Sunrise above misty fields with another hot-air balloon below

01–06 SEPTEMBER / CAIRNS & THE TROPICS

Anniversary trip to

Cairns

A diary of our journey

DOWN UNDER Japan → Australia

Come along 0105 days

Thirteen years.
Still going places.

September 2026 six days circled
Mo	Tu	We	Th	Fr	Sa	Su
	1	2	3	4	5	6
7	8	9	10	11	12	13
14	15	16	17	18	19	20
21	22	23	24	25	26	27
28	29	30

KIX → CNS13 YEARSTOGETHER · 2026

Come along with us. This is the diary we kept in Cairns, written the way it happened: one day at a time, with the wrong turns left in.

We left Japan on an overnight flight and woke up in the southern hemisphere. Five days later we came home with a little echidna, and a list of reasons to come back.

KIX Kansai · Japan

CNS Cairns · Australia

And one battered and very full suitcase.

01 September 2026 / Departure

From Japan.
To the tropics.

Tempura at the airport. An overnight flight. Somewhere over the equator, the seasons swap.

DAY01

Arrival in the tropics

Wednesday 02 September / Cairns

Morning light on the Cairns Esplanade, with palms and low tide

A sprawling banyan tree on our first day in Cairns

CAIRNS 16.92° S / 145.78° E

Queensland, Australia

A slower kind of day.

02 SEP / CAIRNS

26.9°C

Cloudy start

Daytime high · from our notes

First impressions

Sweet air.
A very sleepy start.

05:55. We step out of the airport and the first thing we notice is the smell: sweet, warm and green. Even down by the sea, nothing smells of fish. We are far too tired to rush anywhere, so we don’t.

We follow the waterfront to Muddy’s, order the breakfast for two, and slowly start to feel human again. Come with us; there is a lot of Cairns still to find.

Every place we ate, on the map

The daytime Moon in a blue sky beside the hotel — Wait. The Moon is upside down.

Look closely: the bright edge is on the wrong side. From the southern hemisphere the Moon appears rotated compared with home, so the lit side faces the other way. Our first small clue that Japan is very far away.
Outside Bailey / Day 01

A rainbow lorikeet among yellow flowers in a tree — Rainbow lorikeet

Loud, fast and incredibly colourful. Lorikeets have brush-tipped tongues for nectar and gather in noisy flocks in the city trees at dusk. We hear them before we see them.
Cairns streets · parks and flowering trees

The Crystalbrook Bailey building and its sign seen from the street

The Bailey entrance with mural, patterned ceiling and reception sign

Keep scrolling. We’re going in.

Home for
four nights.

The sign we were looking forThe entrance, the spot we loved to hang out at

Four nights at Bailey

Already feels
like our place.

Our first five-star hotel. The building is beautiful and smells faintly of something green, but it is the woman at reception we will remember: a handwritten list of restaurants, local tips, and an Instagram follow for when she visits Japan.

Between excursions we keep coming back here to refill our water bottles and put our feet up. The room does not stay tidy for long.

Bicycles and artwork in the Crystalbrook Bailey lobby — Bikes by reception. Art around every corner.

Can we move in?

BAILEY / CAIRNS

Bailey atrium with mural, patterned ceiling and gold-toned columns — The atrium

Art exhibition among palms and planted walls in the lobby — A gallery downstairs

The hotel pool and lounge chairs — The pool we only photographed

Our neatly made hotel bed on the first afternoon — Bathroom first. Then the bed.

The grey-tiled bathroom and walk-in shower — Bathroom first. Then the bed.

Then nothing at all for an hour.

The sitting area in our hotel room — Shoes off. Sofa claimed.

The coffee station, cups and minibar in the room — The coffee corner, before the mess.

City and mountains from our hotel window

Mountains from our window.

NO HURRYJUST WANDER.

The tide had other plans.

Low tide has pulled the sea a long way out. Mudflats, little boats, mountains across the bay. We keep finding our way back to the seawall.

