Cairns Marlin Marina is a funny sort of place. Many other marinas along the coast are aimed at cruising boats, with well-thought-out facilities, friendly and available staff, and barbeque areas that yachties can gather for a drink and some salty stories. The usual marina laundromat is a place of book swaps and notices of things for sale, upcoming events or ads for people looking to be crew or do boat deliveries. The marina at Cairns isn’t anything like that. It looks like it could be, but once you arrive it soon becomes clear they mainly cater to commercial boats and superyachts. I could go on and on about all the differences and disappointments, (and I did, but I’ve deleted it) BUT, there were some pretty significant positives about being situated there: It was great to almost be in the heart of town, the shops all within walking distance through a lovely tropical park with a big sand-bottom swimming pool.
A night out… 
Fish cleaning the boat 
The walkway from the marina to the city
Right outside the marina was a fabulous little cafe/gelato shop with beanbags on the lawn – the best gelato. We enjoyed walks, dinners out with cruising buddies, and did the touristy thing including a visit to the best aquarium we’ve ever seen. Ever. Really. If you’re ever in Cairns, and you’re even slightly interested in the underwater world, you MUST visit this place.
And then COVID came to town, and we went into a 3-day lockdown, with mask wearing compulsory both indoors and out for a couple of weeks. For two cases. Fortunately, it didn’t spread, and life soon returned to ‘normal’ in this part of the world.
The highlight of our time in Cairns was our road trip (via hire car) in company with Andrew and Lynne from Mischief, and Randall and Alison from Tregoning, to explore the Atherton Tablelands.
On our first day out of Cairns, we visited Babinda Boulders, enjoying the walk through lush rainforest to the picturesque site, where rushing water has worn away the rock to create interesting shapes and patterns .
Babinda Boulders
We were recommended to try Etty Bay for our best chance of spotting a cassowary. Far North Queensland is home to the endangered Southern Cassowary, a bird we’ve always wanted to see in the wild. Cassowaries, for those who may not know, are a big flightless bird a bit like an emu, with some remarkable differences. They have huge claws like a velociraptor, capable of disembowelling a person. They have brightly coloured heads, necks and wattle, and a wedge-shaped casque (also called a helmet) which really adds to their prehistoric appearance. The purpose of the casque has long been debated. I’m not going to offer an opinion, but here are some of the things scientists have posited:
- It might be a ‘helmet’ to protect the skull from the impact of falling objects or smashing into a tree in the rainforest
- It might be a weapon or defence against predators
- It might play a role in courtship
- It might help the cassowary amplify its low frequency rumble
- The latest studies seem to indicate it might be a thermoregulator. If this turns out to be true, it may explain some of the similar protuberances found on dinosaurs.
Regardless of their dangerous claws and their long-debated casques, we were very much hoping to spot a cassowary. So off to Etty Beach we went. They told us morning and late afternoon were the best times to see the cassowaries, so of course we arrived just after lunch. We wandered around for a while and even found footprints on the beach, so that was kinda exciting, but of the birds, there was no other sign.
Big as a human footprint…
We gave up and headed out of Etty Bay. Ten minutes later, we spotted a cassowary wandering along the side of the road!
Once the excitement was over, we continued to Josephine Falls, walking through rainforest in torrential rain to see the thunder-rush of water pouring through the gorge.
Josephine Falls
The swimming areas were closed due to the dangerous flood waters. We hadn’t planned to swim, but we were all pretty saturated when we made it back to the cars – even with our raincoats! Some of us were just a tiny bit hysterical to discover we’d picked up a leech. I won’t mention any names, as I might incriminate myself, but I’m not the only one who has a bit of a leech phobia, am I, Lynne?
With enough excitement for one day, we headed to our accommodations. We based ourselves at the family-run Malanda Manor Guesthouse (highly recommended) where we were well looked after. (We had dinner there a couple of times and the food was sensational.)
Next day, we meandered along winding country roads through fields washed verdant green in the sunlight. Our first stop was Malanda Falls, which included a rainforest walk with tortoises, red-legged pademelons and the calls of catbirds, whipbirds and the wompoo fruit doves.
Malanda Falls – not a bad spot for a swim
We had lunch at Lake Barrine, where we discovered two enormous Australian Kauri trees. Well, we didn’t actually discover them. Someone had already done that before us, but we certainly marvelled at their height, girth and majesty.
Massive Australian Kauri’s
Then it was on to the impressive Cathedral Fig. Who knew trees could be so fascinating? The ferns in the upper branches are often home to pythons, but no one volunteered to climb up and check for snakes.
At Yungaburra, we walked along the creek and eventually spotted the critter we had come looking for: the platypus, that shy and most unusual monotreme. We were also fascinated by the antics of some of the other wildlife in the area….
Our final stop for that day was the Nerada Tea Plantation. We were more than happy to sit for a bit and look out over the tea plantation, enjoying cups of tea and scones with jam and clotted cream. We also had an ulterior motive for being there – the tree-kangaroo (or mupee), another animal endemic to Far North Queensland, and listed as threatened. One family of tree-kangaroo inhabit a small patch of forest next to the tea plantation, and we were lucky enough to have some very good eyes with us to spot one tucked up high in the foliage.
The next day we turned our focus to something we thought Jamie might enjoy, so we left our travelling buddies to do their own thing and headed off to the Herberton Historic Village. Wow, what an incredible place. I don’t think I can do it justice in words, but the place is laid out with dozens of buildings linked with pathways through neatly kept gardens, including an old school house, church, houses, gaol, printing shop, toy shop, dress shop, apothecary, smithy, garage complete with a huge collection of cars in working order including a Model T ford, a massive collection of farming equipment including meticulously restored John Deere tractors, a huge COMET windmill, pumps, fire trucks, a saw-mill, gun collections, military collections, dolls, ….. it just goes on and on. Jamie loved the music room with its pianolas, the pub, the washing machine collection, the demonstrations of the working pumps. It was a great day out and there was certainly something for everyone.
Our last day in the area was a (return) visit to Mossman Gorge with its pretty rainforest walks, and then we made our way back along the coastal road to Cairns. I was quite taken with the fungi!
Back in Cairns, the pressure was on to make a decision about where to go next. The general opinion was to head in the northerly direction, so with lockdown still going strong in Sydney, the Queensland border closed, and no urgent reason to head towards home, we caved into peer pressure and decided to head just a little bit further north, again.
Symphony in Sea 
Fantastic photos. Sounds like Cairns was a fantastic holiday experience.
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