Cannot believe we are already on our last stop ...Cairns. We left Magnetic Island in the pouring rain and spent a few hours in the Reef Aquarium in Townsville to see what we missed seeing in the ocean ! Rather impressive and we are still hopeful that we will see it all au natural. The drive from Townsville to Cairns was uneventful, even in the driving rain. Miles and miles of sugar plantations.
My interest in graveyards got the better of me in Ayr, where we stopped shortly, as there were so many huge mausoleums , photographs and graves fully tiled with mosaics. Looking at the names, there seem to be many Italian and Irish immigrants in this area, who have brought their traditions along with them.
We spent our first evening in Cairns walking along the Esplanade and marvelling at all the activities that are provided, lagoon pools, waterpark, volleyball fields, amazing skating park for bicycles and skaters (just awesome - especially watching some really talented youngsters !), adventure park for kids, exercise machines and areas, running and cycling track and then the usual picnic and braai areas with beautiful lawns and gardens. The signs on the boardwalk, warning of crocodiles below the boardwalk and on the mudflats certainly limit your enthusiasm to go down to the beach area , and so the alternatives provided are really great !
Today ....surprise, surprise ...another rainy day , so it was an opportunity to explore the hinterland and hippie town of Kuranda. The Kuranda Railway (1886 - 1891) and the Bowen Hydro Electric Scheme (around 1936) are two incredible engineering successes and examples of the fortitude of the pioneers in this area. The walk to the impressive Bowen Falls is along a beautifully constructed boardwalk through impressive rainforest. Here we had another "once in a lifetime" experiences (like seeing the avalanche on the glacier in Milford Sound). As we walked past one of the gigantic trees, which was covered in creepers, we heard a loud creaking sound. By the time we worked out where the sound was coming from, we saw this huge tree split in half and crash down into the forest taking a few smaller trees with it. What a moment ! Oddly enough, just moments before, we heard several birds making a huge racket...wonder if they anticipated the huge crash. As we walked off, a huge dark blue shimmering butterfly flew across the boardwalk...just beautiful.
Kuranda is a pretty little town, home to many artists looking for an alternative lifestyle. It looks like the hippie melting pot ...I have never seen so many middle-aged people wearing tie-dyed clothing, with dreads and tattoos (lots of tattoos!).
Before driving back to Cairns we visited a coffee-plantation established approx 25 years ago by a family who immigrated from Tanzania in 1978, where they left behind the family coffee-plantation. Their perseverance is amazing, as they arrived with nothing, built up 2 coffee plantations only to lose them each after 5 years just at the time they would get in their first harvest, and then becoming successful on the third time. They created the first automated coffeeberry harvester, as generally coffeebeans are harvested by hand, which is not an option in Australia. The coffee, as well as the coffee liqueurs were really tasty. Interesting afternoon.