Fresh and Green All Around

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Geo: -16.9254, 145.775

Rusty's Market was out first destination this morning. We found an abundance of fresh fruit and vegetable stalls. They were selling the usual apples, oranges, grapes, pineapples, watermelon, corn, tomatoes, onions, potatoes, celery, cabbage, and cauliflower. A difference we noticed was halves and quarters of cabbages were available as well as halves of a cauliflower. Several stalls were selling oriental lettuces, pea pods, and cabbage. Most of the stalls had samples out of all the fruits they were selling, We tasted quite a few of the regular fruits but also tried a frog skinned or toad melon. It was juicy and sweet, along the line of a honey dew melon. Two fruits we are not familiar with were the custard apple and the dragon fruit. They were very expensive so as a result there were no samples of these.There were also bread, flower, and egg vendors. Eggs were $4.80 a dozen for large eggs.Also included in the market were the merchants selling jewelry, coffee beans, garden plants, and fish, both fresh and frozen. It was a very busy place early in the morning.
After a stop for a late breakfast we caught a bus to the Cairns Botanical Gardens. The garden plays an important role in the preservation in the world's flora. It contains several fresh water lakes providing an environment for plants, turtles and water birds. It also has boardwalks throughout the rainforest. The boardwalk trails take about four to five hours to complete. It has a visitor center with colorful interpretive displays explaining the flora and reptiles in the garden. Within the gardens you can find native and exotic plants including palms, gingers, heliconias, bamboo, fruit trees, flowering trees shrubs and vines. We chose to follow a path to Centenary Lake.

We met two other couples while waiting for the bus to return to our area of Cairns. One was from New Zealand and the other from a different area of Australia. It's always interesting to exchange information about our homelands and everyday life at home. We shared information about sights we've seen here and other travels we have taken in the past.
Tonight after a steak dinner we visited the swimming lagoon for one last look. We visited the night market and walked the Esplanade which was very busy since this is a Friday night.

We returned to our hotel then since it was starting to drizzle. It's the first rain we have seen in our 21 days in Australia. Tomorrow morning we are heading home.

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