A day in Cairns and a near miss!

A sumptuous breakfast greets us at the Princess and we organise for our day in Cairns. Cairns is just 20 minutes south of Ellis Beach and we pull in and check out the other resorts like Palm Cove along the way. All very slick with manicured resorts but we're happy with out set up at Ellis Beach.

Cairns on a Saturday morning is busy and it's changed a bit since I was there in 1999 but is certainly much bigger than when we were there as kids in 1964 when it was little kore than a frontier town. In those days there was even a Chinese Joss House
in the back streets. I remember peeking in and seeing a couple of old Chinese men smoking opium pipes. How things have changed... now the teens smoke dope down along the Esplanade.

Wendy is driving and, as usual, chatting like a parrot when she suddenly stops and turns into a parking space. A loud muffled voice is heard behind the Pajero as a motorcyclist displays his knowledge of Australian swear words! Sorry mate. It could
have been serious but we fall about laughing as we discuss Wendy's "talking-while-driving" abilities!

Wendy and I need to hit the internet cafe and catch up on emails so we all decide to go our own way and explore Cairns and meet later. Nick will go for his daily swim somewhere down near the pier so we head off and "Do Cairns". It's all very geared to the tourist trade with literally hundreds of shops selling didgeridoos, koalas and boomerangs.

We meet up again and have lunch and decide that tonight a seafood dinner would be nice so on the way back to Ellis Beach we stop at a Co-Op and grab a selection of fresh seafood.

Wendy's "talking-while-driving" skills have not increased as she drifts across 2 lanes at a round-about and ends up having to go around twice, while the other drivers exercise their horns and practice their swearing. We're like a bunch of kids as we dismiss the seriousness of it and laugh ourselves silly. (Sorry Woozie, I just had to put those 2 funny incidents in.. ).