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Published: January 28th 2007
Barron Falls
As you can see, there is not much water to "fall".Well, I arrived in sunny Australia. It was a grueling 30 hours of travel, but I had a nice 2 days of relaxation (and catch up on jet lag) at my aunt and uncle’s house outside of Sydney before I hopped another plane to tropical north Queensland. I chose to base myself in Cairns, a city of about 100,000, due to its proximity to the Great Barrier Reef and the rainforest. The landscape was very different than that of Sydney. You wouldn’t know that the country is in its longest drought ever by the lush vegetation surrounding the area. And it was humid - like being in Bermuda in the summer!
I spent 5 nights in Cairns and not once actually spent anytime in the city. There is so much to do, I was on a different day tour each day. Due to the vastness of the country, it is quite difficult to get around without a car, so I opted to spend a few bucks and take some tours. I thought it was worth it, as I learned a lot that I wouldn’t have if I had done it myself. My first stop was a small mountain village called
Rainforest
Views from the Skyrail to Kuranda. Kuranda, famous for its markets. It is up the mountain and surrounded by rainforest. You could take the public bus up for $2, but I spent the extra money to get some scenery. I took the Skyrail up, which goes over the rainforest and provides great views. I took the scenic railway down, which allows you to enjoy it from a different viewpoint. Along the way, we passed Barron Falls, which unfortunately did not have a lot of water to “fall” due to the drought.
My next excursion took me on another tour of the rainforest. We headed up to the Daintree Rainforest and a small (and I use the term loosely) town called Cape Tribulation. The area is a Word Heritage Area and is well protected, and very lush. Cape Tribulation was named by Captain Cook after his ship ran aground nearby. Our tour included a wander through a rainforest habitat, with birds, kangaroos, koalas and crocodiles. We ended our day with a one hour cruise of the Daintree River, croc watching. We spotted two - one alpha male named Scarface and a juvenile named Lucky.
On day three I finally found myself on a boat heading
to the Great Barrier Reef. I spent the day snorkeling on two different reefs. There were a lot of beautiful fish, but unfortunately no turtles, and as funny as this sounds, no sharks. As much as I wouldn’t want to come face to face with one, it would be neat to say I saw a shark on the Great Barrier Reef. Oh well!
On my last day, I spent the day in the small town of Port Douglas, about an hour north of Cairns. It is a quaint little town with a harbor and 4 mile beach. It attracts people with money and has some pricey resorts. I kept my eyes open for Matthew McConaughy and Kate Hudson, who are filming a movie in the area, but to my dismay did not have any sightings.
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