Surprisingly, Cairns is full of things that hipsters love. Photo: iStock
“Hipsters can look different in different places,” says tour guide Peter Schleifer of Cairns Urban Walking Tours. “I mean more about the hipster mentality.”
Peter has a tough sale ahead of him on this warm day as we find ourselves near lush foliage in the city’s Shields Street mall. He just told me that Cairns is Australia’s second most hipster city (first apparently being the Gold Coast!).
Thinking back to the hood of Melbourne downtown, populated by tattooed barista types dressed in black and with beards, I can feel my lips curl and my eyebrows rise. What is this man talking about? There is not a hipster in sight in this tropical paradise.
Street art in Cairns. Photo: Supplied
Or is there? According to Peter, the relocation service MoveHub conducted a survey on the things that hipsters liked the most and concluded that in Australia their density was the second highest in Cairns. Tattoo parlors, cafes, vegan food, vintage clothing stores, record stores … that’s the measure of a true hipster hangout, apparently, not what its inhabitants wear.
He also points out that the hipster movement of the 1990s had its roots in the concept of ‘shifting down’ in search of a better work-life balance, and that’s exactly why so many people moved. to Cairns.
Well we’ll see. He will try to persuade me even more through his Hipster & Street Art Tour, a 90-minute walk through the city center to discover the novelties that are hidden from the casual tourist.
Peter quickly appears at the Cairns City Tattoo, in a prominent corner. It was opened in 1984 by a local family who have been creating tattoos from WWII onwards.
“When I grew up in Vienna,” he says, “only the prisoners and the sailors had tattoos.”
Skin art has certainly come a long way since then, and this shop has a selection of Asian and European designs, for example a Chinese dragon or a Western wolf.
Next, we stop in front of Evo Burger, where we serve modern burgers (two vegan options) inside a beautiful retro interior with a curvy metal countertop and terrazzo floor; then stay out of BLVK Temple, a tattoo parlor that creates complex, high-end tattoos that include photorealistic versions.
“The Cairns hipster hangs out at the gym, but he doesn’t like to wear conventional brands, so tattoo studios have their own clothing labels,” says Peter, pointing to the equipment for sale inside.
Then we launched into The Source Bulk Foods, a medium that could easily star in the super hipster television series Portlandia. Large tubs of rice, lentils, nuts, pasta, muesli and the like line the shelves, and customers buy only what they need in reusable containers.
Cairns City Tattoo was opened in 1984 by a local family who have been creating tattoos from WWII onwards.
In a game room there’s a juice bar whose smoothies make it a dubious candidate for a hipster must-have, but then Peter leads me through an exit to a dingy alley adorned with street art. This is more like it. It’s an interesting selection with a certain Cairns twist, including a monochrome portrait of a boxer, a woman in sunglasses, a giant fish, and a rendering of a spray paint artist under a palm tree.
The cafes are as follows. My guide points out Caffiend, which makes beans supplied by Tattooed Sailor Coffee Roasters, a local team with a sailor tattoo logo. Then there’s Cruze Coffee, with 20 international coffees that can be ground to order.
More hipster-friendly fare is on offer at Slap and Pickle, a ‘slow and slow’ barbecue joint in the model American smokehouse, famous for its brisket. Then we wandered around Rusty’s Markets, which began in 1974 as a hippie market that sold clothing, incense, and beads; now a set of labyrinthine stalls loaded with locally made artisan goods, fresh produce, and takeout. At the other end, we stop at Duke’s Donuts for an artisanal coconut and yogurt-based sandwich, which is delicious.
Near the end of the tour, we passed the Too Cool Hairdressers Shelter and entered the Oceana Walk, a low-ceilinged gallery that links Grafton and Lake streets.
Here we find the hipster gold: within this short passage is the finely brewed coffee from Blackbird Espresso, the original homeware from Eggplant & Poppy, the organic bulk whole foods from Community Foods, the vintage volumes from Pearls Books, and, Most revealing of all, the LP Records store filled with vinyl records. We have hit the Maverick Maternal Wave of Cairns.
I’m still not convinced that Cairns is the natural home of the hipster, at least as I know the species. But I have to admit that a hipster could have fun here.
DETAILS
PLUS
tropicalnorthqueensland.org.au
FLY
Qantas flies to Cairns from all over Australia. See qantas.com.au
REMAIN
Novotel Cairns Oasis Resort has rooms from $ 239 a night and a large central pool. See novotelcairnsresort.com.au
Cairns Central YHA is a good budget option near hipster shops, with ensuite double rooms starting at $ 103 a night. See yha.com.au
EXCURSION
The Cairns Hipster & Street Art tour costs $ 32.95 for adults, $ 17.95 for children. See cairnsurbanwalkingtours.com.au
The writer traveled as a guest of Tourism Tropical North Queensland.
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