On Feb 26, 2024, we docked at Cairns, which is a city of approximately 170,000 people, located in tropical Far North Queensland. It is considered the gateway to Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. Our stay in Cairns will be overnight for two days.

On our first day we decided to explore Cairns on our own. We walked along the Cairns Esplanade, a relatively new development along the oceanfront that incorporates a walking/jogging track, a sandy swimming lagoon, exercise and playground equipment, and shops and restaurants. It is shaded with many large fig trees along the way.

We made our way into the city and stopped at St. Monica’s War Memorial Catholic Cathedral. It was built after World War II and designated a memorial to the fallen soldiers of Australia in 1945. The Cathedral is well known for its stained glass windows which panoramically tell the story of creation around the walls of the cathedral.

We walked back toward the shore and our ship in extremely hot and humid weather and went to a “night market”, which is a common market in Asian countries for local vendors to sell their crafted goods, or items imported from other countries.

On Feb 27, 2024, we took an excursion that included a skyrail rainforest cableway which took us up into the rainforest where there was a walkway along which we could see many different vegetation and some wildlife. Also we were able to view the Barron Falls waterway and surrounding forests.

We then took the cable car up a little further to Kuranda, a small town with many small heritage and original markets, as well as cafes and galleries. We visited a number of the markets and galleries and then went on to the Australian Butterfly Sanctuary, which is the largest flight aviary and exhibit in Australia. Its exhibit allowed us to be surrounded by 1,200 free-flying local rainforest butterflies.