Queensland & the Great Barrier Reef - Australia 2004 - page 270

Staying Connected
You can surf the Web and check your e-mail at The Inbox Café, 119 Abbot
St. ( & 07/4041 4677; fax [phone]), for A$1.50 (US95¢) for 15 minutes,
A$2.50 (US$1.60) for 30 minutes, or A$4 (US$2.60) an hour. It's open daily
from 7am to midnight. The Inbox Café, which has 12 computers on line, is
Cairns's only licensed Internet cafe. The cafe food is by the Red Ochre Grill
(see “Where to Dine,” later in this chapter). It's fresh, tasty, and afford-
able, with breakfast available all day. There is a bar with lots of newspa-
pers and magazines, and resident DJs play groovy tunes to set a relaxed
mood with an extra beat on weekend nights.

Finds

pull into Trinity Wharf Centre on Wharf Street in the center of town. Buses
travel from the south via all towns and cities on the Bruce Highway, and from
the west from Alice Springs and Darwin via Tennant Creek on the Stuart High-
way and the Outback mining town of Mt. Isa to Townsville, where they join the
Bruce Highway and head north. The 45-hour Sydney-Cairns trip costs A$285
(US$186), the 28 1 ⁄ 2 -hour trip from Brisbane is A$192 (US$125), and from Dar-
win, the journey takes about 41 hours and costs A$402 (US$261).
By Car From Brisbane and all major towns in the south, you'll enter Cairns
on the Bruce Highway. To reach the northern beaches or Port Douglas from
Cairns, take Sheridan Street in the city center, which becomes the Captain Cook
Highway.
VISITOR INFORMATION Tourism Tropical North Queensland, 51 The
Esplanade, Cairns, QLD 4870 ( & 07/4051 3588; fax [phone];
www.tropicalaustralia.com.au), has information on Cairns and its environs, and
on Mission Beach, Port Douglas, the Daintree Rain Forest, Cape York, and Out-
back Queensland. It's open daily from 8:30am to 5:30pm, and 8:30am to 1pm
on public holidays. Closed Christmas and New Year's Day.
CITY LAYOUT A major redevelopment of the Cairns Esplanade, completed
in 2003, has transformed the face of the city. The focal point is a 4,000-sq.-m
(40,000-sq.-ft.) saltwater swimming lagoon with a wide sandy beach and sur-
rounding parkland with public artworks and picnic areas. Suspended over the
mudflats and providing a platform for bird-watching, a timber boardwalk runs
600m (1,800 ft.) along the waterfront. The boardwalk is lit for nighttime use. A
walkway now links the Esplanade to the new Reef Fleet Terminal, the departure
point for Great Barrier Reef boats.
Downtown Cairns is on a grid 5 blocks deep, bounded in the east by the
Esplanade on the water, and in the west by McLeod Street, where the train sta-
tion and the Cairns Central shopping mall are located. In between are shops,
offices, and restaurants.
Heading 15 minutes north from the city along the Captain Cook Highway,
you come to the northern beaches: Holloway's Beach, Yorkey's Knob, Trinity
Beach, Kewarra Beach, Clifton Beach, Palm Cove, and Ellis Beach.
GETTING AROUND By Bus Sunbus ( & 07/4057 7411 ) buses depart
City Place Mall at the intersection of Lake and Shields streets. Buy all tickets and
passes on board, and try to have correct change. You can hail buses anywhere it's
convenient for the driver to stop. Buses 2 and 2A travel to Trinity Beach; 1 and
1X (weekend express) travel to Palm Cove. The N route runs along the highway