The gateway to Queensland’s tropical north is a chill place with plenty of action for couples or families, writes Tan Bee Hong
MOST Malaysians head for Gold Coast in east Queensland instead of Cairns, citing the lack of direct flights from KLIA as the reason, but making a transit at Singapore’s Changi Airport is worth the extra hours spent.
For one thing, transit passengers can claim a S$20 voucher to spend at the airport, including for food, drinks and clothing. Then there’s plenty to do at the airport; you can even catch a film.
Another option is to hop on a local flight from Brisbane.
Our small group of six on board SilkAir flight MI811, landed at Cairns airport to sunny skies and promises of fun, fun, fun.
The short drive into the city dropped us at the Esplanade where famished, we stop at Barnacle Bill’s for lunch. The seafood restaurant overlooks the waterfront and serves some of the freshest seafood, from fish and prawn to bay bugs, scallops as well as meat, pasta and pizza.
AT LEISURE
After lunch, we check in to Shangri-La Hotel (www.shangri-la.com/cairns), a five-star establishment overlooking the Marina, where you can watch the sunrise or yachts on the water. It’s also within a short walking distance to most attractions in the city, including Zoom & Wildlife Dome.
GOOD EATS
Along the waterfront too are some of the city’s best restaurants such as Dundee’s and Ochre as well as shopping districts around the Cairns Night Market.
Dundee’s (www.dundees.com.au) is a lovely restaurant along the boardwalk. Its specialty, the Seafood Platter, is meant for two but looks (and is) sufficient for three or four. Comes with chilled crabs, prawns, mussels, bug tails, yabbies, scallops, oysters, crispy calamari, barramundi strips, grilled lobster, steamed mussels and dips as well as salad, rice and pasta. There’s even fruit for dessert.
Unlike Barnacle Bill’s and Dundee’s, Ochre Restaurant (ochrerestaurant.com.au) focuses on neoteric Australian cuisine which incorporates Australian bush ingredients and dishes with an Asian twist.
Even before our orders come, we are cooing over the wattle seed damper (bread) with macadamia oil and native dukka (ground spices and seeds). My plate of tempura gulf bugs are skewered on lemongrass and served with a green papaya salad.
It also offers slow roasted wallaby topside with kipfler potato and citrus mash, an Australian game platter, salt and native pepper leaf crocodile and prawns, chargrilled kangaroo sirloin and vegetarian choices too.
DOME CHALLENGE
A five-minute walk from the hotel and we are at Zoom & Wildlife Dome (cairnszoom.com.au) in Wharf Street. This is where you can have an immersive wildlife experience without leaving the city. Do try to allocate 2-3 hours at least to get the full experience.
The Dome is home to reptiles (crocodiles, frogs), fish, little furry marsupials and lots of birds. Watch out for Goliath, a 4.1m long estuarine crocodile or time your visit to coincide with the animal feeding.
Its wildlife keepers, such as our guide Chloe, are walking encyclopedias on the animals there and provide an entertaining, informative time for visitors.
But Zoom & Wildlife Dome is much more than that. Within its grounds is a Challenge Ropes Course. Hooked to a harness, we go through a series of obstacles such as cargo net, swings, tunnel; this is the Mid-Zoom, for beginners. The Hi-Zoom has a higher level of difficulty with more complicated crossings and ziplines, including one that goes directly over Goliath. If you don’t bring your legs up, there’s always the chance of losing a limb to the great croc! Definitely for the more adventurous.
Dome Climb, another adrenalin-pumping experience, brings participants outside of the dome as they navigate their way around the Dome on a narrow 60cm platform. We climb a series of stairs right to the top of the Dome. It’s not really dangerous as we are harnessed and you’re rewarded with a 360-degree view of the Cairns, the Coral Sea and surrounding cityscape as well as a bird’s eye view of the inside of the Dome.
When we’re done, there are two options to get back on the ground. We could backtrack and climb down the full 13m.
