What a day! I feel like I have said “I’m having one of my best days ever!” about 20 times already since we left 6 weeks ago, and today was no exception.

Rusty’s Market

This morning we headed out to Rusty’s market where they do a GIANT and very international market on the weekends. It’s a combination of produce, food stalls, jewelry, clothes, bakeries, flowers, meat, and anything else you can think of, and it is absolutely marvelous. I have never been in a city with this many different countries represented under one market roof, and I was enchanted. I think I could have spent hours there going through each stall and talking to the craftsmen or chefs or sales people who worked each stall and hearing their stories and looking at their items for sale, but alas… our time (and Rob’s patience for shopping) is not infinite. 😂 We had a wild mix of food from four different countries’ food stalls for breakfast/brunch, and it was great! We saw kangaroo meat pies and all kinds of crazy stuff on the menus, but we stuck mostly with foods we know.

As we wandered back to our car, we popped in on an old retro-style pinball /arcade game place. Of course, we had to check it out, still being the 80s kids we once were.

Crystal Cascade

Our next stop for today was a local waterfall I found in my Google research on Cairns pre-trip. My new Australian word of the day is “cascade”, which they use to mean waterfall (whereas I had only heard it used as a verb). This particular cascade is actually a series of small waterfalls that had multiple swimming holes, which made it very appealing to me being so hot here! Though there were taller falls at the top, we stayed down in the lower falls and swam (both of us) and jumped off rocks into the pools below (Rob) in the cold, refreshing water. It was a perfect afternoon cool off!

Kuranda Koala Gardens

Kuranda is a mountain village near Cairns that sits in the midst of the rainforest and is home to a railway, a skyway cable car, and Barron Gorge National Park. We drove up the mountain ourselves (versus taking the skyway) since this is the last day we had the freedom of having a car here in Cairns, and we decided to visit the Kuranda Koala Gardens.

There are very few places in Australia that will allow you to touch a koala in captivity (and never in the wild), but this park is one of them. It is a tiny little park that features many of the animals Australia is most known for: crocodiles, koalas, kangaroos and wallabies, wombats, and quokka. When I heard I could pet a koala there, I was 100% in- ✅!! For $52 US dollars total, we both got entrance to the zoo park and a photo and pat with a koala… be still my heart!! We tried hard and hiked our little hearts out hoping to see some Aussie animals yesterday in the wild, but since we struck out, the park was the solution. 😍

Friends and family, meet my new son Paul. He will be coming home to the U.S. with me, if I can fit him in my suitcase and bribe customs… oh, and can find a home. 😂

We did see several more koalas besides just our sweet Paul. They have an enclosure that contains a mom and her (4 year old) daughter koala, some potoroos (which I had never heard of before today), an echidna, and a bearded dragon living together in harmony (??).

Koalas – Milky (Mom) and Bailey (baby)

The other roommates:

They had a bunch of other cool critters, too:

Wombat

Kangaroos and Wallaby

Crocodiles (these were fresh water crocs)

And more animals…

After we finished at the Koala Gardens, we took a stroll through the village of Kuranda. They were pretty much closing up for the day, but it was a cute little area.

For no apparent reason, right near the Koala Gardens is a staged “plane crash.” If you can’t make out the sign, it basically says they took an old WW2 plane, used it in a movie, then stuck it here in Kuranda. Why!?!

We returned our rental car tonight so we stayed close to our condo for dinner tonight.

Shine on Gimuy Festival

The Downtown harbor area of Cairns is a bustling, happening spot on a Saturday night! They have a giant (free!) public pool overlooking the ocean (since their ocean waters aren’t safe for swimming right here), a Ferris wheel, and lots of shops and restaurants.

Tonight was also night two of three for their annual Shine Festival. They describe this festival as “a celebration of all forms of First Nations storytelling, showcasing innovative arts, musical and cultural practices.” Over this weekend, they featured a light walk, opening ceremony, concerts, dance, workshops, and First Nations art. We had a really nice stroll through their light walk before a pizza dinner along the waterfront and a visit to the Cairns Night Market. The night market was similar to Rusty’s that we went to earlier today in terms of tons of stall to buy clothes and jewelry plus a food court, but less focused on fresh produce and flowers and more focused on services (nails, massage, haircuts, etc.). We had a great day and night indeed!

On another note, this wonderful day we had was enhanced greatly by our excellent news from back home that our nephew Nick is now engaged to his wonderful girlfriend Brooke, and we could not be more excited for them! Cheers to you guys, Nick and Brooke! May your love give you all the best adventures !

Thanks for adventuring with us!