First and foremost, Cairns is pronounced "cans." I can't tell you how many times Kat and I have been corrected for pronouncing the "r" and saying "carns." This might be because the "r" is clearly a letter that forms part of the word. It might also have something to do with the fact that we Kansans have a special relationship with the letter "r." Yeah, we pronounce it. How weird is that?
So our linguistically-challenged sisterly duo traveled up to Cairns directly from Melbourne (again, don't pronounce the "r") and promptly shed about 3 layers of clothing upon arriving in this sunny northern Queensland town. We stayed in a lovely little hostel, the Travellers Oasis, which we would highly recommend to anyone seeking a quiet, clean place with a kitchen and pool, in a good location. We only had three full days in Cairns, so we opted for day trips. This was a bit exhausting, but the best option on our limited time. (There's not much to do in Cairns at all, so you basically use it as a jumping off point for the natural wonders surrounding it).
Day 1: Snorkeling the Great Barrier Reef!
The Outer Reef
Monotremes! (BTW that's not my head in the photo--there was another ranga on the trip)Day 3: Whirlwind tour up to Cape Tribulation (where Captain Cook was having some major issues and hence gave a lot of landmarks depressing names) through the Daintree Rainforest. The beautiful sights thankfully drowned out the annoying driver's rambling about all his problems and opinions. I got the feeling that he would have gladly abandoned our tour bus for a beer if it didn't involve him getting fired.
Crocodile warning sign at the Daintree River ferry crossing 
We thought about feeding our annoying tour guide to those crocs...For all the photos and commentary, check out my facebook photos (which should be available for anyone to view): Cairns Trip Photos
