First adventure away from Lizard Island

How time flies it is now 2011 and for myself a minor achievement in that March 1 will mark the sixth month of living and working on Lizard Island in Far North Queensland. One of the perks of working on the island is that every three months employees are entitled to a free return flight to Cairns of which I took advantage of before Christmas.

The decision was made that I would take four days off and travel to Cairns, it was time as the isolation of the island was really getting to me (makes me think of the Cabin Fever song from Muppet Treasure Island, except Island Fever). No matter how good it sounds to work and live on a tropical island, the isolation and lack of the simple things like driving a car, proper Internet and mobile phone reception hits you hard after a while.

Arriving in Cairns on Sunday the highlight was hiring a car from the airport and getting back behind the wheel for the first time in over three months. Naturally a couple of days before getting back into a car I had joked to other people on the island that I will forget how to drive or do something really silly. Driving out of Cairns International Airport I started to hear a strange noise before realising I was driving with my hand brake on. If that’s the biggest thing I get wrong then I guess I can consider myself lucky.

The first order of business was to check into the apartment I would call home for the next four nights. I once again chose to stay at Trinity Beach in the same complex I stayed exactly one year ago when I came to the Cairns area for the first time. Trinity Beach is roughly a 20-minute drive outside of the Cairns CBD and a much nicer place to call base than Cairns itself.

This is when I started to realise that it was good to get back to reality with just the simple things becoming exciting like running an amber light while driving, and visiting Woolworths for the first time in a long time. It was also nice on this first night back on the mainland to go out for dinner and appreciate the simple things.

The next day was devoted to playing tourist and experiencing something I enjoyed doing when in Cairns the pervious year. I once again caught the Kuranda Scenic Railway up to the tourist town of Kuranda and caught the Skyrail back over the rainforest. You can read about my trip last year by clicking here, despite doing this trip on my own this time it was still a really fun experience.

Tuesday I decided to get the most out of my car hire and drive all the way up to Cape Tribulation and although there really isn’t much to see or do in Cape Tribulation itself, the area is still worth a visit and can lay claim to fame that it is the only place in the world where two World Heritage listed areas meet (Great Barrier Reef & Wet Tropics World Heritage site). I was also fortunate enough to see some of the local wildlife crossing the road; a Cassowary and its baby were walking across the road. With next to no traffic I was able to stop and watch them cross for a while and get a few happy snaps.

It was good to get off the island after being on it for so long for a continuous amount of time and before the busy Christmas season.