This is NOT the photo I wanted but photo link appears broken!

We are currently driving to Mossman Gorge then on to COFFEE WORLD!! The next bit was typed last night ...

Sorry for long gaps between posts. The site asks for a photo first and I've had problems loading shots - it takes an age for each one to load and then we are out of internet range!

I had hoped to get one of Tim snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef up but suspect they are somehow locked. I'll keep trying …

I've completely lost track of the day and date - guessing I'm writing this bit on Thursday 8th Sept. We've been doing tourist stuff.

Monday 5th we caught the Skyrail up to Kuranda, and visited Birdworld. That was really good value. Tim played chasey with a Cassowary (it was the other side of a fence!). Tim was wearing a red T-shirt and a blue jacket - we wondered if the colours attracted it. There were heaps of birds - native and exotic - loose in a huge enclosure. Tim had all sort of birds eating out of his hands. I had an up close and personal encounter with a Macaw - those big (BIG) blue and yellow birds with huge beaks. Bit too close for my comfort! Very relieved when he (Eric) left my shoulder without removing my ear!

Kuranda otherwise very tourist oriented - catering to foreign travelers with opals, indigenous artifacts etc…

(Note for bird watch followers - there is a Wompoo Pigeon "wom - pooing" in the background as I type).

Tuesday 6th we went on a Reef Magic trip to the Great Barrier Reef. Booked in at 8.00am, boat left at 9.00. Reached their platform anchored at Moore Reef at 10.30 after a rather choppy trip out - lots of barf bags in use. (I didn't succumb, but felt the queasiest I ever have on a boat). (The wind was apparently 20 knots for anyone to whom that would mean anything). We lashed out and hired wetsuits - glad we did - the water was not warm, to say the least (24 degrees).

Tim stayed in almost the whole time we were there - only emerging for lunch and a trip on the semi-submersible. We saw a turtle when swimming together, Tim had his photo taken as he patted a large Maori Wrasse, we saw some reef sharks - fantastic day for all of us. Back to Cairns by 5.00pm.

Wednesday saw us at the mechanic for an overdue oil change, then back to our campsite to get the towels we had left on the line (no I didn't forget them). Then we relocated north to Noah Beach.

Bit of a "moments like these you need Minties" moment followed. We reached Noah Beach after a stressful drive along a narrow winding road interspersed with "Recent Cassowary Sighting" signs, nasty rock-studded speed humps so we wouldn't turn any Cassowaries into speed humps and one lane bridges always just around bends. Upon arrival at the Noah Beach camp ground there is a sign advising that sites had to be pre-booked by phone and guess what? The nearest phone was 8km back along the road we had just come up! Or an unknown distance ahead at Cape Tribulation. We were not happy campers at that point.

On the up side however, we did manage to secure a site for 2 nights, and there is a family here from Fremantle with two kids aged 11 and 12 that Tim is having a great time with.

In addition to the Wompoo, there are Perenties, a Collared Kingfisher, Black Butcherbirds, Brush Turkeys, Orange-footed Scrub Fowl and a yellow eared honeyeater I need to see more closely. I was thrilled to lure the butcher bird in by mimicking its call.

Love to all - WeThree