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Published: November 9th 2008
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Here we are at our penultimate stop in Australia - North Queensland (NQ), Cairns where we are staying at Palm Cove (one of Cairns northern beaches). NQ and Cairns is renowned for its wet tropics region with the tropical rainforest and quite magnificent beaches along with some rugged terrain, but first we had to deal with a country that virtually closed down - for a few hours at least.
Similar to our Grand National, and the Gold Cup of course (for those that live in Cheltenham), Australians have a fondness for betting on the horses as well. The renowned horse race in Australia is the Melbourne Cup which was run while we were here in Cairns and it was as if time stood still. Many of the shops shut with only the pubs and Tabs (bookies) remaining open. Thankfully the queue in the Tabs was too long so we avoided ‘losing our shirts’ and betting on a horse that would not have won. Just in case you’re wondering the race ended with a photo finish and winner was the horse ‘Viewed’.
We are staying in a small and picturesque place called Palm Cove. If the name conjures up images
of those small, idyllic and usually American places that you see in the movies; then you wouldn’t be far wrong - think Amity as in ‘Jaws’ the movie, but without the shark. Albeit that swimming in the sea here is not without risk from the local wildlife and this includes sharks! At first, we thought the view of the beach appeared a little spoilt by this rubber, tubular, rectangle placed inshore from the beach and midway into the sea until we read the life guard’s beach report and read the local warning signs - dangerous waters ahead! Yes, this rubber border was for our safety - it’s called a Stinger Net and was placed in the water the weekend we arrived. The stinger season runs from November through to May and the Stinger Net protects bathers from jellyfish along with crocodiles and sharks. Of course we heeded the warnings and swam within the Net, not willing to risk our lives or limbs just in case the locals became a little territorial or hungry!
As with much of our trip in Australia, our adventure in NQ provided us with scenic panorama views via a train journey on the Kuranda Scenic
Railway. The train winds its way up through ravines, waterfalls and mountain lookouts taking us to the village of Kuranda which is situated in the rainforest. Here we were really fortunate to take a river boat tour (boat carries 30+ people but as it was a quiet day there was only me, Alan and the driver (or Captain?) on board. As part of our ‘VIP’ boat tour we were able to feed the fish and turtles - gosh they really fought to reach the bread first followed by the unique sight of seeing a wild freshwater crocodile sunning itself on a fallen tree across the water - crikey! Fortunately we survived our crocodile encounter and managed to return safely to our quaint beach resort via the Skyrail (cable car/way trip) by gliding over the rainforest canopy.
Of course no trip to Cairns (or Australia for that matter) would be complete without a visit to the Great Barrier Reef (which is larger than the total area of the UK). After having watched the film ‘Finding Nemo’ at least once (or perhaps twice), it was pretty exciting to think that we might actually see ‘Nemo’ or one of his friends or
relatives. We were not disappointed. The Reef was literally alive with colour and white sand, seen through crystal clear water. It was perfect to be able to snorkel and explore this underwater world. We saw an abundance of marine life from soft coral to starfish through to really vibrant and brightly coloured fish. It really was a quite wondrous sight.
Yet another reason for Aussies to boast about their country, and one more amazing experience to reminisce about after our holiday. Which reminds me that our final stop in Australia is next - Darwin …
STOP PRESS - Glad we’re leaving Palm Cove today as it was reported on the local tv news channel that a wild crocodile was spotted swimming along our beach yesterday - thankfully we were at the Reef so it didn’t affect us! :-)
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