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Published: August 18th 2006
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In the rainforest
Us in the rainforest With the wedding a fresh happy memory it was time to get on with the travelling. Time to explore the Cairns area some more. Our first jaunt was to the nearby Sky Rail attraction. This is a cable car that runs out across the rainforest 8km (5 miles) to the small town of Kununda. We were going with our grooms women Gayle and Vics though they had opted to walk to the Sky Rail terminal from Palm Cove as their brochure had assured them it was about a 10 minute walk. As we were going from Ellis Beach we took Petunia. We passed them on the road coming out of Palm Cove but as we were aren’t insured to carry more than three people we couldn’t pick them up and after all it is only a 10 minute walk. After driving for another 12km (about 8 miles) we arrived at the terminal - it was obvious that the brochure was a liar, liar, pants on fire. So I dropped Lins at the terminal and went back to pick up the girls who had fair play made it as far as Clifton Beach (about a third of the way). We caught the
Coast up from Palm Cove
The coast is really beautiful at the top end first available cable car up to the Kununda. The tiket lady told us it was best to go straight there and then do the forest walks on the way back.
The gondola headed off up into the sky and the rainforest stretched below us. There were some amazing views and loads of birds and butterflies below. We finally arrived at Kununda and headed for the town. The town basically exists to sell things to people who come on the sky rail or the stream train which also heads down the mountain. Still it was a pleasant town with lots of didgeridoos and kangaroo skins for sale. There is also a wildlife park and a few attractions but as we had arrived late in the day and all too soon it was time to catch the Sky Rail home. On the way down there were a number of opportunities to stop and walk in the rainforest and learn a bit about the trees and aboriginals who lived in the area and how they built the dam and hydro-electric plant. And when a say a bit I mean about 5 minute walk, but hey we did get stretch our legs.
Port Douglas
You have no idea how long it took to get a picture with no-one in it! The next day we decided to head a bit further north towards the rainforest proper. We headed up some beautiful coastline towards Port Douglas. This was one of the beaches on our possible wedding lists so we were happy to see that although it was nice, it was way too crowded to have made a nice venue. We walked along the beach and then headed up for lunch. We decided to treat ourselves to a café lunch and headed to find somewhere low cost. That isn’t easy in Port Douglas as it is really set up for the country club and golfing fraternity. We found somewhere on the street that seemed to fit the bill. “Sit down and I’ll come take yer order” A rather scary woman with intense eyes, studs and tattoos said so we thought we better comply. We ordered some food and tucked in. “Is everything OK” The woman demanded “Yes lovely” “Would you say that is the best smoothy you’ve ever tasted?” “Sure” She seemed happy and we were able to leave with our lives.
We headed out of the town and a bit further north, the next destination, Mossman Gorge. This is on the
Fish
The water in Daintree is so clear fishing looks just too easy. edge of the Daintree Rainforest. We took a walk in the rainforest. Unlike Malaysia this was a proper tourist trail with clear signs and nice paths to walk down. Much more my style of walking. The forest is again really old and full of unique nature. As it was a bit busy I don’t think there was any chance of being eaten by a tiger (especially as there aren’t any tigers in Australia) but the scenery was just wonderful.
This was as far north as we went in Australia as any further and the road - well disappears so we headed back to Palm Cove for the night.
The next day we spent in Cairns itself mooching around the town and doing a bit of shopping. It’s a nice city with a compact centre and everything you needed. It even has a big Captain Cook on the Captain Cook Highway! The most important thing we did though was book a trip to the Great Barrier Reef.
When you are up in Cairns you simply can’t ignore the reef. We booked up on the Osprey V a medium sized boat that would enable us to snorkel, dive and go in semi-submersible, everything we wanted. The next morning it was up early to enjoy the day. The weather was still not playing ball and when we checked in, it struck again. The wind was too high for the submersible to sail -Arrgghh damn tropical weather.
On the boat we were asked to take our shoes off and we were issued with our fins and snorkels. We then headed down to find a seat. We sat with an Aussie couple and a German medical student and had a little chat. As we left port we got the usual safety talk. “It’s safer to walk on deck without shoes so could you all please take all shoes and thongs off - unless your British then please keep your thongs on!”
The boat was basically a large speed boat that had about 80 people on board and they were driving like one. We bounced across the waves and were soon at the first reef. We decided that diving wasn’t really for us and stuck to snorkelling and got in. The reef was amazing and the water as always a pleasant 23 degrees. The only problem really was the number of people. As you can imagine with 80 people in the water it was a tad cramped and the reef is starting to show some signs of the effect. There is lots of bleaching on the reef but it is still magnificent - I just wonder how much longer it will be. The water was also quite choppy which made swimming hard so we were soon tired and ready for our BBQ lunch - well this is Australia! After lunch we moved to another reef and it was time to get back in the water. The weather had improved and the reef was even more spectacular if that is possible. There was even talk about the submersible making an appearance though it didn’t come off. By the time we had finished snorkelling all over the reef we were definitely ready for home. The homeward trip was if anything faster than coming with the boat jumping over waves like we were racing. Inside our entertainment was being supplied by Elvis, one of the crew who was challenging us to musical trivia for the chance of winning a a beer from the bar. Unfortunately music trivia isn’t my thing so I was sober by the time we arrived back on shore - helpful since I was driving.
It was time to move on from Cairns and head on our Australian Adventure. Next stop Townsville, via the Atherton Tablelands.
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