Wandering Around Cairns
Cairns is an interesting city to wander around in. Similar to Sydney in that they manage to cram a ton of random shops into a single block, the city center is teeming with pubs, souvenir shops, ethnic restaurants, book stores, tour and dive-related shops, backpacker hostels and internet cafes. The hostels are close enough to the downtown areas that you can get around perfectly fine without a car. The ocean pier where reef dive trips begin is an easy walk as well.
Little shops are crammed everywhere, sometimes even in alleys.
Some of the shops feel a little out of place. Notice the proximity of these two shops to each other:
Little Arrows Adult Shop & Cairns Denture Service: the perfect match.
One place I can't stop wandering into is called Singapore Charlie's. They sell everything. Watches that look really nice but cost $15-$20 (third-world knockoffs I guess), postcards, flags, t-shirts, swimming accessories, incense, backpacks, etc. All of it is very very cheap. My guess is that they import all of this crap from Singapore, thus the mascot.
Girlfriend poses with a pair of atrocious $5 glasses being sold at Singapore Charlie's. In the background you can see Singapore Charlie himself, and piles of random merchandise at sweatshop prices.
Singapore Charlie was also selling the ULTIMATE Star Wars collectible:
That's right, a Jar Jar Binks bong, the perfect souvenir to send back to grandma. This came in a huge display case of pot smoking accessories, located next to the rest of the store merchandise. Apparently it's no big deal to sell smoking paraphernalia in the same place that they sell children's toys.
Jar Jar sits among his kinfolk at Singapore Charlie's.
By far the most entertaining thing we saw while wandering the Cairns shopping district was a clothing store called Colorado. Inside the store window was a promotional poster giving Australians a glimpse into the life of a true blue Coloradoan such as myself:
As you can see, these fine folks are enjoying a typical Colorado day, partaking in a delightful picnic on the boardwalk as the yachts sail past and the waves lap against the shore. Coloradoans are a sea loving sort, you see, that being part of their.. um .. coastal lifestyle and all. Sure can't wait to get home and "hit the waves", as it were.
Cairns, like Sydney, is also home to some strange wildlife on display in the middle of the shopping district. Such as this freaky tree:
Little shops are crammed everywhere, sometimes even in alleys.
Some of the shops feel a little out of place. Notice the proximity of these two shops to each other:
Little Arrows Adult Shop & Cairns Denture Service: the perfect match.
One place I can't stop wandering into is called Singapore Charlie's. They sell everything. Watches that look really nice but cost $15-$20 (third-world knockoffs I guess), postcards, flags, t-shirts, swimming accessories, incense, backpacks, etc. All of it is very very cheap. My guess is that they import all of this crap from Singapore, thus the mascot.
Girlfriend poses with a pair of atrocious $5 glasses being sold at Singapore Charlie's. In the background you can see Singapore Charlie himself, and piles of random merchandise at sweatshop prices.
Singapore Charlie was also selling the ULTIMATE Star Wars collectible:
That's right, a Jar Jar Binks bong, the perfect souvenir to send back to grandma. This came in a huge display case of pot smoking accessories, located next to the rest of the store merchandise. Apparently it's no big deal to sell smoking paraphernalia in the same place that they sell children's toys.
Jar Jar sits among his kinfolk at Singapore Charlie's.
By far the most entertaining thing we saw while wandering the Cairns shopping district was a clothing store called Colorado. Inside the store window was a promotional poster giving Australians a glimpse into the life of a true blue Coloradoan such as myself:
As you can see, these fine folks are enjoying a typical Colorado day, partaking in a delightful picnic on the boardwalk as the yachts sail past and the waves lap against the shore. Coloradoans are a sea loving sort, you see, that being part of their.. um .. coastal lifestyle and all. Sure can't wait to get home and "hit the waves", as it were.
Cairns, like Sydney, is also home to some strange wildlife on display in the middle of the shopping district. Such as this freaky tree:
posted by Soggy Butterflies @ 8:44 PM
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