Cairns bay and city beneath dramatic clouds — Cairns / Room to breathe

An Australian white ibis probing the mudflat — Australian white ibis

Australians often call the white ibis a “bin chicken” because these city birds are famous for scavenging around rubbish bins. Here on the Esplanade mudflats, though, it was feeding more naturally, probing the soft mud at low tide with its long, curved bill.
Esplanade mudflats · low tide

A bush stone-curlew standing very still on a lawn — Bush stone-curlew

It thinks that if it stands perfectly still, we cannot see it. Curlews wander Cairns lawns and car parks by day and wail eerily at night; you will hear that call from the hotel.
Cairns city · lawns, parks, car parks

A brown and cream bird with a dark cap perched on a boat rail at Cairns Marina — A marina lookout
A surprisingly big visitor at the marina. We almost walked straight past this Nankeen night-heron, quietly perched on the rail of a boat.
Cairns Marina · on the cabin rail

Eggs, toast, sausages and fruit at Muddy’s — This is for two?!
Muddy’s / Our first breakfast

People sitting on the seawall above the low-tide bay — Along the seawall

The low-tide waterfront with palms and a public artwork — Along the seawall

Sunset over the inlet from the rocky shore — One last look before dinner

Cairns / After dinner

We just went out
for a walk.

Accidentally found a party.

Bubbles, a DJ,
and missing glasses.

It turns out Cairns is celebrating its 150th birthday and the whole city is out. There is a bubble party (fun), a masked DJ (kinda scary) and sweet-smelling smoke inside the bubbles (didn't smell great).

Music on every corner, frozen yoghurt on a warm evening, one more lap of the lagoon. Somewhere in all this my glasses disappeared for good. Ah well...

DAY02

Above the canopy

Thursday 03 September / Kuranda

SKYRAILRainforest from above

03 September / A change of plan

The train was there.
The ride wasn’t.

From the Skyrail gondola the rainforest looks prehistoric. Our audio guide refuses to download, so the Australian woman sharing our cabin plays hers loudly enough for all four of us. Somewhere down there are crocodiles. We don’t spot them; they almost certainly spot us.

Late afternoon, the railway home is cancelled because of a bridge problem. While we wait for the replacement coach we help translate for a group of Japanese ladies. They already know us: they saw us eat tempura at Kansai Airport. We keep bumping into them for the rest of the trip, and fly home on the same plane.

CairnsKurandaCoach transfers + Skyrail loop

Railway homePlan B: coachThe train got cancelled.

絶対またリベンジする。
“We’re definitely coming back for another try.”
Our trip notes / The cancelled railway

The river valley and mountains from the Skyrail station — The river below

The Barron Gorge with a waterfall and river far below — Barron Falls

Barron Falls tumbling over rock between rainforest walls — Above the fallsDry season, so the gentle version

The amphibious Army Duck vehicle parked at Rainforestation — Rainforestation / Army Duck

12:00 / Rainforestation

First a truck.
Then a boat.

The Army Duck is a Second World War amphibious truck that retired into tourism. It drives us into the rainforest, then simply rolls into the water and keeps going. Our guide is funny, knows every plant, and has one very serious warning (see below).

Wait, we’re floating?

Passengers seated in the open Army Duck — **All aboard**Benches, a roof, and a guide with a microphone.

The Army Duck driving into a muddy pond — **Into the water**No pause, no ceremony. Just in.

Passengers on the Army Duck during the river section — **Now a boat**Same rainforest, seen from the water.

Palm fronds and the forest canopy from below — **Looking up**Fan palms the size of umbrellas.

The Army Duck among rainforest palms — **Between the palms**The track is barely wider than the truck.

Ferns on the rainforest floor with a striped marker stake beside the stinging tree

A painted cassowary statue beside the Army Duck platform sign — Southern cassowary (statue)

Not the real thing yet, but a good introduction. Cassowaries are the giants of this rainforest: up to 1.8 m tall, with a bony helmet and a dagger claw. They spread the seeds of more than a hundred rainforest trees. Keep scrolling; a real one is coming.
Army Duck platform 1

An Australasian darter drying its wings on a branch in the water — Australasian darter

We thought it was a pelican. It is a darter, the “snakebird”: it swims with only its neck above the water, spears fish, then stands like this to dry, because its feathers are not waterproof.
Rainforestation lake · from the Army Duck

Kanga & roo.

Everyone we met at the wildlife park.

