Queensland wandering boots: Day 13 Wandering Cairns

 

By the numbers

13.63 kms

17844 steps

 

Today I thought I would take it easy and not go too far within Cairns. I did think the Botanic Gardens might be nice, but that was a touch too far on foot. By bus it wouldn’t be too bad, but there are places that can be left for another visit and that is what I have done. Keeps life interesting it does. I had breakfast and was ready to take the walk. . I had two jobs to do before I left the hostel for my wander. There was the border pass to return to NSW and the phone call to confirm my pick up on Saturday morning for the airport. The closest place I wanted to head for was the historic cemetery. The cemetery was not very far up the road from where I was staying. Actually it was on the same street, so it wouldn’t be very hard to find if I was going in the one direction.

 

I had been told the day before that the McLeod Street Pioneer cemetery was where some of the workers for the railway were located. There had been another cemetery that failed in Cairns at an earlier date, but this one was not in the most ideal location either as it was a touch swampy. The information went on to say that not everyone could cope with the weather as there were quite a few children there. The cemetery is on the heritage register and you cannot clean the headstones without getting permission first. I took a wander around the cemetery and many of the headstones were faded that you couldn’t read the inscriptions.

 

There were mozzies and sandflies in the cemetery and I went to wander off to walk along the promenade along the beach. There were plenty of animal life to see from the beach like crabs doing their crab things, birds eating and other things crawling along the mudflats. There were information panels about the history of Cairns and even directing you to visit the Outback towns even though some no longer exist due to the mines running out of resources. It was actually a cloudy day until the sun came out when I was wandering around the pier area, and planning on heading back towards the hostel as I was thinking this was meant to be an easy day. Once I returned to the hostel, I offloaded some things I had and headed over to the shopping centre to see a movie as there wasn’t a point in trying to get myself worn out and sunburnt again like I had earlier in the week. I knew I needed to pack my bag before leaving the next day and wanted to be ready. I think I know that I would return to where I have been to, but not in summer as winter would be the best time to come.