Cairns Holiday

It is summer in Australia and I find the days to be face meltingly hot. It hasn’t rained in a long time but today there seems to be a promise of rain. The school year is almost over and I am looking forward to six weeks of summer vacation!  I’ve decided to go on vacation to Cairns, Queensland. Cairns is located in north Queensland and is known for its beautiful beaches and rainforests. It is also located near the Great Barrier Reef which is the world’s largest coral reef system.

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This is the first holiday which I will be organizing and paying for myself. I never went on holiday before as I could never afford it. I chose Cairns as I wanted to have a typical summer holiday out in the sunshine. I want to be outdoors, swimming at the beach, strolling through the rainforest and browsing through markets.

Here are some of the places that I want to see at Cairns:

The Great Barrier Reef

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I want to take one of those glass bottomed boats and see the reef. I might go snorkelling as well. There are fifty tour companies that take tourists to the reef and the little tropical islands along the way so there’s lots to do there.

Kuranda

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Kuranda is a small town located in the rainforest of the Atherton Tableland. It is a town known for its outdoor markets, boutiques and art galleries. One way to get to Kuranda is to take Kuranda 

Scenic Railway which goes through the rainforest. It is a tourist train that travels past waterfalls and there is ongoing commentary about the history of the railway line.

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I’m also considering taking the  Skyrail Rainforest Cableway on the way back to Cairns. I’m not that crazy about heights but I might still go on the skyrail for the experience.

Cairns Regional Art Gallery

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I always like to visit art galleries because it is relaxing to walk around and look at art. I also think it would place to go when it gets too hot as most art galleries are air conditioned.

Cairns Botanical Gardens

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I like botanical gardens as they feature exotic plants and landscapes. I’ve been to the Brisbane, Canberra and Gold Coast gardens so I would like to see what Cairns has to offer.

Lastly, I’m going to be spontaneous in Cairns and see what it has to offer. I plan on going in January 2015 and I will post my adventures later. 

Day Trip in Ipswich

 My family spent a great deal of time exploring when we came to Queensland. We went to many major attractions as well as exploring suburbs and shopping centres. My friend Jenny had not explored much of Ipswich despite living in it since she was a baby. Her family has always been busy with their business so it’s understandable that she has not had much free time to visit the tourist sites. So, I decided to take advantage of the school holidays and show her around Ipswich. 

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Our first stop was the Ipswich Nature Centre, which houses some native animals like wallabies, wombats, snakes and kangaroos as well as farm animals.  My favourite animals were the Spinnifex Hopping Mice which were tiny little dessert mice that hop really fast to get from place to place. They are a nocturnal animal so they were in a dark enclosure. Jenny said she liked the bilbies. Bilbies are marsupial bandicoots and they look kinda like rabbits.

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Next we went to the Nerima Gardens which is a Japanese style garden which also incorporates native Australian plants to show the partnership between Ipswich and their Japanese sister city Nerima. Jenny took lots of photos of the flowers and plants she found interesting. I usually just copy her photos for blog entries because she takes a lot of photos of whatever we are doing.

Afterwards we had lunch at Queens Park Café which is a café located in Queens Park which is near the Japanese Gardens. I had the seafood chowder for $12.50 and an ice cream soda. I would have liked a bigger serving of the soup as it came in such a small bowl. Jenny had a bowl of wedges and a vanilla thick shake.  

 The Queens Café boasts that they have the thickest thick shake in Ipswich. For those who don’t know thick shakes are pretty much milkshakes with more ice cream. The Queens Café thick shakes were definitely the thickest shakes I've ever seen. It looked more like whipped soft serve ice cream then a drink.

We were meant to go to Denmark Hill for a stroll but Jenny was too full to do any walking. Instead, we went to the Ipswich Art Gallery. The gallery changes their exhibits regularly and we wanted to see the new children’s exhibit Wind Tubes. I guess we’re big kids at heart.  Wind Tubes is an interactive exhibit  where kids can build their own flying contraption and then put it in a wind turbine and watch it fly. 

When we got there, there were lots of families making their flying creations. All ages were making their own flying things so Jenny and I sat right down and made our own. Fortunately, our flying things floated. Some of the children had to learn that heavy things don’t float and that they need to make their contraptions catch the updraft.

Our last thing of the day was a visit to The Workshops RailwayMuseum. Queensland has a good railway network which has been in existence for many years. We only had an hour to browse before closing time so we hurried around all the exhibits. My favourite thing in the exhibit was being able to walk through difference carriages from various trains. I think a good museum is one that you can interact with the things in it.