I’m currently in the northern beaches of Cairns, in far north Qld, Australia, on the Great Barrier Reef. It’s summer here and it’s the major holiday time of the year. Kids have 6 weeks off school, and many businesses close down for at least two weeks and often more.
But the place is essentially deserted. Talking to our apartment complex manager today, she claimed that last year she was fully booked at this time, but now only has half the rooms reserved. Same for other accommodations in town.
And she has no idea why! It’s not like there has been a natural disaster around here, or that the economy is about to tank (maybe next year but not now).
On the plus side, I cruised up to the supermarket and booze shop to get supplies for tomorrow and got a park straight away. Silver linings and all of that.
Pretty sure Cairns and environs has been a higher-end hol destination for southerners, but wondering whether the Jetstar strike is perhaps having ramifications. If so, the locals are seriously unimpressed.
We went to Cairns at Easter last year and loved it. It was just after the dreadful rains and with Tyhpoon Iris hovering offshore and unable to make up her mind. We had 8 days in the area and it coincided with a short period of calm and stability and we managed to get out to the reef (a bit choppy on the way out but never mind). We packed in as much as we could and visited the ancient rainforest and saw platypi in the wild and all sorts of other wonders.
The kids thought it was the best thing we’ve ever done and can’t wait to come back. Hopefully they aren’t taking too much of a financial hit at the moment