Koala & Wildlife Park / Rainforestation

A kangaroo resting on the grass under large leaves — **Kangaroo**Completely unbothered by us.

A saltwater crocodile lying beside a pond — **Saltwater crocodile**The sound of its jaws closing: exactly the pop of a diploma tube, we think.

A koala sitting in its enclosure — **Koala**Sleeps around twenty hours a day. We can relate.

A tree-kangaroo on a branch in the rescue centre — **Lumholtz’s tree-kangaroo**A kangaroo that climbs. It lives only in these tablelands.

A wombat peering out from a tyre-and-log shelter — **Wombat**Built like a small tank. Famous for cube-shaped droppings. Really.

Two Tasmanian devils in a shady enclosure — **Tasmanian devils**The largest carnivorous marsupial alive, napping in the shade.

A dark barramundi shape beneath the surface of the pond — **Barramundi**The fish used in fish and chips. Born male, many turn female later in life.

A southern cassowary half hidden behind a fence, looking at the camera — A real cassowary, looking right back at us.

Australian Butterfly Sanctuary / Kuranda

Beautiful.
Very much an insect.

Hundreds of them, everywhere, landing on hats and shoulders. The big ones have bodies as thick as a finger, which is where the wonder tips into slight alarm. Then one hovers in front of us like a hummingbird and we forgive it everything.

てか蝶々ってホバリングできるん！？
“Wait, butterflies can hover?!”
Our trip notes / The butterflies

Inside the butterfly sanctuary: ferns, a stream and a red bridge

A black-and-white orchard swallowtail resting on a leaf — **Orchard swallowtail**Australia’s largest swallowtail. The male: black and white, with a hint of red.

A female orchard swallowtail with red and blue spots on a fan palm — **Orchard swallowtail (her)**The female wears brown, cream, red and blue, and is bigger than him.

A red lacewing with black borders and white spots — **Red lacewing**Bright red is a warning: its caterpillars eat passion-vine, which makes the adult taste terrible.

A male Cairns birdwing, green and black with a yellow body, on white flowers — **Cairns birdwing**The male, emerald green and gold. Australia’s largest butterfly lives only in this corner of Queensland.

A female Cairns birdwing with a red thorax hanging under a leaf — **Cairns birdwing (her)**The female is black, cream and yellow, with a wingspan that can exceed 15 cm.

A black butterfly with white patches resting on a wooden rail — **Common eggfly (we think)**Black with white flashes that shine blue when the light is right.

Passengers and a train on the Kuranda station platform — Our train. Technically, we did get to see it.

Bridge problem. Coach instead. New friends. Fair trade.Kuranda station, 15:30

A hot-air balloon inflating beneath the Moon before dawn — 01 / 04:40, before the burner
The Moon is still out. The balloon is still a very large blanket on the grass.

Friday 04 September / Mareeba

An unreasonable hour.
An unbelievable morning.

ALARM SET FOR03:00

MAREEBA / LOW

13.1°C

Cold morning. Very hot burner.

Another balloon beneath the sunrise — Probably the best part of the trip. Definitely worth the alarm.

Look! Wild Kangaroos!

River and orchards below our balloon — A river, orchards, and the world waking up underneath us. Low enough to look for wallabies.

Another balloon and misty fields seen from our basket — Best thing. Most expensive thing.
“Probably the best part of this trip.”
Our trip notes / 4 September
The burner comes on suddenly, loudly, and very hot. Below us the fields dissolve into mist. Higher up we get the whole landscape; lower down, a chance to spot wallabies, and the enormous shadow of our own balloon sliding over the paddocks.

Back on the ground.

Our pilot is South African, so I get to speak a little Afrikaans. After landing, juice and champagne appear. “Kanpai! Gesondheid!” Three countries in one toast.

Then everyone helps pack the balloon (450 kg of fabric, we are told). Back to Bailey for breakfast, a shower and a very necessary nap. Somehow, Paronella is still ahead of us today.

04 September / The day is not finished

A waterfall.
A castle. Then this.

Stay until the lights come on.

A group of wild wallabies in a grassy field beside the road — Somewhere on the road south. Everyone to the left-hand windows.

