Cairns

For the past three day’s we have been in Cairns, Queensland.   It is a three hour flight from Sydney and 1200 miles.  Although it is north, it is closer to the equator and much warmer than Sydney.  It is considered to be a tropical area.  We have the rainforest on one side and the Great Barrier Reef on the other side of us.

On our first day, we picked up our rental car and I started they process of getting used to driving on the other side of the road.  So far, it is going well.  Living in New Zealand for 5 months (25 years ago) helps a bit.  Having GPS on my phone is of great assistance, also.

Since we had an early start, but wanted to see something, we headed up into the rainforest to a local swimming hole called the Crystal Cascades.  Since it is running fresh water, it was crocodile and jellyfish free (very important around here). 

Croc free swimming hole

Later, we walked down the waterfront esplanade and had a nice dinner.  Cairns is a much smaller town and has a very comfortable feel.

The next day, we headed back to the rainforest.  We headed for a tourist town of Kuranda and went for a short rainforest boat ride.  We saw our first crocodile on the tour, a very small freshwater croc.  Apparently, they are much less aggressive than their saltwater cousins and not a danger to humans. 

The Australian "bush" 

 After the tour, we continued on the savanah like plains of the Atherton Tablelands.  Along the route we saw our first kangaroo in the wild.  We stopped for a nice lunch at the local roadhouse and then went to a lake in a dormant volcano crater.

 There was a 2 mile hike around the crater that we decided to walk.  I did not bring my camera on the hike, but should have.  About half way around the lake on the trail, I saw a snake on the trail.  It was black with red belly and 4-5 feet long.  Since we wanted to finish the hike and he was not going anywhere, we tossed some branches near the snake.  After many attempts, the snake moved off the trail and we quickly passed the spot.  We looked up the snake when we got back to our motel and learned that it was indeed a red bellied black snake and very venomous.

Yesterday, we walked up the the local botanical gardens, which were very interesting.  

We followed that up with a trip the beach.  It was a quaint and quiet beach.  We had to swim in a netted off area, because it is going into summer and it is “stinger season” (jellyfish).

Today, we are heading an hour up the coast to Port Douglas for more sea and rainforest adventures.

Julie enjoying her morning coffee 

Despite the danger crocodiles, snakes and jellyfish we're having a safe and wonderful adventure.

It is Thursday morning here and we would like to wish you all a happy Thanksgiving!