The Geeky Brit

As I had mentioned in my last post, we had been originally scheduled to go on a rainforest safari today. The reason we made the switch was that the owner of the safari company had called to explain he had some staffing issues, and wanted to see if we were available at any other time. As we were fully booked in Cairns, we had no days free, he offered to make the effort with our other tour operators and juggle our schedule. As a way of compensation he offered us a nice bottle of wine if we visited his restaurant, which he runs in additon to the tour company. He even vame to pick us up, and dropped us back off afterwards.

Oliver’s is located in the centre of downtown Cairns. It is slightly hidden, but no more so than any other premises. Oliver is German, and used to be a maitre de of a high class restaurant. When he came to Australia he worked in another fine dining establishment, and started the touring company on the side. As the business grew, he was able to to focus solely on the tour business until it grew to a point where he could open his own restaurant. And provide the local area with a high class, cultural experience.

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Although we were originally scheduled to go on the Wooroonran Safari this day, we had to switch days and visit the Great Barrier Reef, thatmagnificent natural wonder of the world, a day early.
We were both extremely excited about this trip, so it was not too much of a problem.
We were picked up from our hotel very early, and transported to Port Douglas, where we boarded our Catamaran to take the 2 hour trip to the Reef. Along the way we had the usual safety talks, but for the most part we were just able to enjoy views as the coast of Australia drifted over the horizon.

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I was expecting this aboriginal experience to be similar to a Hawaiian Luau. In some ways I was not too far off the mark. On arrival we immediately sat down for lunch, which was very good and we got to try even more varieties of kangeroo meat).
After we had stuffed ourselves (trust me I always make the most of all you can eat buffets), we were taken to an outside auditorium where we were witnessed a dance show. The dancing was mostly traditional with didgeridoo playing and chanting, but they finished with a CD they had released which basically was a modern pop song. It felt a little surreal. We were then taken to see a further didgeridoo demonstration, and a talk about the rainforest “tucker” or food.

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After the big city of Sydney I was not quite sure what to expect from Cairns. I have always assumed it to be one of Australia’s biggest cities. Which in my mind puts it in the same category as Fresno, CA or Little Rock, AR.
Cairns, according to my guide book, has a population of 98,210; Slightly bigger than my home town of Merced.

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