Stop the bus! Wallabies. Wild ones.On the way to Paronella

The Paronella Park entrance sign and information shelter — **We’re here**Paronella Park, Mena Creek. A Spanish castle in the Australian rainforest.

A cassowary warning sign in English, Chinese and Japanese — **Beware of the cassowary**In three languages, which tells you who visits. We keep an eye on the undergrowth.

Mena Creek Falls, the suspension bridge and mossy terraces in daylight

Scroll slowly. Watch the light go.

Mena Creek
Falls.

16:40 / Daylight19:30 / Lights on

Follow the green.

Into the park, before the show.

Paronella / Daylight

Tall rainforest trees seen from below — **Straight up**Kauri pines planted by José himself, ninety years ago.

An avenue of tall trees in Paronella Park — **The avenue**The long way through, which is the right way.

Narrow stone steps between ferns — **Up these steps**Forty-seven of them, we counted. Roughly.

Moss-covered stone terraces surrounded by greenery — **Stone turning green**The rainforest is slowly taking the castle back.

Fast-flowing creek water through rainforest — **Mena Creek**The water that convinced him to build here.

Flying-foxes roosting in a tree against the sky

The ruined castle and terraces in daylight

The castle lit in colour with fountains during the night show

Same place. Keep going.

The castle,
twice.

17:10 / Sunset19:45 / The night show

Same place. Completely different mood.

And then, wait for dark.

Paronella / After sunset

Illuminated ruin seen through the trees — 01 / A glimpse through the trees

Purple fountains in front of the main building — 02 / Purple fountains, and the Laputa theme playing

The plush echidna held up in silhouette in front of the lit waterfall — 03 / The echidna sees the falls too

Stone ruin and tropical plants beneath the stars — 04 / Look above the walls

Our guide makes it
an evening to remember.

The Smile Cairns guide (who turns out to run the company) is kind, relaxed, and very good at getting us into a photo after dark. He knows where to stand, when to wait, and how to catch the light.

After the park, he takes us to Camp Creek Road, near Innisfail Japoon Road, to look at the stars. We also remember a delicious curry pie along the way, though not the shop’s name. We reach Bailey around ten after a very long day that began with the three o’clock alarm.

A clear view of the southern night sky from Camp Creek Road

Our first southern stars

Same sky. Other side of the world.

Saturday 05 September / Out beyond the shoreline

The Great
Barrier Reef.

Green Island first, then the Outer Reef. We have been quietly worrying about waves for a week.

Open blue ocean beneath clouds at the Outer Reef

Green Island / Outer Reef

Somewhere
in the blue.

OFF THE COASTGreat Barrier Reef, Australia

Clear shallow water beneath the Green Island pier — Under the pier, Green Island

A silver gull standing on the boat rail with the sea behind — Silver gull

Australia’s everyday seagull, hitching a ride on the boat. Red bill and red legs mean this one is an adult. On Green Island there are far, far more of them, which is partly why we do not stay long.
Great Adventures boat · Green Island

Two snorkelers in yellow masks and red flotation vests, one waving — 05 September / Different feelings about swimming. The same water.

Back in the water.
Together.

We arrive with different feelings about swimming: excitement for one of us, nerves for the other. Once we are in, it goes far better than we feared. This is the part of the day we want to keep: both of us in the water, waving at the camera.

Green Island is not our favourite; the birds and the smell make it hard to relax. The Outer Reef feels like a different day altogether: open blue water, the semi-submersible, and a surprisingly good lunch on the pontoon.

The bits between the big moments

A taste of the trip.

The things we still talk about.

Fish and chips with lemon and tartare sauce at the Night Markets

The chips deserve a mention.

We go to Blue Lagoon Bar at the Night Markets twice. The fish is good. The chips are the reason we keep talking about it.

Honestly, those chips.

Seafood pasta with prawns at Villa Romana

A table for two.

The woman at Bailey gave us a list of restaurants. We only make it to one: Villa Romana, on our last night. Seafood pasta, creamy gnocchi, rosé, and the echidna beside a drink.

Four cans of alcoholic ginger beer on the hotel counter

A tasting back at the hotel.

The local lager is a bit watery; the alcoholic ginger beers win us over. Back at Bailey, four cans become our own little tasting. Some evenings end with Atashin’chi playing in our untidy room.

