Engineer Andy's Journal: Day three in Cairns - part two

After work I dropped in to town to start the process of Christmas shopping, and to avoid spending all evening in front of the TV. The waterfront at cairns has been developed very nicely. There are nicely landscaped gardens and many places to have picnics. A credit to the local council.

Most of the shops tailered to the tourist market were open late into the evening. The stereotypical view of what needs to be bought to mark a visit to Australia seems to be cowboy hats, t-shirts, anything with a kangaroo or koala on it, or something made of crocodile leather. From my last visit to Cairns i had something of a rose coloured view of what the markets were like, and had somehow got the impression that it was marginally classier than the tacky tourist havens of the gold coast. On the whole the souvenir shops aren't.

Which raises the more fundamental issue of whether it is possible to have souvenirs which are both memorable and tasteful enough to actually put on display on arrival back home. We will leave that to the philosophers. Tasteful artwork might fit the bill, perhaps.

Most of the souvenirs seemed to be geared to the Japanese or Asian market, where I believe it is customary to give gifts of the same value on return to the mother country. Which leads to shops having packets of a dozen kangaroo shaped, kangaroo leather keyrings for sale, and piles of cheap jewellery and clothing. It all boils down to an underlying need to conform, which we in the west better conceal, but still carry around. I only wish that somehow i could get some moderately priced handcraft which wasn't so kitsch that i know my mother would put it in the back of the pantry rather than on open display (mum, I have yet to get some tasteful and moderately priced handcraft for you as yet).

There were about six stores which would sell me digeridoos of various lengths and wood species, which somewhat surprised me until i thought a little more. If you are in japan and didn't want to brag about your australian holiday, a digeridoo parked in the corner of your lounge will certainly provoke a polite enquiry from your friends as to what manner of thing it is, and surprise at your being a well travelled individual.

Didn't end up buying much, but will have it as a regular routine to get a stroll in the evening as well as gradually filling the Christmas shopping needs.