On our first full day we went on an organised trip into the hills. We started off on a lovely old train that took us up to the arty town on Kuranda via hillside views and waterfalls.
When we arrived we treated ourselves to a guided tour around a rainforest in an Army duck. This was fascinating and Gary the guide was very informative.
Our route down was on a cable car that took us above the canopy of the forest looking down into gorges. Very exciting, as was the whole day, though I need a few years to acclimatise to the weather!!
The next day we decided to revisit the main town which is a fun seaside town with lots of shops and restaurants. The only weird thing is that everyone has to swim in a large pool (like a lido) next to the beach as the sea was full of poisonous jelly fish. Why? May as well go elsewhere! So Gordon suggested we go on a nice little boat trip up the river to do a bit of croc spotting. Oh my God, never again. I am not the best of sailors but being alone in a noisy boat in a very wide river with no-one else in sight; being soaked by a huge rain storm; and the ferocity of the waves (about 2 foot high) as we made our way back towards the harbour at the mouth of the inlet made it all a never do again trip. Mind you back on dry land we decided we had had a good (though frightening) time. We saw no crocs, but the boat man did say it was the wrong time of day; wrong tide time; and wrong weather for them!! The route map looked like very pleasant jaunt up the river - not a trip into the heart of darkness.
Here are some of the endangered flying foxes that live in the fig trees in Cairns town centre - no mention of the in the guide books!!
We hired a car and drove north along the Cooks Highway which we felt is as good as all the other coastal routes we have been on. We went as far as Daintree where we went on an organised boat trip to see crocodiles….and WE DID!! Lovely rolling hills around wide rivers with fields in between and rainforests in the background. On our way back we went for a walk in the tropical rainforest (The Jungle)at Mossman Gorge where you were able to go in the water for a soak. I did and it was great - makes a change from being soaked by either rain or sweat as I have been so far!
On our last day before we left Cairns we woke to thunder. The weather further south in Brisbane has been dreadful with storms wrecking buildings and cars resulting in millions of dollars of damage. As we set off the rain started and fell so hard we could hardly see where we were going. We decided that today was going to be a walk in the car! Mind you we did see a few interesting things. The curtain fig was a huge tree that puts out roots from a host tree which it knocks over to rest on another tree. It then puts down more roots so the whole tree is really made from 3. Later on our wildlife list was increased by a duck billed platypus which was actually more exciting then the crocs! A great end to an interesting day.
The label says it all!!
fabulous tropiacl flowers and trees
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