Bailey / The everyday bits

A packaged Vegemite and cheese roll from the supermarket — The Vegemite cheese roll.
A supermarket experiment that we liked far more than expected. Salty, cheesy, oddly perfect for breakfast.

Frozen yoghurt bowls with toppings under the festival lights — Frozen yoghurt after dark.
Bowls with toppings under the festival lights at YO-PHORIA.

The other plate.
Creamy gnocchi with spinach and tomato at Villa Romana.

A plate of buffet food on the Outer Reef pontoon — Lunch out at sea.
The surprisingly good buffet on the Outer Reef pontoon.

A few days. Quite a lot of ground.

The long way
round.

Cairns is home base. Every adventure brings us back to Bailey, and usually straight back out for something to eat.

0102 SEPCairnsOur base
0203 SEPKurandaRainforest & Plan B
0304 SEP / AMMareebaBalloon sunrise
0404 SEP / PMParonella ParkWaterfalls & stars
0505 SEPThe ReefInto the water
0606 SEPCairnsHomeward bound

Our chapters in date order. Separate day trips, with Cairns between them.

Our smallest travelling companion

Two of us.
And one echidna.

Bought in Kuranda. Along for everything after.

Our plush echidna held up with Cairns Marina behind it — 05 September / Back at the marina. No longer just a souvenir.

A cocktail and the plush echidna at Villa Romana — 05 September / A place at our last dinner, too.

We found this little echidna in Kuranda and loved it immediately. By the end of the trip it is in half the photographs.

The places behind the memories

We were here.

The big days. The little detours.

A few favourite coordinates.

Explore our stops, from breakfast to the rainforest.

Street map loads only when opened · OpenStreetMap

Pins show approximate places, not exact photo positions.

01
Crystalbrook Bailey
Our home for four nights. The restaurant list, the refill station, and the people.
163 Abbott Street
Location details ↗
02
Muddy’s Café
Brekkie for Two. We were defeated by breakfast.
174 Esplanade
Location details ↗
03
Night Markets / Blue Lagoon Bar
Fish, chips and beer. We came back for round two.
Night Markets, Abbott Street
Location details ↗
04
YO-PHORIA
Frozen yoghurt on a warm, bright Cairns evening.
Aplin Street & Abbott Street
Location details ↗
05
Villa Romana
The Bailey recommendation we finally made it to. Our last dinner, with the echidna.
Esplanade & Aplin Street
Location details ↗
06
Rusty’s Markets
Local fruit, bananas, a meat pie and a very good sausage roll.
57–89 Grafton Street
Location details ↗
07
Cairns Central
A first-day rest stop, with groceries from Coles and Woolworths.
McLeod Street
Location details ↗
08
T2 Tea
A proper chat about tea. The only regret: we should have bought more.
Cairns Central
Location details ↗
09
Esplanade / Cairns Festival
The first walk, the lights, the music, and the bubble party we had not planned for.
Lagoon area · festival activities spread along the waterfront
Location details ↗
10
Marina / Reef Fleet Terminal
Out to Green Island and the reef. Back with the echidna at the rail.
Cairns Marlin Marina
Location details ↗
11
Novotel Cairns Oasis pickup
Our booked morning pickup for the Kuranda excursion.
Lake Street
12
Cairns Airport
An early arrival, then one last breakfast before the flight home.
Airport terminal area
13
Kuranda village / Railway station
The echidna came from the village. The train was waiting at the station, but the ride was cancelled.
Station-area; souvenir shop not identified
14
Skyrail / Barron Falls
Rainforest from above, and a fellow passenger who shared her audio guide.
Barron Falls area · cableway experience spans several locations
15
Rainforestation Nature Park
Army Duck, rainforest plants, crocodiles, kangaroos and koalas.
1030 Kennedy Highway
Location details ↗
16
Australian Butterfly Sanctuary
Beautiful. Also, unmistakably, very large insects.
8 Rob Veivers Drive
Location details ↗
17
Mareeba / Balloon morning
The 03:00 alarm, sunrise above the mist, and “Kanpai! Gesondheid!”
Mareeba Airport area only; launch and landing fields not confirmed
18
Paronella Park / Mena Creek Falls
Waterfall, mossy stone, night lights, and the guide who made the evening special.
Paronella Park; later, stargazing on Camp Creek Road
Location details ↗
19
Green Island
Clear water, the pier, and rather more birds than we wanted.
Island
20
Great Adventures Reef Pontoon
Our Outer Reef stop: swimming together, the semi-submersible, and lunch on the pontoon.
Norman Reef · the pontoon from our map link
Location details ↗
21
OK Gift Shop
Souvenir shopping on Abbott Street.
61 Abbott Street
Location details ↗
22
Coles / Cairns Central
Groceries between excursions. Cairns Central had both Coles and Woolworths.
Cairns Central
Location details ↗
23
Woolworths / Cairns Central
A supermarket stop in the shopping centre.
Cairns Central
Location details ↗
24
Woolworths / Abbott Street
The nearby supermarket for our Bailey evenings and the Vegemite cheese roll experiment.
89–103 Abbott Street · near Bailey
Location details ↗
25
Camp Creek Road / Stargazing
Our first southern stars, after Paronella Park.
Near Innisfail Japoon Road · approximate area, not the exact stopping point
Location details ↗

