Cairns – here we come!

Wednesday 15 July 2026 |

Arriving in Cairns

There were thick layers of snow on Mt Wellington, and the sun a long way from up, when we headed to the airport for a 7-day winter escape in Far North Queensland.

The flights were the usual mix of bad coffee and weird snacks, but we arrived in Cairns by midday unscathed. Cairns airport is bigger than I expected; they accommodate a lot of international flights to Asia and The Pacific.

More surprising was there is no public transport from the airport to the city centre. No Sky Bus. Apparently, the shuttle bus company went bust 6 months ago and no-one else has stepped in.

We had considered out usual approach of walking the flat 8kms to our hotel, but the signs were very clear. ATCHUNG – Crocodiles in this area! Everyone advised against it.

We eventually taxied to the Central Plaza Apartments and found our way into a very spacious 1 -bedroom apartment, with full kitchen, balcony and a view. We have the middle room on the top floor.

With the apartment investigated and our belongings put away, we headed off to explore the town. Cairns stretches for about 3km along the waterfront with impressive walking and cycling tracks along the boardwalk and hundreds of hotels and apartments lining the next street back.

We are 1km from the Northern end, where the mangroves and crocodiles start. The harbour and town centre are at the southern end. We headed south to explore, buy groceries and research our options for keeping ourselves busy for the next 6 days.

Some Very Mixed Messages from FNQ

Feasting like Kings

I like to cook, and we both like to eat, so having a full kitchen allowed us to have some tasty meals. On Wednesday night we sat down to a Thai glass noodle and prawn salad. Soaked mung bean noodles, julienned red pepper, zucchini, cucumber, red onion and cabbage, all tossed in with Thai Salad dressing and half a bag of defrosted prawns!

The next morning, I headed to the bakery for sourdough so that we could have the classic brunch, smoked salmon and poached eggs on toast with a camping twist of potato salad cream instead of hollandaise sauce. Yummmo!

Sleeping like Paupers

I am not a great sleeper; I tend to lie awake for hours willing sleep to come. A few years ago, I discovered the soporific tones of one Mr Simon Whinchester. That is not to say he is boring. Not at all, but his voice is so controlled and deep, with a nice lilt, it sooths me to sleep.

Have a listen to him here on Audible Cloud Player

The trick is to be very familiar with the content – so as not to get distracted and start to concentrate. I was playing the audiobook to Debbie and she agreed he has a wonderful voice. I set the timer for 45-minutes and we settled into listen and sleep.

Sometime around 5am I woke. Debbie wasn’t in bed. When after a while she didn’t return I was curious. My first thought was that she had fallen out of bed. But a check of the floor on the other side revealed this not to be the case.

Instead, she was in the lounge – on the couch – with no blankets. Apparently “The man wouldn’t stop talking” so at 1am she had given up. I had not set the timer and spent the rest of the day apologizing. Funnily enough, we listened to him again the next night. She will get used to it.