Thread: My Town

Thought I'd start a thread to give visitors to the forum an idea of what different parts of the world are like, so I'll kick off with my hometown - Cairns.

Cairns is situated in Far North Queensland, around 1700km further North than Brisbane. It has a tropical climate with temperatures averaging around the 30 mark most of the year and high humidity.

Population is around 170,000 although, that can nearly double due to the high numbers of tourists that Cairns receives as a result of it's proximity to 2 of the world's greatest natural attractions: the Great Barrier Reef and the Wet Tropics Rainforest. Cairns region is the fourth-most popular destination for international tourists in Australia after Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.

The Great Barrier Reef is the largest reef in the world measuring 2011 km in length and 72 km across at its widest point making it the world's largest World Heritage Areas. The Reef became on of Australia's first World Heritage Areas. It was inscribed on the World Heritage List in recognition of its outstanding natural universal values. There are an estimated 1,500 species of fish, over 300 species of hard, reef-building corals, more than 4,000 mollusc species and over 400 species of sponges have been identified.

Australia's Wet Tropics is a band of tropical rainforest and associated vegetation that runs up the north-east coast of Queensland from Townsville to Cooktown. The World Heritage property covers an area of approximately 894,000 hectares. It was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1988 in recognition of its scenic beauty and biological important.

We moved to Cairns in November, as a direct result of spending time there on part of a road trip we did last July, when we drove from Darwin to Brisbane. We instantly knew we wanted to live here and put our house in Melbourne up for sale when we got back from vacation.

When we were deciding where to emigrate to in Australia, we'd initially chosen Melbourne as we'd thought it would be easier to settle there as the climate isn't as severe as some parts of Australia and it has distinct seasons, we also had some family there and in many ways, it feels quite like the UK. However, 6 years later, we were ready to experience something totally different.

For me, the Pro's would be:
Outstanding natural beauty
Year round climate
The feeling that you're out of the rat race.

Con's:
While I've never really been a big city person, I'll miss some of the facilities that a big city offers. No test match cricket at the MCG, Australian Open Tennis, numerous professional sports teams, IMAX cinema, big-name touring bands/artists and other things a big city offers - theatre, museums etc. At the end of the day though, I only occasionally partook in those pastimes, and the price of internal flights still makes some of those things feasible.

Climate - until we acclimatise more, the fuel bills are going to be a touch on the high side with the air-con running more that is ideal.

Career. Cairns is large town size rather than big city. If a wanted to return to my original occupation, there wouldn't be much demand for it in Cairns.


Google Earth view of Cairns



View from my house looking across to the rainforest



My house



My house



Wildlife

Being situated on the edge of rainforest, we get plenty of wildlife around us. Pictured below are Kookaburras on the lamppost (taken this morning), a Lace monitor lizard on the edge of our garden & a green tree frog by the side of the pool. We also get plenty of cockatoos around, we had a fully grown fruit bat in the garage a couple of nights ago and I swear I've seen a juvenile cassowary close to the house, but my other half refuses to believe me (you know how it is, failing eye-site now I've advancing in years). Of the more unsavoury characters, I was walking upstairs one night and there was a huntsmen & a scorpion on the same step! We've also had a huge Giant Orb spider in the back garden (who 'accidentally' got relocated with the help of the jet hose)

El Paraiso
El Paraiso is, as the Spanish name suggests, a paradise. One of Marbella's more prestigious urbanisations, this community is made up of villas and flats and enjoys a peaceful setting, which is preserved by strict rules governing the type of development that can take place within its borders.
A fine four-star hotel, El Paraiso, located within the urbanisation, is known for its health clinic which focuses on wellness therapies and strategies. Also on site is an 18-hole golf course with its accompanying club and various tournaments, including a celebrity Pro-Am, that are held here every year. To complete the offering five hard courts are available at the tennis club and there is a lawn bowls club as well.
All amenities are available at the community's commercial centre, which includes a bank, supermarket, restaurants, travel agency, care hire and an array of other professional services.
El Paraiso is located approximately 10 minutes (driving) from Marbella, heading west towards Estepona. The nearest airports are located in Málaga and Gibraltar, each of which can be reached in about one hour.


(OK I copied and pasted it)
This is the hotel across the road where i like to use the pool bar in the summer.



There's plenty to do for the kids with a safari park just a mile up the road and the beach is walkable and calm with a nice gentle slope which is safe for the kids to swim in and great for kayaking.
There is a beutiful "white village" near by (Benahavis) that has a river and loads of restaurants and tapas bars.



My Street