Green Island and Waterbar & Grill, Cairns

We went to Green Island with the Big Cat Cruise for snorkeling today and seeing the most beautiful coral life of Great Barrier Reef.  Apparently, GBR is the only living mechanism that you can see from the outer space. Ferry and the snorkeling equipment are included in the package.  We paid $18 per person on top of that for lunch buffet in the ferry as we thought that it maybe a bit hard to find the food in that small island.  End up our thought was completely wrong, they have few take away shops selling fish & chips, burgers, ice creams, drinks and some other light snacks that look way better and we felt so ripped off with the buffet from the ferry company, the food wasn't that nice, too bland, as well as chicken wing was totally fridge cold.  Not only that we had to walk a looong way (hyperbole!!!!) back to the wharf where the ferry was just to have those canteen-like buffet, unlike if we buy some food in island is just there.  Yeah.. Anyway what was done, was done!!!! can't change it!!

If you guys not really into snorkeling, they also have other variety of activities to do on the island, such as Glass Bottom Boat, Semi-Sub Marine, Seawalker or just wandering around the island. 

The weather wasn't  really on our side on that day, first we worried whether should we still do snorkeling, but the guy in the ticket office told us that many people are still going there for snorkeling.  So why not join them!!!!!  When we were on the shore, it was lightly drizzling but once we arrived the island the weather was completely different, it was bright and sunny but still very strong wind though (and I got sea sick so badly, even the lady who works in the boat got sea sick too, the wave was that rough!!!)

After tired with snorkeling, we had a relaxing walk around the island on the idyllic sandy beach and spotted some sea turtles too. How lucky.... They also have a small zoo or something like that, but we didn't manage to go in there.

We got back to the hotel around 5 pm, and without wasting no time we went straight to shower and ready to have dinner (as we planned) in Tamarind Restaurant, Casino Reef Hotel.  Once we arrived the place, we saw that the place wasn't really full, so we though we have abit of hope as we forgot to book the table.  But the waiter told us that unfortunately the table were all booked out until 9.30 pm.  Suck in big time!!!!!

We then walked around the Esplanade, keep searching and hoping any nice restaurant will catch our eyes...  None..  none of them look interesting to me cos my mind was still hanging around with those alluring menu in Tamarind, so far nothing up to that standard...  Then we decided to bet our luck at the Pier which just underneath Shangri-La Hotel.  After walked nearly finish one whole Pier round ..  We spotted this Waterbar & Grill restaurant, the place looked nice, funky and bustling busy, but we still give it a try and the lady told us that we gotta wait about 20 minutes...  My instinct told me right away that this is THE ONE and don't wanna keep on searching outside especially in the wet raining night like that, so here we were waiting....  She asked us to sit in their bar while waiting and we ordered some cocktails, by the time we just got our cocktails, she came back and told us that they got a table ready for us.  Wow!!!!  Real quick, I think it took less than 10 minutes waiting only.  Perfect timing because I was terribly starving ...


Waterbar & Grill
Shop G1a, The Pier at the Marina
Pierpoint Road, Cairns
Ph: (07) 4031 1199
Open 7 days a week from 11.30 am

Check out their menu on http://www.cairnsunlimited.com/dining.htm

As this grilled meat and pork ribs restaurant are South African food, most of the chef are African-look too, so it gives the ambience and the feeling like we eat local food....

The front one was my cocktail, It's called Vanilla Bliss ($14) and is basically a sweet vanilla vodka drink with a hint of lemony to balanced off the taste.  Really goooood, great I would say!!!!


Garlic Bread $5

Freshly baked garlic bread, still hot and the alluring smell comes from within with garlicky butter generously slathered in each single slices of that gorgeous bread log.



Oysters - served natural with sherry vinegar & eschallot dressing  $3 each

It's raw, it's real, it's Pacific Oyster....  Big, clean, fresh and juicy that's what a prime oyster should be!!!!  Served with vinaigrette dressing to give the punch of taste and acidity.



Rib Combo - Half rack of ribs with Portuguese chicken $40

I wasn't expecting this....  I mean..  this hugeeee!!!  I ordered half rack of pork rib.. repeat!!  'HALF' rack of pork ribs with Portuguese Chicken.  Maybe from the photo, it wasn't that clear how big those stacks of pork ribs, but let me tell you, that Rack-saurus was massiveeeeee.  If you put them in a straight line, I would say bigger and longer then the full rack of pork rib in 'popular' Sydney restaurant (no need to mention the name).  And that creamy mashed potato on the side was so smooth and rich. The pork and chicken were really meaty, thick and juicy and they lavishly basted with the sauce, I can't stop licking the yummy sauce off my fingers.



Rump 350g - $32 with sauce $2.50  

The steak was soooo tender and succulent, perfectly cooked for his medium rare... goes really well with the pepper sauce and the salad on the side made the dish somehow lighter.



Looking of what we just had and surprisingly we did manage to finish them all.  Even I always keen with desserts, this time I better back off, can't swallow anything anymore, felt like the food was sitting on the tip of my throat.

Started with some disaster of our bad that didn't book Tamarind restaurant in advance but it kinda luck that brought us to this steakhouse.  Honestly, I never ever eaten any pork ribs this goood in my entire life.  Sounds too much ... , but it's true.  The serving portion was generously huge and all of the food that we ordered were super delicious.  Loves the services too.  Highly highly recommended!!!!!!

Did you enjoy this blog???  Hope so..  Octie Appetie, folks.....

Keep on reading for the 3rd day in Cairns:

http://octieappetie.blogspot.com/2011/12/cairns-tropical-zoo.html