Our first day in Cairns is dedicated to catching up with laundry and getting to know the town. While doing laundry we discussed our plans for our stay. The Great Barrier Reef is one of our prime objectives. One travel brochure we picked up in the park office has an item I was interested in learning more about. It was a an offering of the Down Under Dive company to certify for open water SCUBA in a four day course. The course involved two days of tests and preliminary training followed by two days of dive training on the Great Barrier Reef. I figured what better place to learn to dive and having certification would greatly improve the dive opportunities on our cruise in Fiji at the end of this trip in June.

Once the laundry was done, we had lunch and then walked to town. We were camped at the Cairns Holiday Park, just a few blocks from the seafront Promenade. Our walk was welcome after four days of continuous driving. We enjoyed a beautiful warm day as we strolled along the seafront. The Promenade is about 60 feet wide, beautifully landscaped, and incorporates a boardwalk along the beach, a walking path, a separate bicycle/running path, a series of exercise equipment for adults and a variety of activities for children of all ages. It was mid-afternoon on Wednesday, April 13 and the facilities were being fully used. There were hundreds of people enjoying all the facilities.

Nearing the docks in the heart of downtown Cairns we came to a swimming pool with hundreds of children and adults enjoying the pool and surroundings. This was no ordinary square pool, it was huge and included a wading area with a sand beach, fountains for children to play among, shaded areas of the pool and a huge deck for sunning or picnicking. It was not fenced in any way, the entire pool and deck were simply part of the seaside entertainment.

One of our objectives was to find the Down Under Dive offices to discuss the classes. We were able to find a booth that is only manned early in the morning so we abandoned that quest. We found the shopping area and Louise set about shopping. This lasted for about an hour. While she shopped, I walked around the mall area and picked up a local paper to read. After a while I decided to give Down Under Dive a call to learn more about the classes. Once on the phone with their representative I learned more about the course. Louise joined me during the call and I relayed some of the information to her. We decided to sign on for the first class we could get which would start on Friday.

With that decision done, we decided to find a place to have dinner. We found a seafront bar/restaurant and decided on our menu choices. Louise went to the bar to place or order and returned with the beer and told me that the kitchen didn’t open until 5:00 p.m. and they would begin taking orders then. This is pretty standard practice here in Australia, restaurants and bars have kitchen hours around meal times and in between limited items are available. We relaxed and enjoyed the afternoon breeze on the outdoor deck. When the kitchen opened we ordered our meal.

Following dinner we retraced our steps from earlier in the day. As we passed the swimming pool we saw about 100 adults doing Zumba in the water being led by three instructors on the stage on one side of the pool. The walking and running tracks were thick with people and families with children were everywhere. The exercise equipment was being fully employed by people waiting their turn at each piece of equipment. There were groups practicing games in the adjacent lawns and fields, the seafront was alive with activity and this held throughout our walk as the sun set and dusk faded from the sky.