and we could feel the difference in humidity, as soon as we stepped off the plane. The clear, blue, skies of Brisbane were replace with rain clouds and we began to wonder, if we were going to spend the next few days under umbrellas. Having knowing nothing but beaches, so far along the east coast of Australia, I was sure that as soon as we checked into the hotel, we’d be able to go right to the beach. I was looking forward to warm water and just figured all I would have to do is swim out a few feet and immediately, I would see Nemo and Dory swimming around.
Elizabeth, of course, knew better and reminded me that we needed to get on a boat for an hour before we would be able to hop in and see anything. From the window of the plane, she saw mangroves all along the coast, which would make it impossible to even enter the ocean from the shore.
Allow it was a much smaller airport, we easily found a taxi to take us to our hotel. The taxi drove us through the downtown, which has a distinct small town tourist destination feel, with a mix of essentials like a Woolworths grocery store, liquor stores, gift shops, and travel agents that helped you find the perfect Cairns adventure.
The Hides Hotel Cairns was right on the corner of the main street and a promenade pedestrian street. The front door looked like a typical store front, then as we walked into the lobby, there was a wall of brochures of every possible adventure and tour that you could think of. After checking in and getting our key, we started up a long conversation with the concierge woman. She seemed to really know all of the best deals in town and I hope that she gets a bit of commission for each tour that she sells.
We told her about our timeline over the next three days and she and Elizabeth worked out the best use of our time. We had the next day planned through an online booking. Which would be an all day boat tour and snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef. But we wondered how we should spend the next day and a half before our flight back to Sydney and she was going to help us figure it out.
We saw in our research of the region that there were lots of waterfalls in the area. We discussed whether a tour of the Tablelands or the Rainforest would provide us with the best experience. We also discussed taking the Kuranda Railway and the Skyrail as a possible half day trip.
As we walked up the stairs from the lobby, we walked down a long hallway and discovered that our hotel essentially took up the whole block. I don’t know if our actual room was booked or if they just had an extra room, but the concierge told us that we were in an upgraded room for our stay. We walked in and while we didn’t know what the other room looked like, we were definitely impressed with the room that we were given. The floors were tile, which added a little echo to the room. There was a flat screen tv on the wall and a long desk/dresser area, where we could empty our pockets and charge our devices. There was also a free mini fridge and an extra twin bed, but unfortunately when we looked out the window, we had the view of a back alley.
Elizabeth was totally psyched to lay out all of our brochures and pamphlets and figure our how we were going to spend our second day. We decided to let it marinate over dinner and we headed down to the main street to find a restaurant. The woman at the front desk recommended a Vietnamese spot that she said that she eats at everyday and it was only two or three doors down. The restaurant specialized in pho, which in my omnivore stage of life was a favorite. However as a vegetarian, I can’t seem to get the take of the broth just right without the meat. It ends up coming out like flavorless noodles and vegetables in hot water. Elizabeth always knows what to order, but I don’t always follow her lead and end up disappointed.
Since Vietnam looks closer to Australia than America on a map, I went with the pho and hoped that I wouldn’t be let down. Elizabeth ordered the pad thai, which came out looking almost like a tofu salad. As they placed my pho on the table, all that I saw was mushrooms and onions floating in the scalding hot water. It was then that I knew that I made a mistake. I had been a vegetarian for a year and I still couldn’t pick out the right dish for myself.
After we ate, we walked down the promenade, then crossed the street to where a giant fig tree stood. Behind the tree, we could hear a musician playing a cover of Steelers Wheels – Stuck in the Middle With you. As we got closer, we noticed that he was sitting on top of a Volkswagen Microbus, which was painted to look like a giant clown fish. He had placed a railing along the edge of the roof and in between two PA speakers, he sat playing an acoustic guitar. It was beginning to seem like a trend to run into an acoustic musician playing classic rock covers, but this guy really stood out on top of the Microbus.
Just a few feet away from where he was playing was the Didge Cafe. So far it was the biggest Didgeridoo specialty shop that we had seen since we arrived in Australia. I had mentioned wanting to buy a didgeridoo to bring back to America, but I didn’t research shop locations. After looking for a used one online, I had almost given up on finding one. Then fate brought me to the Didge Cafe, where my destiny was written.
Elizabeth was so stoked for me and she probably knew in her heart as soon as we walked in, we might be walking out with one. The shop contained a large selection of didgeridoos, which ranged in price from around $200 AUD up to $10,000 AUD. Every instrument was different and while two might play the same note, they might have different painted decoration, carvings, be different lengths and have different shapes.
I started walking around the store and the shop clerk quickly had Elizabeth trying one out in the front of the store. The clerk asked me to try one out as well, and while it was hard to blow into at first, I was hooked. The mouth piece was covered in wax and you blow into the hole while vibrating your lips in the same way that you might blow into a tuba. Your instinct wis to blow as hard as you can, but in reality, slow and consistent is the way.
He offered me to try a few more and handed me a natural finished D# instrument, which was about 4 feet long. I blew into it slow as instructed and out came “my note”. The price on the tag was $220 AUD. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to spend the money at that time or carry it around for the rest of the night, but the seed had been planted. The clerk made me feel like I was doing a good job and who doesn’t like to be buttered up. He even taught me two techniques, one where you slowly say “PO-TAY-TOE” and another where you say, “TOOK-A-TOO” in a high pitched voice almost like a bird call. I felt like a pro.
We left the store feeling really buzzed about didgeridoos, then walked through the rest of downtown until we made it to the Esplanade. There was a massive, free, public, man-made lagoon in the center of a park on the edge of the ocean. Near the lagoon was a small ferris wheel, picnic areas, grills, and a wooden boardwalk around the perimeter. While the area is probably packed on a hot, sunny, day, it was pretty mellow in the evening. There were only a few people wading around and a group of people throwing around a rugby ball.
I really wanted to take a dip and swim around a little. I was so excited to swim in the Great Barrier Reef the next day, that I just wanted to swim somewhere. Elizabeth didn’t seem as interested. The water was a little cold, when you put your feet in, so it wasn’t really going to be a relaxing dip. I stripped to my shorts and hopped in. What was fun was that there was a little bit of sand that you could feel under your toes in a section of the lagoon. Elizabeth kicked off her shoes and put her feet in for awhile, while I swam in the 3 foot area for a few minutes.
After I got dried off, we walked around the park. We saw a couple at one of the grills cooking shrimp and I couldn’t not shout, “Let’s throw another shrimp on the barbie!”
Making our way back to the street, a fire dance artist was setting up a ring for his performance. It was the first time I had really seen a busker spinning fire, so Elizabeth and I sat on the sidewalk outside of his ring and watched the show. The artist had swords, batons, and chains laid out behind him. He turned on the music and would spin the various items while posing and contorting. He was truly earning his tips and took busking to a level beyond caricatures and people playing acoustic cover songs.
As we walked back to the hotel, we noticed what looked like bats flying around and landing on the branches of a giant fig tree. We were slightly frightened, but it was one more reminder of all the crazy wildlife occurrences of Australia. Even in the city, you were still out in nature.