The food and drinks provided were all bottled, which was a thumbs up. Here's another photo of some small granules made of noodles, which was a bit special. The plane landed at Cairns Airport on time. It had just rained, but it was still a bit hot. I took a taxi at the airport - a Toyota Prius.
Yunluo still has some good feelings about this car. It is a hybrid car, fuel-efficient and environmentally friendly, but the price in China is a bit off. The car jogged all the way and arrived at the hotel in more than 10 minutes, a total of 20 dollars. The room in this hotel today is slightly worse than the one in Launceston yesterday: the room is smaller, the air conditioning is slower, and it is an old-fashioned window machine.
It's noisy, but the price-performance ratio is high. It provides breakfast every day (enough bread, but no meat or eggs) for only $73.
Here is a brief introduction to Cairns: Cairns is located 1,700 kilometers north of Brisbane. It is a central city in tropical North Queensland and an important gateway to the Great Barrier Reef in the east and the Cape York Peninsula in the north, with a population of about 120,000. It has a superior geographical location, developed agriculture, industry and international tourism, and complete infrastructure.
Cairns is a famous tourist destination in Australia. The average temperature of the city is around 24-34 degrees Celsius all year round, and the climate is very comfortable and pleasant. The beautiful Cairns is the only way to the Great Barrier Reef. Cairns is backed by magnificent mountains and surrounded by dense rainforests.
There are still large areas of humid tropical rainforests that remain in their original state. The humid tropical rainforests surrounding the equator are called the "lungs of the earth" and are life zones that regulate the global climate.
An Qingju and Yunluo can't stay in the hotel for too long today, because there is still a very important task pending, that is, the travel reservation for the next two days. The main reason why the trip to Cairns was not finalized before departure is that Yunluo searched for a local travel agent on the Internet before departure.
Moreover, this is the off-season for tourism in Cairns, and An Qingju and Yunluo's itinerary will also avoid the Spring Festival, so An Qingju and Yunluo finally decided to wait until they arrived in Cairns.
Nevertheless, An Qingju and Yunluo have done sufficient research on the attractions they are going to visit before the trip, and will reserve two days for the Kuranda Rainforest and the Great Barrier Reef. The only variables are the weather and which ship company to choose.
After so many days in Australia, I can finally put on my shorts and sandals. You know, the average maximum temperature in the previous days was only about 20 degrees. It was about 4:30 when I left the hotel, and drtours would close at 7 o'clock. Fortunately, Cairns is not big, and it takes An Qingju and Yunluo about 20 minutes to walk there.
Not far from the hotel, a heavy rainstorm came. An Qingju and Yunluo could not stand it and quickly ran to a nearby gas station to take shelter. Yunluo was thinking about what the weather would be like in the next two days.
We walked all the way. We arrived at drtours in the city center and explained our purpose. The staff took out a bunch of information and enthusiastically introduced it to An Qingju and Yunluo. This guy is proficient in Chinese, English, and Korean, and he is meticulous and patient in his work. I commend him. Although he recommended several rainforest travel destinations to An Qingju and Yunluo.
But An Qingju and Yunluo did their homework and finally decided to go to Kuranda Rainforest. The price was $90 per person, which included hotel pick-up and drop-off, train ride there and cable car ride back, which was about 10% cheaper than the official price.
But the next trip to the Great Barrier Reef was more tangled. Before coming, I focused on researching sunlovercruises. The customers of this shipping company are mainly Asians.
This is also a ship that is chosen by many Chinese people. The advantage of this company is that the ship is large, and it is said that it can accommodate 400 people when fully occupied, so it is relatively less prone to seasickness; at the same time, Chinese services are also provided on the ship. The disadvantage is that there are many people, and it is likely that they will have to compete for resources after arriving at the land. In addition, the scenery there is said to be worse.
The development is a bit overdone. The final price quoted by the agent is $125 per person, including food, equipment, etc. but not deep diving. It should be said that this price is still very tempting, much cheaper than the official price of $180. Because An Qingju and Yunluo also want to dive, if they choose sunlover, they will have to add about $100, and the total price will be $225 per person.
The young man recommended two other shipping companies to An Qingju and Yunluo. One is Seastar. Just listen to the name. Yunluo's mind thinks of "Ocean Star", how romantic! But don't look it up in the dictionary, or the romantic feeling will disappear without a trace. Seastar's ship is not big.
