We drove off the highway, just as the GPS told us to. But when the view ahead turned to look like this and...
the view in the side mirror looked like this for more than half an hour, we became a little worried...
With no one in sight and after a long drive through the windy tree-lined road, we arrived at a spot with some signage and (thank goodness) a public compost toilet!
I made sure that this was part of our itinerary because during my roadtrip last year, I visited the 2nd highest single-drop waterfall in Australia. Wallaman Falls here, is the highest.
We had our lunch here and sort of shared the vicinity with many furry little creepy crawlies, which to me, were really cute but to Xin Wen, were just horrifying. I found the scene of her jumping off the bench in a flash when I pointed at a caterpillar and said, "Look, so cute!" quite hilarious.
And it was back onto the highway for more sugarcane plantation sceneries...
It seriously was just sugarcane all the way to Cairns, where we checked into our final hostel for the trip.
Cairns Central YHA is situated on the far end of town, just opposite the shopping complex. A stone's throw away from pubs, cafes and nightlife, we found it convenient. The only thing that was not so convenient was the parking, which was road parking. Luckily for us, as it was New Year's Eve, there was ample space and no charge!
Our room faced the courtyard, which I found really inviting with the plants they had.
The bathroom was spacious and had the usual facilities. Of course, not as fancy as the other hostels that we checked into but YHA is a backpackers (and we were too tired to think of whether it was as good as the YHA in Brisbane).
Cairns Central YHA
20-26 McLeod Street, Cairns, QLD 4870, Australia
Tel: +61 7 4051 0772, Fax: +61 7 4031 3158, E-mail: cairnscentral@yha.com.au
Reception hours: 6:30am to 11:00pm
