First posted on May 15, 2013
Sleeping – In Atherton I stayed at the Atherton Hinterland Motel. This was a great spot to stay and I’m not just saying that because it is run by Piers’s sister and brother-in-law. It was clean, dry, comfortable, plenty of hot water and good water pressure. The location is perfect – at the edge of the centre of town so you can walk to all the central amenities (if you wanted to!). Atherton itself is central to a great district for seeing tropical Australia.
In Cairns I stayed at Hides Hotel, right in the centre of town. There’s the old hotel with newer (a relative term!) rooms as well. I stayed in one of the newer room so I could have my own bathroom. My particular room suffered from the constant hum of air-conditioning units a few feet from the window. The room also had a number of oddities – you really wonder about how things are designed … and who does the designing!! Rarely is a large bathroom a problem – except when the towel rail is placed as far from where you step from the shower as possible. You have to leave your towel on the floor by the shower or traipse, naked and dripping, across the bathroom to grab your towel from the rail. You could hang your towel on the shower taps I suppose – they were “outside” the shower! Novel!! The bed lights – you needed six foot long arms to turn them off. No fun being 98% asleep and having to lurch out of bed to turn off the reading light. And it was not refreshing to have the air-con blow straight on you from a metre away when you’re in bed. Other than that …. the balcony was great and the included breakfast had what I have at home – sultana bran!
In Cairns I stayed at Hides Hotel, right in the centre of town. There’s the old hotel with newer (a relative term!) rooms as well. I stayed in one of the newer room so I could have my own bathroom. My particular room suffered from the constant hum of air-conditioning units a few feet from the window. The room also had a number of oddities – you really wonder about how things are designed … and who does the designing!! Rarely is a large bathroom a problem – except when the towel rail is placed as far from where you step from the shower as possible. You have to leave your towel on the floor by the shower or traipse, naked and dripping, across the bathroom to grab your towel from the rail. You could hang your towel on the shower taps I suppose – they were “outside” the shower! Novel!! The bed lights – you needed six foot long arms to turn them off. No fun being 98% asleep and having to lurch out of bed to turn off the reading light. And it was not refreshing to have the air-con blow straight on you from a metre away when you’re in bed. Other than that …. the balcony was great and the included breakfast had what I have at home – sultana bran!
Eating – I was most grateful to be invited to eat with Piers’s family each evening for the duration of my stay in Atherton. One of the things I long for when I’m away is a home-cooked meal. No shortage of them this time. I brunched at various cafes, depending where my travels took me each day.
In Cairns I ate twice at Perrotta’s at the Gallery. A bit more than I’d normally spend but it was well worth it for both the food and the service. The night in between I had a delicious salmon risotto at a place on the Esplanade but service was lacking. The waitress I started with was good but there was a shift change (or so it seemed) and I became invisible. |
| Fish'n'chips at Perrotta's |
 |
| ... followed by panna cotta. Yum! |
At both of these places I ate outdoors. It was so pleasant. I thought, we should have outdoor eating like this in Melbourne. Then I remembered …. we do, but the smokers are there. In Cairns there was no smoking in food service areas. Three cheers for them!!! When will Melbourne become so civilised?!