We arrived back in Cairns at 6:00am and were kicked off the boat by 7:30am. We picked up our rental car and headed to our hotel where we hung out poolside until our room was ready. It was great to be back in a roomy apartment in Cairns with a much better bed than we had in our cabin.

We discovered a huge bat (flying fox) colony right in the middle of town. After all our efforts to get bat pictures in Brisbane, here were thousands of them. We took our cameras and watched as they took flight that evening. We both got pooped on, but we finally got some pics and video to share. We risked death by vermin disease for them, so I hope you like them. Cairns is a reasonably sized town, with a nice boardwalk area, lots of restaurants and a really nice sandy public pool/manmade beach in a park like area called the Esplanade.

Our plan for the week was to explore the Rainforest and our first stop was the quaint little tourist town of Kuranda. They have a turn of the century (20th not 21st) train you can take to get to there from Cairns as well as a sky rail (giant ski lift) up the side of the 'mountain'. We opted for the flexibility of driving ourselves. The big attraction just outside Kuranda is Barron Falls. We had read that the falls could be spectacular or not depending on the water flow. March is the end of the rainy season and there had been a cyclone only 2 weeks earlier so we were hoping for the best. After a short hike we discovered the less than spectacular version of the Barron Falls.

We headed back into Kuranda for lunch and visited the info center to see what was going on in this hopping metropolis. I’m sure you’ll be surprised to hear that one of the suggested activities was another hike, which turned out to be pleasant although not particularly noteworthy. The big event was when the lady at the counter complimented Dessa on her "lovely accent" (and she wasn’t the first). She, of course, was not too impressed with my accent but did ask. When I explained that I was Canadian and therefore didn’t have a beautiful southern drawl, she made a comment about our "inter-racial" marriage.

That afternoon we went to a butterfly sanctuary. Dessa was hoping we would be getting out of the heat but she was wrong! It was like a steam bath. The butterflies, however, were beautiful and the tour was quite informative. Despite the heat and humidity, we spent a couple hours inside enjoying the butterflies and taking pictures so prepare yourselves.

By Wednesday, Cyclone Nathan was heading our way, so it turned cloudy, windy and wet. Not great for a beach town but we didn’t complain (very much). We had had smooth seas and great weather for our live-aboard dive trip and we felt bad for the folks on the boat this week. The expectation was that Cyclone Nathan was going to cross right over Lizard Island (the mid week stop for the dive trip). With the wind churning up the sea, we hoped that their crossings were bearable and that they could still dive. We stayed inside reading and working on our pictures. In the afternoon, we went to the theater to see Focus. It was a good movie and seeing it in Australia was particularly entertaining. In one scene, Wil Smith tells a scantily dressed woman she should put on more clothes as there were Australians around and there was a reason those people had been sent there. The reaction was priceless.

Thursday morning we headed through more rain to drive north to Port Douglas. On the way, we headed back to Barron Falls to see if the rain had improved the water flow. What a difference 2 days and a nearby cyclone can make. Dessa took a very nice ‘after’ photo so you can judge for yourself.

It was still relatively early when we got to our room, so we went to check out the town. After 15 minutes we had seen half the town. We decided to save the other half for Friday in case it was still raining. Near the river, we found a nice little white church built in the early 1900’s. We went inside to find that the pulpit stood in front of a large open window with the beach, ocean and mountains in view - my kind of church. We found a park nearby with a kids play area and a swing set. While Dessa was on the swings, I noticed a warning sign about crocodiles about 10 feet away from the play area.

On the ocean side of town we found the same crocodile sign as well as one warning about stingers (Jelly Fish) in the water. The stinger sign came with a vinegar station for those who get stung. Very thoughtful! Even though Nathan had headed back out to sea, the wind was still strong, the ocean looked quite dangerous and there were piles of seaweed all over the beach. Dessa declined to go in for a quick swim.

It was raining the next day, so we headed back out to finish exploring and do a bit shopping. Although we found a few bargains on T-Shirts we had discovered all the highlights of Port Douglas on our previous days tour.

The sun finally came out on Saturday so we took off for Mossman Gorge. The aboriginals run the Mossman Gorge area and have established a very nice facility. The only cost is for a short 2km bus ride out to the trailhead. It was nice to be back outside and the hike around the gorge itself was great. We saw lots of trees, moss, vines and our biggest spider yet but no other wildlife. Hiking in the rainforest is a bit like scuba diving in that your enjoying the overall environment but you are searching for cool stuff to see. The Daintree proved much more reluctant to share her treasures than the ocean.

We were hoping to see cool bugs, birds, lizards, frogs, turtles, snakes and if we really got lucky, a Cassowary (a pre-historic Aussie version of an ostrich). So Sunday, with some more good weather we drove further north to Cape Tribulation. We stopped several times along the way to take hikes beginning with the Daintree Discovery Center. This place came with good recommendations on TripAdvisor and the facility was in very good shape but again we didn’t see much more than trees so we weren’t that impressed. They did provide lots of information along their short board walks through the forest. One of the interesting ones talked about the Aussie version of poison ivy – the Stinging Tree. If you touch it, the oil travels through your lymphatic system and causes severe pain for months with no known antidote.

Although the landscape changed with each hike, more swampy, more coastal, … we continued to see mostly tangles of trees and vines. Dessa did spot some small crabs and a couple of Bush Turkeys and I found a few butterflies. The further north we went, the hotter it got and the more the recent cyclone damage became obvious. By the time we came to the last trail, Dessa was considering staying in the car to wait but I had read that this trail was pretty good so she manned up and came along. This trail had lots of debris and trees down on the path. It was dark and kind of creepy and we did not see any other people at all. This is probably why we finally got lucky and stumbled on a Cassowary. We came around a bend and there it was right by the path. Dessa was excited but a little freaked out (we had heard warnings for days about not bothering them or getting too close. They have huge claws and can rip your guts out. They recommend you hold something in front of yourself if threatened by one so while Bill crept forward to get a better picture, I kept him between me and the Cassowary). We escaped unscathed when the giant bird finally stepped back into the forest. One step and he was practically invisible. Amazing given its size and the bright blue and red on its head and neck! It was a great way to end our day.

As we headed back to the airport in Cairns the next day, we saw a roadside sign that pointed to a WWII bombing site, so we detoured to go see it. We drove past it twice before noticing it. It was just a crude concrete sculpture of a bomb a few yards off the side of the road sitting in front of a cattle field. It was one of the very few bombs dropped on Australia by the Japanese. It was out in the country with nothing worth targeting anywhere within hundreds of miles. What were they thinking? Our flight was at 5pm, and it was only a 1-hour drive from Port Douglas, so we stopped at Hartley's Crocodile Farm. It was part amusement park, with a croc feeding show and a snake show and part crocodile farm. Salt Water Croc farming became legal in the 70’s after they were nearly hunted to extinction. Apparently a mature (7-8 foot) croc’s belly skin sells for ~$1000. The farm needs to sell roughly 2000 of them each year to break even but I figured they likely sold a lot more than that based on the size of their operation. Of course it takes 3-4 years before the skin is ready to be harvested. They also make money selling the meat and the upper skin for belts, boots, … The croc feeding was very interesting as was the snake show. They had some Koala’s but none that Dessa could hold, some Kookaburras and several Cassowaries. It was much more fun to see one while hiking than to see them in their paddocks.

It's back to Sydney for our last 2 weeks in Australia.

As always, higher resolution photos are available on Flikr:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/bill_and_ dessa/sets/

…Bill & Dessa