Advertisement
Published: July 21st 2006
Diving on the Reef
A sunny day on the reef resulted in an underwater visibility of 20 m. It was like swimming in a fishtank.
Air temperature : 21 C Water temperature: 21 CAfter a tough second term at school with reports and portfolios nagging us right until the end, this holiday was very much needed!
We departed on July 1st for north Queensland. Arriving in Cairns in the early evening, we were transported an hour further north to Port Douglas to the Radisson Treetops Resort. Although the resort wasn't directly in downtown Port Douglas, the beautiful setting and quiet environment was just what we wanted!
On day 1, we decided what tours we were going to do over the next few days, booked them with the tour companies and headed out to the beach. Port Douglas is at the end of Four-Mile beach... and we walked about half of it from the resort into town. The weather was beautiful - sunny and low to mid 20s. We were used to waking up to 12 degrees in our bedroom - so this was a nice the tropical change (especially for the middle of winter!) We toured the town and explored the Sunday markets by the Marina. It is a very nice little village.
Day 2 - time to head out to the Great Barrier Reef. We loaded up on pharmaceutical motion
Cassowary Sign near Cape Tribulation
The top sign was originally a speed bump warning but some clever person turned it into the "after". The original defaced sign was destroyed (flood or something) but the local council asked the vandal to once more put his mark on the new sign. sickness tablets and ginger and were picked up and dropped off at the marina for a 9am departure. We decided to do this tour with Quicksilver on their SilverSonic high speed catamaran. The boat was beautiful - huge lower and upper decks and fully equipped with everything for snorkelling and diving. They even provided morning tea (coffee, tea and biscuits) before we headed out on the open water. The weather was great - sunny and very little chop on the water (thank goodness!)
Getting out to the Agincourt Ribbon Reefs took about an hour and a half. Once we were anchored, Tom got all suited up for his dive and Sarah got ready to snorkel. We both saw some beautiful coral and colourful fish. After about 45 minutes at this reef, we all loaded back on the boat and moved on to our second stop… more diving and snorkelling! After that - a full seafood buffet lunch. The snorkellers were encouraged to get back to the boat early after the second swim because the divers always eat so much… and it’s true! Tom has never eaten so much at a mid-day meal in his life! Once lunch was over,
Crocodile comouflage
Some crocodiles look like logs floating on the water. This guy looked like lettuce, which is good if he was planning on eating a vegetarian. we were dropped off for a third underwater adventure further down the reef. Overall, the underwater sights were beautiful - lots of different corals, and lots of sea life. And Sarah managed to keep all food IN her stomach for the entire day!
Day 3 - we had done the reef, so now it was time to do the rainforest! We were picked up early by our tour guide, Ben for our 4x4 adventure. There were only 3 others on the tour with us, and our guide was extremely knowledgeable and keen. Once again, we had a perfect day - bright blue skies and sunshine, and even the tallest mountains (hills) were free from cloud-cover, which rarely happens. Our first stop was at the Daintree River for a wildlife spotting cruise. We met up with several other tours and this point and loaded into a big open motorboat. And did we see wildlife! We saw a total of FOUR estuarine crocodiles (they are no longer called saltwater crocs). Some were resting in the water and others were basking on the shore, but none of them actually moved. One was huge - not just long, but fat too! We also
Lone Soldier
These mangrove trees on the beach at Stingray Bay are called "lone soldiers" ... for obvious reasons. saw tree snakes, a python, and lots of birds. Once finished this cruise, we had to take our car across the river on an 18-car ferry to continue our drive deeper into Daintree Park - all untouched and protected rainforest. The roads were suprisingly dark because of the thick treetop canopy.
