Cairns....The Final Destination....on This Trip

Arrival in Cairns, Australia
Monday, October 11th, 2010

So after 10ish hours on the bus I arrived safe and sound in Cairns. It was a very long ride, I slept through most of it and I arrived in Cairns almost ready to face the day. I was able to say goodbye to the Greyhound (and not a trip too soon). From Cairns I would fly back to Darwin....but not for a few more days.

Because I arrived so early in Cairns I really had no place to go. 0700 was way too early to check into my hotel but I decided I would head there anyway. It was a safe place to store my gear which is far too heavy to be carrying around (I still have not learned the art of packing light). The hotel nicely stored my bag for me and I went off to find some breakfast. I had an idea of a few places to visit but they didn't open until 1000 so I had a few hours to kill.

Anyone who has been to Australia will know that service is not a strength in this country. Unlike North America.....and pretty much all of Europe.....and I am sure a lot of other places I have yet to visit, Australia is not a tipping culture. It is not required or expected anywhere you go. Because of that however, there is no incentive for a waitress (if you happen to be in a restaurant that actually offers table service) to come back and see how you're doing or if you would like something else once you have finished your meal. How much they make doesn't even remotely depend on how much you spend which means you could sit in a restaurant for 2 hours and to even think about getting a refill on your cup of tea it really would require you to get up and almost do it yourself. Quite a different experience.

But moving on. Once I knew it was open I headed to the Cairns Museum. A cute little place that won't take you more than a hour to get through but there are a few interesting things to look at.

The Museum is on the second floor of this building. The building itself use to be a School of Art and then it was used as a library. Once the library outgrew the space it was turned into the museum.

The museum gave a nice little history of Cairns, the area surrounding Cairns and of course the aboriginals who have been living here for about 5,000 years. I started my museum visit with a tour from Cliff. He had an interesting take on the history of the area but my tour kind of jumped around a little so it was difficult to follow history time lines. I did however get to see the back room where they have all kinds of old documents not on display so that was a bonus.

Named for William Wellington Cairns (who was the Queensland Governor at the time), the city initially grew due to gold being found in the area. It eventually turned into an important port for the export of gold, sugar cane and other things found and produced in the area. Pineapples use to grow in abundance in the area but now you mostly see sugar cane (because you can grow a lot more sugar cane in the same small area). The area now relies mostly on sugar cane and tourism to survive.

Anyway, here are just a few things I found.

Cliff very nicely took this picture. That's a giant shark's mouth.

Yes, that is a crocodile skull. Glad I met this guy in the museum and not the river.

I have no idea what these are but they were sharp and belong to some type of a big fish that could kill you.

I just found this funny. Big giant red phone. Love it. If these were still hanging out somewhere I think I would use public phones more often.

Some of the tools the Aboriginals used in hunting and fishing and of course protecting themselves. Although Aboriginals are known for being a very gentle people, they would not hesitate to protect their territory from whoever tried to take it. Interesting to note that most boomerangs (as seen here) were not designed to return to the thrower. They were designed to kill what they were being thrown at. You would just go collect them later.

Some aboriginal fishing traps. Fish could swim in but they couldn't swim out.

Once I found my way out of the museum, it still was too early to check into my hotel so I headed to another museum. This was the Cairns Regional Gallery where I found a few things I really liked. There was an entire exhibit called Attire by Josier Lowerson. She built the entire exhibit based on memories and emotions that can evoked by looking through your wardrobe......so naturally I loved it. Here a few shots of some of the pieces that made up Attire.

This is The Price of Height and I loved it. I am sure any women who has worn a pair of 3 or 4 inch heels can relate to this.

This one is Bowerbird Conspiracy. Now I am not sure totally what the artist was getting at with this one. I found her description a little cryptic. However to me I felt this spoke to all the unnecessary things we carry in our handbags.

Am I Pretty Enough? A question many women ask themselves. It is also the name of this piece. Josier describes being at a party listening to 2 women discussing their breast enhancement surgeries. When I saw this I thought of that one "go-to" outfit that every women has, that no matter what else is going on, we put it on and we feel like the prettiest girl in the world.

In the loft of the museum I found a few video exhibits. I always find them so interesting. Very little written information from the artist so it really allows you to experience it from your own point of view. Eventually I made my way down to the main portrait gallery that was full of pictures by Australian artists. I came across this one and had to take a picture of it.

This is called Campbell the swagman. He is considered to be an Australian icon by many including the artist Julia Golzar. I found this very interesting because I use to see Campbell the swagman on the streets in Darwin every single day. He stands on the sidewalks and recites old style poetry. He doesn't ask for money. He doesn't talk to people. He just recites that old poems in the old way......an art form that I am pretty sure will be lost when we lose Campbell. I see the looks on people's faces and I know a lot of people just think he is a crazy old man. But I assure you there is nothing crazy about him. He seems to have left Darwin.....like so many during the lead up to the wet season (that would be November, December when it is stinking hot!!!!). I am sure he has moved south for the summer. Hopefully he will return when the weather changes again.

I then made my way over to the Visitor Information Centre (exciting I know) so that I could get some information and plan (and book) a few things for the next couple days. The weather was suspect so I was trying to find the best weather days to do certain things. Eventually I was able to head to my hotel and check in and get a much deserved shower (after 3 days on the ship and then a 10 hour bus ride..... I really enjoyed it).

That night I decided to head out to the Tjapukai Aboriginal Cultural Park. They offer many different programs to provide some insight to Aboriginal culture including language and dance and even food. The night program involved a fire ceremony, some dancing and an amazing buffet dinner. During the day you can learn how to throw boomerangs and spears.

They start the night by offering you a complementary drink and then you can get your face painted in traditional ways. Then we got to take part in a fire ceremony. Of course fire is very important to the Aboriginals because it is used to cook their food and keep them warm and fend of dangers.

Playing the didgeridoo. No matter how many times I hear it, I can never get enough. Still don't know how to play it but I still have time to learn.

The boys starting a fire. Yes they did actually start a small one in here but then we moved outside and they started a bigger one.

A small portion of the fire ceremony outside. I was only able to tape a bit of it because it was a group participation event so I had to put the camera down. We even learned a few words for the songs. At the end of it there was a raging fire.

Once the fire was lit we made our way inside to enjoy a very large, very diverse very good buffet dinner. Pretty sure there was an item of food from every single country in the world. No matter how picky an eater you are, you would have found something you like. They even featured a dish made by a local in a more traditional way. It was a chicken and it was good. I have the recipe somewhere. I may have to try it sometime.

When dinner was complete we were treated to more dancing. The two main dances were one about the kangaroo because it is the symbol of Australia and one about cassowary because it is very important to the rain forest which is the traditional home of the local Aboriginals.

The boys performing the dance of the kangaroo.

A small taste of the show. Again I apologize for the poor quality. Videos just don't upload well when they is not a lot of light. But I just love the music and the rhythms so at least you can experience that.

Once the show was over I was able to talk to one of the performers. Jermaine's (that's his English name) mother is white and his father is full "old school" black aboriginal (Jermaine's words not mine). Even in our short conversation I was able to get a good picture of the great history and diversity of the aboriginals in the area. He comes from a very large immediate family so his extended family is even larger (I know I mentioned in another post that who we would call Aunt or Uncle or Cousin they would call Mum or Dad or sister/brother) so he has a lot of varied stories to tell about what it's like living in Australia as an aboriginal. I always think if you want the truth you go to the source. Jermaine was a great source because he is on the front lines.

Eventually though I had to head back to my hotel. I had a big day planned for Tuesday. Not a moment to waste but a good nights sleep was certainly needed.

Julie