2020-03-17 – Long drive to Cairns

Our hotel doesn’t serve breakfast so we checked out this morning and found a nice place for breakfast. We both had Harry’s Pancakes, sort of a very thick crepe with  bananas, walnuts, maple syrup and ice cream.  How decadent.  We also had a phone call with Tara to go over the various events happening with our itinerary.  Mainly, everything is getting cancelled.

Then we hit the road.  About a half an hour out of Airlie Beach we stopped in Bowen to see their giant mango. 

They had an outdoor art display near the mango.  These "statues were made of driftwood and debris taken from the ocean.  

This was a soldier crab (how funny)…

and nudibranch (pronounced Nudee-Brank - they are shelless  molluscs).  Artists are amazing.

During the drive we crossed a bridge that is longer than the Sydney Harbor Bridge.  But maybe not as impressive.  

Mid-day we stopped in Townsville for lunch.  

It is St. Patrick’s Day and we about the only think we could find open for lunch were Irish Pubs.  We decided to eat at Molly Malone's (seemed pretty Irish).

And boy were they partying.

After lunch we headed over to the Reef Aquarium where they have one of the largest reef tanks in the world.  It was pretty amazing.  And we timed it just right as they were feeding the fish.  They have two large tanks, one for the herbivores and one for the carnivores.

Found Nemo

Then it was off again for a long afternoon drive.  But we did find some really beautiful places to stop and see.  Sort of reminded us of Hawaii.

Along the way we decided to stop at another mango place.  They grow a lot of mangoes in the area.

We didn’t arrive in Cairns until well after dark. The hotel is to include breakfast.  Was a rather unusual breakfast waiting for us on the kitchen counter.  

We were both pretty tired so instead of going out to dinner we had popcorn and granola bars. Then it was to bed.