At the end of November, we had a fantastic visit up to Cairns and Port Douglas in Far North Queensland to end off George’s mom’s visit to Australia from England.

As mentioned in my post about our time on the Gold Coast, George’s mom had the honour of being our first visitor during our year in Australia. After spending some time with us and exploring the Gold Coast, she flew up to Airlie Beach to see the Whitsunday Islands. While she was up in Airlie Beach, we finished our last week of work (which for me was slightly earlier than the end of the school year in Queensland) and then flew up to meet her in Cairns.

We had been really excited by the idea of Cairns and Far North Queensland as we had completed a lot of research about it and had briefly contemplated living up there for part of our time in Australia (though quickly changed our minds once we discovered the lack of accommodation and deadly jellyfish). While we also thought about heading all the way up to Cairns on our September road trip, we ultimately determined that the visit would be better as its own separate trip given its far distance and many sights to see.

While up in Cairns, we thought it would be helpful to rent a car, and were happy to discover that with the competitive car rental market, we could rent one for a very reasonable cost. Having the extra mobility allowed us to not only explore with more freedom, but also stay outside of the city, in a nearby beach town called Machans Beach. Our accommodation was lovely, right on the water and across the street from an ocean walking path.

It was already the afternoon by the time we arrived in Cairns and met up with George’s mom, so we decided to drive into town and check out the lagoon. Many of the major tourist areas in North Queensland have swimming pools right on the water due to the dangerous animals that exist in the ocean for the majority of the year, specifically crocodiles and deadly box jellyfish. These free public swimming pools are a great compromise to not being able to go in the ocean, while still having a beachy feel. We also appreciated the opportunity to keep cool in the extremely humid weather. We spent our afternoon near the lagoon before walking around the pier and finding a nice patio to enjoy happy hour.

On our second day in Cairns, we boarded a catamaran that took us out to the Great Barrier Reef. We were all really excited for this boat trip, and to see the reef and marine life. After a couple of hours’ boat ride, we put on our stinger suits and enjoyed a morning snorkel on the reef, loving the many different fish and other sea life that we were able to see. While the trip we had signed up for was for for snorkelling, an opportunity presented itself for me to scuba dive with the guide during the afternoon snorkeling session, so I took it! I was quite nervous as I hadn’t been diving since I got my PADI Open Water certification in Thailand in 2017, but the guide was super helpful and patient with me and reviewed some skills before we descended to the reef. I was absolutely blown away by the dive, seeing many colourful fish, a turtle, and about a dozen reef sharks. It was an awesome boat trip and was wonderful to finally check the Great Barrier Reef off of my bucket list.

The day after the boat trip, we went for a drive out to Mossman Gorge and Port Douglas. There was so much to do and see in the Cairns area, so we tried to pick the activities that we thought would get us out into nature. Mossman Gorge wasn’t originally on our list, though once George learned about it he was very keen to visit since the place basically shared the same name as him. The Gorge had a great visitor centre, and after buying a ticket, a bus took us to the start of a trailhead. We continued on the trail for a walk through the rainforest, which was beautiful, and then George went for a dip in the swimming hole on our way back. The gorge is particularly special to locals and visitors because it is one of the few swimming areas that is safe from both crocodiles and jellyfish.

After exploring Mossman Gorge, we continued driving up the road to Port Douglas. The landscape and scenery around Port Douglas were so beautiful, with palm trees, golden sand beaches, and hilly forests in the distance wherever you looked. We walked around town and the waterfront before heading down to a beach that had a jellyfish net to keep swimmers safe while enjoying the ocean. We were shocked and delighted to discover how warm the ocean water was once we started swimming. It must have been 27 or 28 degrees, and felt just like a warm bath. While the jellyfish nets weren’t visually appealing on other otherwise picturesque shoreline, we could understand how and why they were implemented as the beautiful warm temperature of the water was a joy to experience. Since being in Australia I have also learned that these bathtub-temperature waters are an indicator for locals on when the ocean water is safe to swim in through the year. My friend from work on the Gold Coast, who was from North Queensland, told me that as soon as the water felt like the bath, it was jellyfish season.

On our last morning in Cairns, I decided to take advantage of the boardwalk near where we were staying and went for a run along the water in Machans Beach. While I was running, I thought I saw something out of the corner of my eye in the water, and realized that a dolphin was swimming beside me close to the shore! It was such a magical moment. After my run and packing up our belongings, we went into town to walk along the boardwalk before our afternoon flight into Brisbane. Two gigantic cruise ships had landed in the port that morning, and it was fun to take a look at the size of the ships, which we thought were even bigger than the ones that often land in the Vancouver harbour.

We landed in Brisbane in the early evening to the biggest rainstorm that we had experienced since arriving in Australia. We were staying in the city for the night before George’s mom caught her flight back to England the next morning. We walked along the water and enjoyed the beauty of the city lights before having a final meal with George’s mom at a restaurant on the waterfront.

Cairns and the surrounding area in Far North Queensland is beautiful and spectacular. While we were lucky to have our three days there, we think we could have stayed for much longer as there was so much to do and see, especially if we had a couple of extra days to get up to Cape Tribulation. With that being said, we were also so lucky to visit Cairns when we did, as it was hit with a tropical cyclone just two weeks after we visited. Apparently many areas in the region are still flooded or recovering from the flood, including Machans Beach where we stayed and the highway that connects Cairns to Port Douglas. My heart goes out to all of the people impacted and I hope that the area is able to make a quick recovery so that locals and travellers are soon able to safely enjoy this beautiful corner of the world at its typical capacity.