Our lunch stop was at a small open-air restaurant in the middle of the rainforest. We wandered a bit along fresh-water Cooper Creek before eating. We saw a small turtle and a tiny musky-rat kangaroo and… just as we were sitting down to eat, two Cassowaries walked through - dad and chick. Earlier in the day, we were told that they are so rare, Ben was only giving us a 10% chance of seeing one during the day… and here were two! These birds are endangered and are incredibly huge and colourful. The adult we saw was about one and a half metres tall, with its brilliant blue and red head with it’s bony crest on top. Absolutely marvellous! Once back on the road, we started the 4x4 section of our tour. We left the bitumen roads and continued north along very rough tracks and through riverbeds to
Relaxing in Port Douglas
We spent an afternoon reading under the palms. Stingray Bay. Here, the beach seemed to go on forever! There were many lone mangrove trees growing out in the middle of the beach rather than along the edge! We continued along the Bloomfield Track for a quick visit to Cape Tribulation beach. As we walked from the carpark to the beach, three cassowaries crossed our path! This time, it was a dad and two chicks. One crazy tourist got up close and personal (within a metre or two) - the cassowary looked like he was about to get angry, but decided to move along. The cassowaries even sat down for a bit and pecked at the ground. Unfortunately, some of the tourists continued to badger them instead of just sitting back to watch, and these majestic birds headed back into the bush.
Our next stop was at a private picnic area where we tried some different tropical fruits for afternoon tea (can you just imagine what Sarah though of this treat?) Back on the road, we ran into a traffic jam - two more cassowaries! This time, dad and chick were picking at some roadkill in the middle of the street. Seven cassowaries in one day - a
4 Mile Beach
6.44 km beach as seen from Port Douglas. new record for our tour guide, even! What an incredible day - perfect weather, great guide, and awesome wildlife!
How incredible is this… two world heritage sites in two days!
Day 4 - no plans for the day. We slept in, and then took the bus into town. We walked the main street and walked up to a lookout. Some cloud cover came in and even with a little breeze, it was very comfortable. We found a comfortable spot to sit and read for the afternoon and watched the sun set over the Daintree.
Day 5 - Kuranda. While waiting to be picked up this day, we conversed with Bozo - the resident sulphur-crested cockatoo at the resort. Bozo liked chewing on my camera bag, but when I got too close, he promptly took a bit of my shirt… and broke a bead right off (sorry, Mom!) Bold bird! We were picked up and driven just down the road to the wildlife sanctuary for “Breakfast with the Birds.” We actively had to protect our juice, jam and other sweets from the very bold lorikeets. At one point, Tom had at least 4 lorikeets perched on his arms,
worm mounds
4 mile beach was covered with these worm-like sand mounds. shoulders and head! All for his strawberry jam! We were surrounded by all sorts of birds - herons, egrets, cockatoos, ibis etc. After breakfast, we had a short bit of time to tour the three different habitats - rainforest, wetlands and grasslands. We even saw a kangaroo with a little joey in her pouch!
After the wildlife sanctuary, we stopped briefly at an opal dealer (where I bought some earrings) and then we were bussed to Cairns where we caught the Sky Rail - a six-seater gondola over the mountains! Tom and I were joined by one other, so there were only three of us in the gondola. The entire trip took over an hour, and we had really wonderful views all along the way. We stopped twice at stations part way, and had short walks along the mountain rainforest boardwalks. At one stop, we enjoyed beautiful views of Barronfalls and the entire Barron gorge. Once we arrived in Kuranda, we walked through the village and had a quick lunch. Afterward, we browsed through the market stalls. The entire village is built around tourism and the shops. Once the last train leaves at 3:30, the entire village must shut
Which one is the bozo?
For the past 15 yrs, Bozo, the sulphur-crested cockatoo has hung out in the lobby of the Treetops Radisson. He knows how to say, 'scratch, scratch'. down!
The trip along the Scenic Railway back to Cairns was fascinating. This railway was originally built to bring supplies to miners in the mountains - and began service in 1891! It was a very dramatic trip along cliff faces, through tunnels and down extremely steep sections (up to 45 degrees!) Once back at sea level, we were bussed back to Port Douglas where we promptly checked in with Bozo the cockatoo… he seemed no worse for wear after his plastic snack this morning! 😉
post script: We learned a few new Aussie phrases while up North. Before attempting a task (easy or difficult, it doesn't matter) you have to say, "How easy is that?". Also, similes are never completed as in "that's a big fish. It's as long as." (emphasis on the second "as") or "that shoe is as smelly as.". Essentially, just fill in the following blank: "that _______ is as ________ as."
Advertisement
Tot: 0.061s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 15; qc: 22; dbt: 0.0247s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
