Arrived in Cairns (pronounced CANS)

September 9, 2009

We got a much better start today and went straight away towards Innisfail. The scenery on the way was lush and fantastic as we were entering part of the Queensland Rainforests. On the side of the roadway were Banana Pantations, Sugarcane Plantations, Lycee fruit Farms etc… It seems that everything you can image can grow here.
On our way Northward, we saw a sign for a winery by the name of MURDERING POINT. I don’t know if that reflected the mood of the travelers in the van or their frayed nerves, however, the name seemed to resonate with everyone and we decided to divert to the winery and sample their wares. It turns out that the winery was built on a historical site where a Cannibal tribe had kidnapped and subsequently cooked two sailors from a stranded ship in the early 1800’s. The remaining crew discovered the remains and the cannibals and with the ensuing battle the cannibals lost. There were many gruesome details to this story that have been omitted but you get the point ( pun intended). In any event, this was no ordinary winery as all of the wine was made from various exotic fruits. Naturally we had to sample them all before we could decide which 6 flavors we liked the best.
We carried on to the nearby town of Innisfail and had a picturesque lunch at a famous Italian Deli called Olivetti’s. Innisfail is at the junction of 2 major inlet rivers ( the north and south Johnson rivers). Watch out because alot of Crocodiles live here. Innisfail is only about 1.5 hours south of Cairns. We did a little shopping and carried on. We drove through one of the suburbs of Cairns called EDMONTON on the way to our rented villa. If you ever hear that Edmonton is not such a bad place, clearly people must be referring to this place in Australia and not the Alberta capital.
We arrived at last to our holiday villa just outside of Cairns in a beautiful hamlet of Yorkey’s Knob. We are staying at the villa called the Driftaway ( 12 Boden Street). The villa looks and feels a lot like the place in Kelowna that we used to spend summer vacations at when we were kids. Nothing fancy, but it has 3 bedrooms, kitchen, living room and (aghast)only one bathroom. I think the girls will be posting a schedule and booking time. We are only 2 blocks from a white sand which stretches out for miles. The swimming area of the beach is protected with nets to prevent stingers (jellyfish), crocodiles and sharks from entering the area. ( no I am not kidding). Good news is that it is still spring here so the Jellies are not too prolific as they will be when the water warms up in the months of November thru to February.