Events of Friday 28th February 2020
I awoke reasonably refreshed at the Hilton Hotel in Cairns, dressed and went downstairs for buffet breakfast in the large restaurant on the ground floor which overlooked Chinaman Creek. Bright sunshine had replaced the rain I'd experienced the previous evening. Some of my fellow-passengers from 'Caledonian Sky' drifted in and one asked if I'd seen the cruise ship 'Queen Elizabeth' arrive. I had not, but I decided that a morning walk towards the Cruise Terminal was indicated. I've seen 'Queen Elizabeth' in a number of ports around the world during my travels, but I only discovered during my post-trip research that the ship's arrival that morning was the very first time such a large, 'Vista' class cruise ship had berthed in Cairns following a project to widen and deepen the shipping channel. There's an outline of the project on the Ports North website here, with a video of 'Queen Elizabeth's' arrival here.
I left the hotel, joined the Foreshore Walk and headed south towards the cruise terminal. Although the whole area has been landscaped and a modern, concrete sea wall constructed, the many abandoned wooden piles standing in the creek were enough to indicate that this had been the original commercial port.
Hilton Hotel and Foreshore Walk viewed from the modern fishing pier, Cairns.
A little further on, this was confirmed on passing a small, modern cafe named 'Wharf One'.
Chinaman Creek, Cairns, looking north towards the sea with 'Wharf One' cafe on the left and Marlin Wharf and Marina in the background.
The transit sheds for Wharf 2 and Wharf 3 have been retained but 're-purposed'. 'Shed 2' is now Hemingway's Brewery ("a waterfront gastro-brewpub that showcases local provenance in a vibrant setting" according to their website here). 'Shed 3' has become 'Cairns Cruise Liner Terminal' but as I approached, the terminal was dwarfed by the massive bulk of 'Queen Elizabeth'.
'Queen Elizabeth' docked at Cairns Cruise Liner Terminal.
The road in front of the terminal carried signs saying 'CLOSED ON SHIP DAYS' and this was enforced by rising bollards in the raised position, a heavy-duty barrier, also raised, and a lady security guard. I had to research the barrier, as I wasn't sure of the correct name for this type of product - it's a 'Hostile Vehicle Mitigation Product'! The one in my picture was supplied by Australian firm AVS-elli and their website confirmed it was a LW7 Folding Block Barrier, the heaviest in their range - in fact, their website showed a picture of the very installation at Cairns! I also noticed, with interest, the remains of an early 3 foot 6 inch gauge siding leading to the transit shed inset into the road surface not using tramway rail but conventional rail and double check rails.
Cairns Cruise Liner Terminal, showing railway siding, raised road barriers and various coaches awaiting the cruise passengers.
As I walked back north, a large, modern catamaran called 'Tropic Sunbird' operated by 'Sunlover Reef Cruises' headed into Chinaman Creek, to give the passengers a chance to see (and photograph) the cruise ship. The catamaran slowly turned through 180 degrees, then returned north at speed.
'Queen Elizabeth' viewed from Wharf One, as a 'Tropic Sunbird' inspects the cruise ship.
In the above picture, you can also see overhead conveyors and loading gantries in the background. I was intrigued but lacked time to find out more until I returned home when I found out that almost all the sugar grown in Australia comes from Queensland and that over 80% is exported. Queensland Sugar Limited (often referred to simply as 'QSL') is a not-for-profit organisation owned by the Queensland sugar industry. The conveyors I'd seen were part of Cairns Sugar Terminal which has a storage capacity of around 250,000 tonnes of raw sugar. The terminal is owned by Sugar Terminals Limited (STL) and managed by QSL under an operating agreement.
The tug 'Gulf Explorer', operated by Tim North Marine was moored at the Fishing Jetty, with the three crew relaxing on the jetty in the shade of the superstructure. I assumed she'd assisted 'Queen Elizabeth' to the berth.
Tug moored at the Fishing Jetty, Chinaman Creek, Cairns. 'Gulf Explorer', 25m long 8m beam 30 ton bollard, was built in 1972 by Carrington Slipways, Newcastle, Australia.
I'd toyed with the idea of walking to Cairns railway station but it's modern and buried under the car park of Cairns Central Shopping Centre a few blocks away so I knew I'd be disappointed. Now, if the original station on McCloud Street had survived, that would have been different.
Cairns Railway Station around 1890, from a glass negative in John Oxley Library, Queensland (Public Domain)
Queensland Rail now operates two contrasting rail services from Cairns: the 'Spirit of Queensland' diesel-electric Tilt Train makes five trips each week between Cairns and Brisbane, covering the 1,681 km distance in 24 hours whilst two services a day serve tourists on the 37 km long Kuranda Scenic Railway. There's a short history of the Kuranda line on the railway's website here.
Instead, I returned to my hotel to complete my packing and have a few minutes on the balcony of my room looking out over the city.
View from my room at the Hilton Hotel, Cairns, looking across Trinity Bay to the airport.
I was puzzled by the glazed domes on top of a modern building to my left. Only later did I find out that Cairns Zoom and Wildlife Dome is a rather odd synthesis of Zip Line experience and wildlife park perched on top of a Casino. I'm afraid I approve of neither the gambling nor the creatures in captivity (no matter how well looked after) but (alhough I haven't tried it) the zip lining sounds fun.
I was booked to leave Cairns for home on the noon flight to Melbourne. Most of the Noble Caledonia passengers were travelling later that afternoon but a few, with different flight arrangements, were leaving earlier so a transfer to the airport had been arranged for 09:45 which I joined.
To avoid the ongoing road works, the coach drove to the airport using a route partly different from that used on our arrival the previous afternoon, offering some different views of Cairns - white-painted Cairns City Library with its columned frontage followed by Cairns Aquarium. Then, a block with St. Monica's High School, the modern St. Monica's Cathedral and the Dioscese of Cairns offices. Next, we passed through an area filled with modern apartment blocks followed by Cairns Hospital.
Cairns, Australia: view from Abbott Street showing Florence Street with Cairns Aquarium on left (City to Airport)
St. Monica's High School, Cairns, Australia (City to Airport)
Dioscese of Cairns offices, Cairns, Australia (City to Airport)
There were brief "good byes" as we were dropped-off outside Departures then I had a brief struggle to get my luggage to the right check-in queue. Fortunately, it didn't take long to complete the fomalities and then, with plenty of time in hand, I made my way to the Quantas Lounge to await my flight at the end of my very brief, but interesting, visit to Cairns.
Related posts on this website
This post is in the series labelled 'Tropic of Capricorn’. The first post is here.
Clicking on the 'Next report' link will display the post describing the next events. In this way, you may read about the trip in sequence.
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Alternately, clicking on the 'All my Tropic of Capricorn reports' link displays all the posts on this trip in reverse date-of-posting order.
All my Tropic of Capricorn reports
My pictures
Cairns Airport, Australia
Cairns, Queensland, Australia
Hilton Hotel, Cairns, Australia
[Link to 'Next Report' added 5-Nov-2020]
