First posted on May 11, 2013
My second day in Cairns was not on the Kuranda train, as originally planned. Instead, I got a bus to Edge Hill to go to a cafe recommended by Piers’s aunt. It was pretty good without being outstanding. Walking from there to the Gardens I spotted another that looked worth a try too.
The Gardens were, firstly, the Flecker Gardens. Relatively small. Very much in the laid out style that botanic gardens have. Different (for me) in that the plants were all tropical – and not in a hot house!! They didn’t seem to encourage picnicking on the lawns though.
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| Flecker Botanic Gardens |
Next stop was The Tanks, a gallery/exhibition/performance space created out of three WWII fuel supply tanks – they were HUGE! I don’t know at what stage they were converted to this use but much more could be done with it. Really, really interesting to see.
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| The Tanks |
After The Tanks I went to the Botanical Gardens proper via the Info Centre, an interesting building of glass, mirrors and artwork. I bought some blank greeting cards here for future user because they were cute and pretty.
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| Botanical Gardens Info Centre |
The Botanical Gardens are unlike any other I’ve been to. This was almost entirely virgin rainforest with a boardwalk superimposed for people to walk amongst the trees, palms, over the creek and swampy areas. Nothing “pretty” here in the way of flowers, as at the Flecker. But no less interesting, beautiful, fascinating for that.
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| Walled creek |
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| Boardwalk |
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| Rainforest |
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| Freshwater lake with turtles and ducks |
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| Water bird |
On leaving the gardens I continued walking back to the main road because the bus sign at the edge of the gardens indicated an hourly service. I stopped at the first stop, looked at the timetable, and thought I was in luck, several routes converging at this point so a pretty frequent service. A local joined me – and she wasn’t best pleased when the next bus sailed right by. She said it wasn’t supposed to – all buses on all routes were meant to stop there. Not wanting to wait forever and chance my luck, Shanks Pony trotted off, heading for the Esplanade and views of water (quite distant, the tide was out) on the way back into town.
At the edge of the city centre I stopped in at St Monica’s, the Catholic Cathedral. From the bus to the brunch cafe I’d spotted the sign (a bit tacky), something about stained glass.
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| St Monica's Cathedral |
Yes – wonderful – a huge series of windows depicting creation, and a smaller number depicting war and peace. There were also some other artworks around the walls – more gallery-style than church style, although all of suitable religious content. Some were by a Dutch artist, died 1944. A victim of WWII?
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| Alpha |
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| Omega |
I don’t know what the artist calls the panels above, but they’re towards the beginning and towards the end of the series, both with a still small spot in the middle – that’s what reminds me of Alpha and Omega.
Back to the Esplanade, I walked as far as the swimming lagoon. This was fabulous. A man-made pool, huge, with artificial ‘beach’ along one of its many edges. No fencing around it so quite free to use. I asked a patrolling lifeguard as she passed, did people go there at night. She said no, and that security would buzz off anyone who was spotted there. Seems amazing that it wasn’t fenced. But definitely a facility like that is needed in Cairns – there’s nowhere to swim in the sea, right along the city foreshore there’s nowhere suitable for swimming. Those places are all further north or south.
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| Cairns swimming lagoon |
If my first attempt at using Flickr works, there are more photos from the long walk here.
