Stan and I are big kids and we can take the day off if we want, and we did. All in the heck we accomplished today was laundry, make a trip to town via the 45-minte bus ride, have a happy hour visit at sunset with our landlords and nothing more. Cairns is not a large city. It is a bit of a throw-back to years ago. It remind us of a Ft Lauderdale or a the City of Montego Bay. It was busy, quaint, international, touristy, and a bit Outback, if that is imaginabl...

Today was all about rainforest and railroad. Headed for Kuranda, the rainforest village in Barron Gorge National Park, we took the aerial sky rail system there and the railroad for the return trip. The sky rail was the best! Up, up and away it went to the top of the mountain, over the gorge and over the rainforest canopy. The sky was a little hazy today. Accordng to the weather forecast, Cairns is about to be hit with rain from the remnants of a cyclone late ...

Did you see that sunrise photo??? Honestly that view was just outside our window! We had an early wake-up today so that we could catch our 7 am transfer to the snorkel/dive ship in the city of Cairns. While having our coffee, Stan looked over my shoulder and said, "Janie, turn around" - I did and there was that sunrise! It was the most fantastic sunrise I have seen in my life. And we saw stars last night - zillions of them. We walked the beach to the Clifto...

Cairns, Australia - gateway to the Great Barrier Reef. Here the city is called "Cans." And, if you misspeak, the Aussies will correct you. When we include the "r" in the word, they say do you mean "Cans?" We want to be seasoned travelers, you know, but don't you agree it is difficult to look as the word, "Cairns" and say "Cans?" Getting to Cairns, AU from Auckland, NZ is a long, long trek. It seems that the trip might be short since both cities are in the...