What we’d do again

Ask the Bailey team where to eat, carry a refillable bottle, and leave an evening free to wander. We would also leave more time to enjoy the hotel itself. The balloon morning was worth the early alarm; a nap before Paronella made the long day easier.

The plush echidna beside an airplane window and golden clouds — 06 September / One more passenger on the way home.

Sunday 06 September / Until next time

Still on our list.

The railway we never rode. Bailey’s pool we never used. The restaurants still on that handwritten list. And the extra T2 tea we wish we had bought.

Five days go far too quickly. Next time we are leaving a little more room in the itinerary, and in the suitcase. Thank you for coming along.

Coming home with us

One little echidna
T2 tea
A rather battered suitcase

SEP
2026

絶対また来る！ここ泊まる！
“We’re definitely coming back! Staying here again!”
Our trip notes / Crystalbrook Bailey

Cairns

Thirteen years.Still going places.

From Japan.To the tropics.

Arrival in the tropics

A slower kind of day.

Sweet air.A very sleepy start.

Rainbow lorikeet

Home forfour nights.

Already feelslike our place.

NO HURRYJUST WANDER.

Australian white ibis

Bush stone-curlew

A marina lookout

We just went outfor a walk.

Bubbles, a DJ,and missing glasses.

Above the canopy

The train was there.The ride wasn’t.

The oldest rainforest on Earth

First a truck.Then a boat.

The most painful plant in the world

Southern cassowary (statue)

Australasian darter

Everyone we met at the wildlife park.

Beautiful.Very much an insect.

An unreasonable hour.An unbelievable morning.

Back on the ground.

How do you steer a balloon?

A waterfall.A castle. Then this.

Mena CreekFalls.

Into the park, before the show.

Look up. Fruit bats.

One man’s castle

The castle,twice.

And then, wait for dark.

Our guide makes itan evening to remember.

The GreatBarrier Reef.

Somewherein the blue.

Silver gull

The largest living thing on Earth

Back in the water.Together.

A taste of the trip.

The chips deserve a mention.

A table for two.

A tasting back at the hotel.

The Vegemite cheese roll.

Frozen yoghurt after dark.

The other plate.

Lunch out at sea.

The long wayround.

Two of us.And one echidna.

We were here.

Crystalbrook Bailey

Muddy’s Café

Night Markets / Blue Lagoon Bar

YO-PHORIA

Villa Romana

Rusty’s Markets

Cairns Central

T2 Tea

Esplanade / Cairns Festival

Marina / Reef Fleet Terminal

Novotel Cairns Oasis pickup

Cairns Airport

Kuranda village / Railway station

Skyrail / Barron Falls

Rainforestation Nature Park

Australian Butterfly Sanctuary

Mareeba / Balloon morning

Paronella Park / Mena Creek Falls

Green Island

Great Adventures Reef Pontoon

OK Gift Shop

Coles / Cairns Central

Woolworths / Cairns Central

Woolworths / Abbott Street

Camp Creek Road / Stargazing