Or we could simply jump. For first timers, the Power Jump is, indeed, a leap of faith. Despite the harness, it is still quite unnerving to step off into thin air. especially when the ground seems a long way off.
But trust me, once you close your eyes and jump, it’s over all too soon... and you land smoothly on a soft “trampoline”.
A totally exhilarating experience, I think. Unlike a bungee jump, there’s no rubber rope to pull you back into the air again, so you won’t be bouncing up and down.
HANGING HIGH
The idea of a trip to the rainforest doesn’t exactly tingle my toes; after all, we have the spectacular Taman Negara right at our doorstep.
But in Cairns, visitors to Australia’s World Heritage-listed Barron Gorge National Park, get to glide 7.5kms over tree tops in gondola cabins with Skyrail Rainforest Cableway (www.skyrail.com.au).
An added attraction is that they get to see the change in scenery from eucalyptus forest to rainforest. For an additional fee, you can sit in a glass bottom Diamond View gondola, and see the jungle at your very feet.
There is a midstop between Smithfield and Kuranda, at Red Peak Terminal. When you get off at Red Peak and walk around, you literally brush shoulders with wildlife, including snakes and the cassowary. This huge, flightless native bird has thick, sharp claws, black feathers on the body and blue ones on its head and neck.
Qualified rangers make regular guided boardwalk tours. Continue on after Red Peak and the gondolas will stop at Barron Falls.
We continue to Kuranda, known as the “village in the rainforest”. It’s a picturesque settlement with vibrant attractions such as a butterfly sanctuary, an aviary, koala park, walking tracks and shops, cafes and restaurants.
The butterfly sanctuary is also a research centre and visitors can see the various stages of development of a butterfly.
The Kuranda Koala Gardens is home to plenty of wildlife, including koalas (of course), crocodiles, macropods (kangaroos and wallabies), wombats, snakes and other reptiles. You can get up close and feed the kangaroos; during peak seasons though, the overfed kangaroos show scant interest in the pellet food we offer.
Stop for a meal at the village. Frogs Restaurant serves some excellent Sri Lankan curry (beef, chicken and crocodile). The wild-caught barramundi is quite delectable, served grilled with potato wedges. For a good view of the rainforest, grab a seat on the open deck.
After lunch, stroll through the market and pick up souvenirs, art and craft as well as spices and sweets.
To get back to Cairns, you can take the Skyrail or the Kuranda Scenic Railway that winds its way through the rainforest, past spectacular waterfalls and into the awesome Barron Gorge. Otherwise, there is also a regular bus service between Kuranda and Cairns.
INDIGENOUS FIRES
Next door to Skyrail in Smithfield, Tjapukai (www.tjapukai.com.au) offers a taste of aboriginal north Australia. The Tjapukai is said to date back 40,000 years and is one of the world’s oldest living cultures. The Tjapukai (the name means People Of The Rainforest) inhabited the region from Cairns to Port Douglas and inland to Kuranda.
There are different programmes for day and night. In the Cultural Centre, the day visit starts with a life performance to show the ancient dreamtime story of the Tjapukai people’s belief in the creation of the world and a guided talk on art styles as well as the differences between the various aboriginal clans in Australia. A buffet lunch with native flavours is included.
For the Night Fire show, aborigines “welcome” us by painting our faces with coloured clay and offering us canapes and drinks.
Then we are ushered to an outdoor theatre to watch a corroboree (aboriginal dance ceremony). This one is about Aboriginal Dreamtime stories and visitors are invited to join the Rainbow Serpent circle to learn traditional language songs and dances as well as how to start a fire by rubbing sticks. We are also provided thick wooden sticks to beat together to add to the music.
Then, on the way to the Flame Tree Bar & Grill, we tarry a while to watch as one of the Tjapukai shoot an arrow to ignite a spectacular fireball in the distance.
Dinner is an amazing feast with salads, fish and meat (including crocodile and a tenderlicious roasted kangaroo).