In Cairns, life slows to the rhythm of reef, rainforest and winding coastal roads. From crocodile encounters to drifting quietly down the Mossman River, a journey through Far North Queensland reveals the art of doing less
The air in Cairns doesn’t just hit you; it settles on you like a warm, heavy blanket. It’s a heat that demands your surrender. Coming from the frenetic pace of Singapore, the transition is startling.
The Australian town in Far North Queensland seems to encourage this deceleration. There’s a nostalgic, frozen in-time charm about it. My hotel room felt dated, with furniture and décor straight out of the ’90s, but it was deeply comfortable in an unpretentious, lived-in way.
That same sense of time standing still extended to the local shopping arcade. It felt like a relic, yet it was here that we stumbled upon a hole-in-the-wall Japanese restaurant called Hungry Wombat, where I fell in love with their stewed beef udon – chewy noodles and tender chunks of meat in a deeply comforting broth.
The only spot that seemed to have moved with the times was YOMG, a pay-by-the-weight froyo shop where I paid nightly homage.
Before long, the town’s easy stillness nudged me further north to Port Douglas, about an hour’s drive away. The journey itself was the highlight: miles of winding coastline, flanked on one side by the Coral Sea and on the other by a relentless parade of leaning coconut trees. It felt like a vintage postcard come to life – the kind of scenery that instinctively makes you slow down as the world blurs past in shades of emerald and sapphire.
Against this slow-motion backdrop came moments that were far more visceral, memories I’ve stored as physical sensations. There was the relentless tropical heat that, despite my best efforts with sun protection, left me with a glowing – and painful – tan, a reminder of swimming in the Great Barrier Reef.
Then there was the adrenaline I felt watching a crocodile expert “play” with his charge at Hartley’s Crocodile Adventures, a thrill later tempered by the quiet, ancestral Aboriginal stories shared by our guide, Aaron, during a cultural walk.
Yet the deepest sense of calm arrived on the water. My absolute favourite activity was the River Drift Experience with Back Country Bliss, trekking and then gliding lazily down the Mossman River. Lying on my river sled with cool water against my skin and gazing up at the towering rainforest canopy while listening to birdsong, I slipped into a state of peace.
In this part of Australia, I realised the goal isn’t to do everything; it’s to do as little as possible and simply live in the moment.
Returning home, however, felt like being thrust back into a whirlwind of emails and errands. The grace I felt on those open roads – the willingness to wait, to breathe, to simply be – is hard to hold on to in the big city.
But every now and then, when the workday gets too loud, I close my eyes and I’m back on that river sled, drifting through the rainforest, and my nervous system is settled again.
In this evocative, first-person column exploring a singular place, writer Adrienne Lee journeys through Cairns giving readers a taste of the sights, sounds and vibes of its less well-known areas.
For more information on Singapore Airlines’ flights to Cairns, visit singaporeair.com.
