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Published: April 17th 2009
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Monday 13th April - Working our way up to Cairns. Had a very wet journey - stopped at Ma:Mu to do a treetop walk through the Rainforest. This walkway had been created following the cyclone in 1998 and no additional trees had been felled. Continued in the rain and stopped at a lovely free camping area at Rocky Creek Memorial Ground outside Mareeba. This was set up in 1995 to commemorate the 3 field hospitals that were set up during WW2 for the Australian/New Zealand wounded troops. The Atherton Tableland was a major training area and at one stage 300,000 troops were based in the area. Had one of those random meetings - one of the other 3 campervans had 2 kiwis who had been on the road for 10 months. Pete and his wife had started off house sitting in Australia for 4 months before equipping their own campervan. Really interesting guy whose next trip will be to Napal to climb Everest!
Tuesday 14th April - Arrived at Cairns by lunchtime and returned our trusty campervan (which now had a dent after parking in Cairns! - never did find out who did it). Made our way to our hotel
for the next 3 nights - when we checked in discovered that we had been upgraded to a Studio room i.e. one with its own kitchen and balcony - and bliss it had a big bath as well as a shower - so we enjoyed the luxury for a few days. Cairns is a beautiful city - vibrant, lively and very Mediterranean. Ended the day with a lovely meal on the balcony of a restaurant overlooking the sea. Had trips booked for the next 2 days which we had arranged before we left the UK.
Wednesday 15th April - Up early as we were being picked up at 8.15 for our day trip to the Great Barrier Reef. Caught the catamaran from Port Douglas which took us to the Outer Reef - one and half hours away. When we got there it was a question of dressing in a lycra anti-stinger (jelly fish) suit, getting mask, snorkel and fins to fit and then getting used to the equipment just off the pontoon. After lunch (no time for us to eat) it was an hour’s snorkelling in a small group with one of the two marine biologists. This was fabulous,
the coral had so many shapes and colours together with hundreds of colourful fish of all shapes and sizes. Snorkelling was a new experience for Lyn and she took to it like the proverbial duck to water. As we were both in the over 50’s club we also had to wear wetsuits which meant that she couldn’t sink even if she tried! All too soon it was back to the catamaran to return to the mainland. Great trip but really not enough time for us to make the most of all the opportunities.
Thursday 16th April - Up even earlier for a 7.15am start as we were off to see Cape Tribulation and Danetree National Park. We had a really good tour guide who was really knowledgeable about the history and the fauna and flora of the area. On the way we stopped at the Rainforest Habitat Wildlife Sanctuary which was excellent. Lots of different marsupials, wallabies, kangaroos and koalas plus numerous birds and a few crocodiles. Although this is a sanctuary it was more like a conservation area. They also provided breakfast! This has been our first organised coach tour and it came as a bit of a
shock to be on and off the coach for specific photo opportunities after our relaxed random wanderings! The good side is that you got a lot of information from the tour guide. In Mossman Gorge (our next stop) we found snakes and dragon lizards as well as huge mounds which are the nests of brush turkeys all in their natural habitat. Back on the coach to Coconut Beach for a BBQ lunch in a luxury resort - the sort that we are beginning to get used to. Coconut beach has palm trees coming right down to the sea and pure white sand with hardly anybody on it. Back on the coach, across the Danetree River to Cape Tribulation and then on to a boat for croc spotting on the river itself. Saw a 3M female crocodile - the estuarine sort which can be found 150 miles out to sea. Its brought home how this environment is one that belongs to the crocodiles as only a few months ago a 5yr old boy was taken by a crocodile in this very same river. We had extra company on the boat, a green tree snake came along for the ride! Another great
Cairns seafront sign!
Not the usual holiday sign day - so we are going to post this Blog and away to bed as tomorrow we fly to Alice Springs!
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