Easter Weekend (The Cathedral Tour)

I saw on a talk show that all bad news should be given as a sandwich: good news, bad news, good news.  I think that was Australia’s way of saying “Sorry, we ruined your Easter weekend plans”.  That said, I guess that’s how I’ll begin with our Northern Queensland adventures.

The good news: Matt got a four-day weekend! Excellent news!  We decided to take advantage of the time to head north towards Cairns, apparently a must-see city.  The plan was to make it a nice, leisurely vacation where we get to see some cool stuff without feeling exhausted Tuesday morning.  We’d see some gorgeous coastlines, check out the rainforest, and we’d fit in some baby shopping while we’re in the big city.  Oh, plus we had to fit in mass on Holy Friday and Easter.

It was such a simple plan.  We’d only do half the driving on Friday and stop for church at 3pm in Townsville.  That would leave plenty of time for baby shopping too.  One teensy little oversight: the Australian economy closes down for Good Friday.  Woops!  We’ve encountered our bad news, so lets get back to that good news.  We got to check into the hotel early and freshen up before our hike over to the lovely Townsville Cathedral.  Plus dinner at the hotel that night was an All-You-Can-Eat seafood buffet.  Hello, you big beautiful mountain of crab legs!

Saturday was a breeze!  An easy drive through the sugar fields and banana farms.  In case I haven’t told you yet, the Queensland grown bananas are amazing.  Matt and I tend to stumble upon the most amazing things completely by accident, so when we passed a sign that said “Paronella Park 20km” we figured we should give it a shot.  We weren’t disappointed in the least.

We pull up to the park entrance and had a giggle that this place in the middle of nowhere had parking attendants guiding us to the open space up front.  We saw a bridge over a waterfall and assumed it was just another little park at the bottom of the falls.  We balked about the price of admission until we confessed to one of the staff members that we’d not really heard of the place other than Matt having a vague remembrance of a flyer.  “It’s like no place you’ve ever been,” says the staff member, “most of the people here are either coming back again or coming because someone told them not to miss it.” $38 for a 2 year entrance fee.  Why not?  So we paid and were told to wait for our guided tour to start.  This history of the place is pretty amazing.  (It’s a story best told by them: http://www.paronellapark.com.au/history.html) Even though there was a fire in 1979, you can still imagine the glory this place once held for those who got to witness it in its heyday.  We took plenty of pics…and more than enough pics of the little turtles that have figured out people had food.  Little beggars!

 

 

Cairns was a pretty neat town.  Luckily most of the shops and restaurants stayed open down on the esplanade.  It didn’t hurt our luck that the Rhapsody of the Seas was docked there over the weekend.  The streets were flooded with international tourists, but if that meant they kept the economy flowing, the more the merrier. Side note: this was the first time I’d ever seen a cruise ship up close and I can honestly say I had no idea they were so big!

We decided to catch the 7pm Easter Vigil.  Walking time again…. At dusk the squawking starts and the flocks are on the move, only they aren’t birds.  They’re bats.   It was a long eerie walk.  Why do things always look so much closer on the map?  The Cairns Cathedral had some of the most beautiful stained glass I’ve ever seen.  Unfortunately, I don’t have that personality like so many of our friendly Asian tourists that lets me feel comfortable taking pictures in church.  But I have no scruples when it comes to Googling.

 St Monica's Cathedral Creation Windows
(Click a window for more information)

And finally, it SUNDAY!!  Our Easter obligations complete, today is ours to roam.  Matt’s only request is to drive the Defender through some rainforest.  We headed north up the coast towards Port Douglas.  We enjoyed some of the most beautiful coastal views imaginable.  I don’t think our pictures do the coast any justice.  Just imagine the color you’d expect the ocean to be in paradise and that’s what it was. 

Our first stop (after a few sidetracked scenic view stops) was the Mossman Gorge.  It’s a series of skywalks through the Daintree rainforest guiding you to some beautiful views of the gorge.  I almost wished we’d brought our swimmers; it looked like a nice little swimming hole.  Next we headed inland through the tablelands.  Can’t say that was as exciting as the coastal drive, but we did make a few scenic photo stops.  One of those stops was way off the beaten track, called Emerald Falls. I only made it half way up the walking track before my back and my little baby told me it was time to turn around.  It was still a nice view with the sound of the falls all along.  We didn’t make it back to the Kuranda in time to catch a ride on the skyrails, but by that time we didn’t care.  We’d already had all the fun we could handle! 

We were back in Cairns in time for a delicious dinner at the Turkish restaurant.  We both had lamb, our Easter tradition.  Then to top off the night, we waked through the night market and finished the evening off with gelato!  I couldn’t have asked for a more perfect weekend!

Click here to view the all the photos from the weekend: