Postcard from...Cairns, Australia

G’day! Australia

   My family went to Cairns, Queensland, Australia from 30^th Dec. 2018 to 6^th Jan. 2019. I had been to Australia 3 times, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Albany. I researched about Australian education when I was a graduate student so it has been familiar with me.

   At first, we stayed at a hotel in Palm Cove, one of the beach resorts near Cairns, for 2days. It took about 40 minutes by taxi from the Cairns International Airport. Unfortunately, the sea was rough because of a hurricane so we couldn’t swim in the sea. Instead of that, we could enjoy swimming in the beautiful pool of the hotel. Especially for Sou, it seemed to be better because he was still afraid of the waves of the sea at that time.

   At the night of New Year’s Eve, we could see many fireworks with the countdown by the local people and tourists at the beach. It was really different from Japanese one.

   Next 2 days we moved to the Green Island which is located in the Great Barrier Reef. It took only about 50 minutes by ferry from Cairns. There is only one hotel in the island so we stayed at there. Sou was scared of swimming in the sea in the beginning and he just played in the sand, but, as he could saw many fish in the sea he gradually began to swim and seemed to have fun a lot. My husband, my elder son and I enjoyed snorkeling. We could see coral reefs, many kinds of tropical fishes, green sea turtles, manta rays and even small sharks! Sharks were frightening but they didn’t try to attack humans.

   Besides that, we rode a glass bottom boat, went night hiking around the island and I was amazed by the starry sky. In a morning, my husband and I went to the sea and swam. There was no one except for us. I felt dignity and somewhat holy there.

   The following 2 days we went back to Cairns and walked around the city. There is a big complemental outdoor swimming pool and free barbeque sites. Many people had a good time there. We also went to Kuranda, a village surrounded by tropical rain forests. We rode a gondola, called Skyrail on the way and took a railway, which has a history from 1900s on the way back. It was my first time to see the trees and plants of the rain forest. We went shopping and a zoo. My elder son could cuddle a koala and my younger one petted the back. We took some picture with it. The Koala seemed to be angry because he/she woke up even he wanted to keep sleeping. I felt sorry about that but it was a definitely wonderful experience for my kids.   

   I’m really glad we could have a special time and go through the days without any problems in Australia.
Haruka