Off to our last city in Oz - April 26, 2025
- Scott Farnsworth
- Apr 26
- 3 min read
Updated: May 1
SUMMARY Most of Hamilton Island is owned by one company. As such, there was well organized transportation to airport. Our next destination was Cairns (curiously pronounced “cans”), to our north but still in Queensland. However, “yuh can’t get there from here”. We had to fly 559 miles south back to Brisbane in order to fly 1054 miles north to Cairns. We checked into our hotel and were led 1/10th of a mile to our room via secret elevator - worth it for a corner room with a wrap around balcony and harbor/beach views. Off to C’est Bon for one of our best dinners . French, natch! - Karen
DETAIL And like that, we’re done with Hamilton Island. It’s been great but today we check out and fly on to Cairns (pronounced “Cans”), the last stop on our Australia 2025 Tour. We ask ChatGPT what we’ll think of Cairns, knowing the other Aussie cities we’ve just been to. The AI is honest and says the city itself may seem underwhelming by comparison, but nearby is an amazing rainforest and the Great Barrier Reef.
Leaving is the same as arriving, just in reverse. At the small airport there’s two gates, one plane, and lots of tanned tourists, at this time of day all heading home. Checking in, the ticket agent reminds us we paid extra for the exit row (with extra legroom) and so we’re priority boarding. Well crap, we had forgotten and missed that on our previous many flights.
The flight attendant greeting us says it’s sad we’re going from this beautiful weather to Brisbane where it’s pouring rain. Yes, we say, but we’re continuing on to Cairns (there are no direct flights). She brightens and says we’ll love it. Good weather there. Yay.
Our Uber driver taking us to our Cairns hotel is Dietrich (a good German name) and he’s driving a big Mercedes van (a good German car). We gather that Germans were big time settlers here back in the day. Dietrich confirms that there’s lots of good German food and beer available here. His parents also came over from Europe (like the “Ten Pounders” tour guide we had in Adelaide) but he thinks the fee for his dad would have been more like two Deutschmarks.
As we drive the short five miles to our hotel we’re impressed by all of the trees, grass and flowering bushes everywhere. It’s like there’s one very long, wide park between the airport and the city. There are walking/biking/hiking trails on either side and stuff to do in the middle. That doesn’t suck. It’s very pretty.
At the hotel, the bellman insists on walking us to our room. Well, OK, we’re grown adults and can wheel our own bags, but whatevs. 500 yards, two elevators, two room key authentications, and a number of turns later we’re at our room. It’s now clear why one needs an escort for one’s first room visit. It’s a big hotel and we’re at the very far end. We’re overlooking the water and the docks where the boats (and helicopters) head out to the Great Barrier Reef.
For dinner the girls have arranged dinner at C’est Bon (“It’s good”), a French restaurant. It is, indeed, good. Two very French waiters. No Mexican food yet on this trip, but we’ll take French any day.
Photos
We were touched that six cockatoos came to say goodbye. (Or maybe they know how to jimmy the lock and are going to ransack the room for food once we're gone!)
Lots of the same stores at every airport, including LEGO stores. But what's on display at each LEGO store is different. Crikey, is this the late, great Steve Irwin??
Onto the plane once more. We squint and say good bye to this gorgeous weather we've been enjoying.
Getting off the plane in Cairns we're not impressed by the weather here, looking back at the plane.
Looking the other way, thankfully, we find more of the blue skies to which we've become accustom. Deitrich, our Uber driver, says the weather's coming from this direction. Yay.
Checking into our hotel. This guy at the counter looks like he's ready for some big expedition. We don't know (yet) how big of an expedition just getting to our room will be.
Nice room. Good A/C. Good blackout curtains. Fridge. Coffee maker. All the essentials.
The view from our window. If you squint really hard (and use your imagination) you maybe can see the Great Barrier Reef way out there.
C'est Bon. Where we had dinner. Really good. We're not sure how anyone would know this is a "French" restaurant (wink). It lived up to it's name ("It's Good").
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