Cairns is a modern city driven by tourists – its very good at providing them with a wealth of ways to spend their money – from gift shops, reef visits, snorkelling, Aboriginal artefacts and culture, nightclubs and forays into the hinterland to places like Kuranda and the Atherton Tablelands, opal shops, deep-sea fishing, adventure holidays to Cape York, seafood restaurants, white-water rafting, catamarans and helicopter joyrides.
However, it doesn’t hve a great beach. When the tide goes out there are hundreds of metres of mud flats before you can reach the water. It does have balmy tropical weather and a very nice park on the foreshore. The navy have a small base here and vesels largely patrol the northern waters for illegal immigrants and fishermen.
Over the past thirty years the beaches to the north of Cairns have evolved from isolated communities to thriving modern holiday destinations with stinger nets on the beaches, swimming pools in many of the apartment blocks, and wall-to-wall apartments and holiday accommodation. We drove up to Yorkeys Knob because it ws raining in Cairns with clouds covering the hills and we enjoyed a brunch at one of the local restaurants.
Yorkeys Knob was named after a one-armed beche-de-mer fisherman who used the point as a base for his angling activities at the turn of the century. During World War II it became a popular haunt for American servicemen on R & R leave.
By early afternoon the rain had cleared and we had a nice time walking around the Botanical Gardens looking at the courful plants and their textures which are so different from those in a cool temperate climates where we live.