Said the scenery is much better than Sunlover. An Qingju and Yunluo's only concern about this ship is seasickness, because Yunluo has seen descriptions of seasickness in more than one travel note, and really doesn't want to experience it.
It should be the place with the best scenery. The price including one dive is about $190, and the boat can take more than 100 people. By the way, I asked about the Quicksilver, which is also in Port Douglas. The price including one dive is also around $200. Although the price is a bit expensive, the combination of the Outer Great Barrier Reef + Port Douglas is still irresistible.
How to choose? An Qingju and Yunluo immediately held the first enlarged meeting of the trip in front of the half-closed roller shutter door of the third shop on the left of the drtours entrance, and launched a "united, tense, serious and lively" discussion on the Great Barrier Reef trip. The result of the meeting was to go back to drtours and take another look, which shows the serious and responsible attitude of An Qingju and Yunluo.
Finally, after the young man showed An Qingjue and Yunluo the photos he took in the two places, An Qingjue and Yunluo quickly made a decision: to choose Seastar.
It wasn’t the photos of the two places that allowed An Qingjue and Yunluo to find the differences, but the photos taken by the young man’s computer were really not good and the beautiful scenery could not be seen at all.
Of course, the deeper reason is that An Qingju and Yunluo’s schedule here is really limited. If they choose Port Douglas, An Qingju and Yunluo will spend a lot of energy and time on the road, so Seastar is the best choice for An Qingju and Yunluo.
Well, the situation has been decided, and the rest is to confirm the schedule. The young man told An Qingju and Yunluo that there will be a typhoon today and tomorrow, so they can't go out to sea. This is easy now. Tomorrow we will go to Kuranda, and the day after tomorrow we will go to the Great Barrier Reef. A 10% deposit was paid here, which is actually their agency fee. The other fees can be paid directly to the company on the same day.
Now that we have finished our work, let's talk about our feelings about Cairns. When An Qingju and Yunluo came to this small city from the paradise of Tasmania, they were still a little uncomfortable. This city is not beautiful. It is close to the sea but there is no beach. The increase in people and cars makes it feel a bit messy and crowded. The indigenous people on the street make people feel like they are in a Southeast Asian city.
Because it was the weekend, there was an event to celebrate the Chinese New Year in the square by the pool, and there were so many people that Yunluo was a little overwhelmed. But two days later, walking along the seaside avenue on Monday also felt refreshing. Therefore, Yunluo's feeling about Cairns is that it is contradictory, diverse, and too commercial.
Tonight I had a Chinese buffet in the supermarket behind the Cairns landmark - the seaside swimming pool. I first bought a plate, which came in different sizes, about $9-13, and then chose from different dishes. I could only fill one plate. The taste was average, but the portion was enough. After dinner, I strolled back to the hotel to sleep.
There is no mistake in the poem, post, content, and read the book on 6, 9, and bar!
When I looked at the weather forecast yesterday, it said that there was a 90% chance of precipitation today, and the expected precipitation was 10-20 mm. I didn't expect it to be sunny in the morning. I thought that since it is located in the tropics, the weather must be changeable. I hope the weather will stay like this today. After having breakfast at the hotel, several people came to the hotel lobby early to wait for the car to pick up Yunluo and An Qingju.
A minibus stopped at the hotel entrance on time. The sticker on it indicated that this was Yunluo and An Qingjue's car. An old man got off the bus and greeted them. Then he asked "#$creditcard^&*". An Qingjue didn't listen carefully and thought that he had to pay the balance before getting on the bus, so he quickly took out his wallet.
The old man waved his hands and said again, "Did anyone of you lose your credit card at DrTours yesterday?" Is that true? An Qingju quickly opened his wallet and saw that his credit card was gone!
Then he remembered that he might have forgotten it there when he paid yesterday, and he didn't even notice it. The old man told Yunluo and An Qingju that the staff of DR called them to tell them about it, and they just need to pick it up at DR Tours after returning from the tour today. He thanked the old man and also sighed at the seriousness and responsibility of the staff of DR.
After picking up Yunluo and An Qingjue, the old man picked up other tourists at several hotels in the city and headed straight to Cairns Railway Station. (To be continued...)
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