Events of Thursday 27th February 2020
My previous post in this series here describes leaving the ship 'Caledonian Sky' on the morning of 27th February, transferring to Port Moresby's airport on taking a Charter Flight to Cairns by Air Niuguini Boeing 737.
I'd not previously visited Cairns, so I arrived with a sense of anticipation (although I was still very tired). The airport staff were friendly and helpful. Immigration was via automatic gates, reading my passport. I 'fluffed' it the first time, because they'd added a couple of on-screen questions to the process about prior travel, because of Coronavirus (Covid-19) but I got it right the second time. My checked bag arrive promptly and Customs was straightforward, so I was soon in the Arrivals Hall where we were directed outside to a series of modern tour buses where the driver helped to load baggage into the hold. We soon set off for our one night stop in Cairns, at the Hilton Hotel, with both public address and air conditioning working in the coach. The shortest route to the city was only around 7 km, but we took a rather longer route because of congestion caused by road works.
Cairns is green, modern and well laid out. Our journey to the hotel gave us glimpses of Cairn's facilities - the Tobruk Memorial Pool, sports grounds, schools, the Night Market and upmarket retail outlets, like Bulgari.
Cairns, Australia (View from Coach travelling from Airport to City). Note rainwater gulley in the kerbing.
After our driver had a bit of a struggle turning the huge coach out of Marlin Drive into the steeply-graded access road outside the Hilton, we disembarked and this time porters whisked away the heavy cases. A representative from the local tour company directed us to reception where, within seconds, we were furnished with keycards to our pre-allocated rooms and assured that our bags would be taken to our rooms shortly.
The Hilton is large, formed by two serpentine wings back-to-back, each a mirror image of the other, leaving an airy, green atrium-like space in between. The east wing has unobstructed views of Chinaman Creek (and Cairns Cruise Line Terminal) whilst the west wing, in which I was housed, offered views of the city and north-west across the bay to the airport (although the nearby Sebel Cairns Harbour Lights Hotel was an obstructive presence limiting sightlines to the north). The room was large and well equipped, if rather clinical but the large balcony allowed the views to be enjoyed.
Hilton Hotel, Cairns
Despite feeling tired following a frustrating day of travel, I determined to go for a late afternoon walk. The nearby marina area seemed an obvious initial destination and I set off, in tee shirt and slacks, with the temperature around 30 degrees Celsius but with the earlier bright sun turning to overcast. Then, it started to rain. "Oh", I thought cheerfully, "It'll just be a tropical shower and will soon stop".
In the Marlin Wharf area of the marina I discovered a fleet of modern catamaran ferries of various sizes which were involved in Great Barrier Reef tours. I'd not realised that Cairns regards itself as the best base for visiting the Great Barrier Reef - the faster boats take only 35 minutes to whisk passengers to waters for exploring the Great Barrier Reef by snorkelling, scuba diving and local boat trips. I only found out afterwards that there are also regular ferries to two nearby islands - Fitzroy Island (interesting website here and Green Island (more information here.
Marlin Marina, Cairns, Queensland.
As the rain increased, I watched a rather bedraggled group of passengers disembarking from a ferry which had just arrived, no better dressed for the rain than I was.
Marlin Marina Cairns, with passengers disembarking in the rain.
As I fumbled in the rain to take the picture above, a large landing craft quietly passed, heading purposefully into Chinaman Creek. It was green-hulled, with a massive yellow-painted deck crane and stacked with 20-foot shipping containers loaded transversely in the load space. When I returned home, the distinctive configuration of the vessel allowed me to identify it as the LCT 'Albatross Bay' (more information at here), operated by Sea Swift. This company provides various marine services, particularly scheduled general cargo, up and down the east coast of Australia, through the Torres Strait, Cape York Peninsula, and Northern Territory. I think 'Albatross Bay' is normally on the service between Cairns and Weipa but I was intrigued to learn that Sea Swift also have the last cargo and passenger vessel in Australia, the MV 'Trinity Bay' which operates regularly from Cairns to Thursday Island, which I visited in 2015. My visit to Thursday Island is described here.
LCT 'Albatross Bay' 64m by 15m 1551 DWT built 2014 arriving at Cairns
The rain showed no sign of abating, so I went into the adjacent modern shopping mall called The Pier, described as an "Upscale complex of boutiques, wellness clinics, restaurants, cafes & bars next to the Marlin Marina". It was very quiet partly, no doubt, because it was late afternoon and raining.
The Pier shopping mall, Cairns.
Unimpressed, I walked through the complex to the entrance nearer to my hotel. A number of local people were waiting by the doors for the rain to ease but after a few minutes I joined the more adventurous young people who had decided to just get wet. I'd noticed the kerbs with broad rainwater gullies on the way in from the airport but I'd failed to realise their significance. Only afterwards did I discover that February is one of the wettest months in Cairns which, with an annual rainfall of 39 inches, is around one third wetter than my home county!
View from the Pier Complex, Cairns as the rain bounces off the pavement.
I hurried across the path through a wooded area and entered the Reef Fleet Terminal, with its much-admired modern architecture which, with rain streaming down my face, I failed to notice. Inside, the building was laid out as a series of shops and sales counters, each serving one of the tour and ferry operators.
Reef Fleet Terminal
There were not many people in here, either, but one shop still open selling tours and souvenirs also had a good range of snacks so I made some purchases to serve as my evening meal. The very friendly lady assistant supplied a stout paper carrier bag and I braved the rain again, dashing back to the hotel and hastening through reception to the bank of lifts and my room. I wasted no time in running a hot bath and I ended up happily backing-up the day's photographs to my laptop computer whilst enjoying my snacks before slipping between the sheets of the huge bed.
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.
Next report
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
[Text on Sea Swift added 28-Mar-2020]
