Week Two - last day in Cairns

One of the first things that William noticed while we drove from the Cairns airport to Trinity Beach was the go-carting place. Finally, at the end of the week, we took him to "have a go". Here are William and Ian after their first ride on Thursday evening.

On our last day of vacation, we stayed in Cairns. Unfortunately we didn't know that it was a public holiday ("Show Day" when everyone goes to the local exhibition/fair) so many things in town were closed. Oh well, that meant more time at the playground and esplanade, and another trip back to the go-carts....The Esplanade has a beautiful man made lagoon that you can swim or play in. Here are a few views.....

On our second trip to the go-carts, Alan and Calum joined in on the fun.

Ian and William......

Here, Alan and Calum are sneaking up on Ian and William......

Here is a shot of one of many many cane fields. The cane/sugar industry is huge in Australia. We were there during one of their harvesting seasons.......stinky!

The evening of our last day, The Lalande/Biosvert, Wylie/Hawker and Anderson families all got together for supper.

Here are the younger kids - William, Calum and Abigail.....

And here are the bigger kids - Dominique and Maryline Lalande.....

Here are Julie Hawker and Ian hamming it up for the camera...

Early the next day we headed back to Canberra.....sigh!......

Week Two - Daintree Rainforest

On Thursday, we headed to the Daintree Rainforest and Cape Tribulation, a little more than two hours north of Trinity Beach. To get there, we had to cross the Daintree River on small ferry/barge.

After the short crossing we made our way to the Daintree Discovery Centre, an incredible (and award-winning) eco-tourism centre that allows you to safely explore and experience the rainforest floor and canopy through walkways, boardwalks and a 5 story tower. Here is William as we are beginning our tour. He is wearing one of the audio sets that explains everything we are looking at along the walk.

The Daintree Rainforest encompasses approximately 1200 sq. km. It is the largest block of tropical rainforest in Australia and is one of the most complex eco-systems on earth. From a total of 19 primitive flowering plant families on earth, 12 of them are found in the Daintree. It contains over 30% of Australia's frogs, marsupial and reptile species, 65% of Australia's bat and butterfly species and 20% of its bird species. The Kuku Yalangi people occupied this land for many thousands of years. (Daintree Discovery Centre Interpretive Guide).

Although this centre is a refuge/haven for such a large number of species (animals, birds, butterflies, reptiles) we didn't actually see much that day other than the trees. We could hear birds all around us but they were very difficult to sight. I did see one butterfly, but it wasn't the "Ulysses Blue", which the area is so well known for.

There are over 150 species of trees in the Daintree Rainforest. Note the twisted "vines" that grow around and up the trunk of another tree - very interesting!

This is just one of the many fern varieties in the rainforest.

After the Rainforest Dicsovery Centre and a yummy packed lunch, we continued north to Cape Tribulation, the point where explorer Captain James Cook (who achieved the first European contact with the eastern coastline of Australia) struck coral reef in 1770, writing in his diary "here began all our troubles...". Keep in mind that the further north we travel, the narrower and slower the travelling gets. (In fact, the road to Cape Tribulation has only been "sealed" in the last few years.) Despite this, there are many tourist accommodations along the way and quite a bit of tourist traffic on the road.

Walking from our car to the beach at Cape Tribulation, we came across this mangrove bog. The picture doesn't do it justice, but it reminded us of some of the creepy settings in "Lord of the Rings"

Thankfully July is not stinger season. To the left you can see the top of a bottle just inside the metal tube. This is a bottle of vinegar, which is used to treat stinger "stings".

So here it is, Cape Tribulation - looking north...

...Looking south....

It was a very cloudy and windy day....

...but that's not enough to stop a good go at footy (yet again!)...

Funnily enough, we bumped into our friends Alan and Julie and their kids Calum and Abigail. (They had left Trinity Beach earlier than we had so had managed to travel further north than us, where they saw a cassowary along the side of the road - an amazing find!. Cassowary's are large birds that are related to emus. They have a very distinctive blue neck and a hard "beak" of sorts on the top of their heads.) We had a quick visit on the beach then headed off for ice cream! Later that evening, when we had returned to Trinity Beach, we all went out for supper together at a local restaurant. The food and company were great!

Winter Holiday, Week Two - Atherton Tablelands

The Great Barrier Reef had been exciting and exhausting so on Wednesday, day five, we took it easy. We headed upward and inland once again; this time by car past Kuranda into the Atherton Tablelands. This area – also known as the Cairns Highlands – is known for its coffee, tea, wineries and waterfalls. The scenery was spectacular. Here is a taste of it.

The view from Halloran Hill in Atherton, looking to the south

The following pics of the tablelands were taken at a lookout near Willaa Willaa, looking to the north - beautiful...








































There are those handsome boys again!











The drive back to Cairns and Trinity Beach was beautiful and spectacular as well. While the descent down the escarpment itself (in terms of height) must have been the same as from Kuranda, this descent was much longer. It was 19 kilometres long! Poor Ian all he did was turn the steering wheel riiiigggghhhhhttttt, then leffffffttttt, then riiigggghhhhtttt, then lefffftttttt, and so on and so on. Boy, I could have used some of that anti-nausea medication at that point! Sorry we have no pictures of this, but there are no safe stopping places along the very steep and narrow roads down the escarpement.

Winter Holiday - Great Barrier Reef continued

Here are some of the fish that we saw on our dives. These photos were supplied by the tour company.





a school of blue green chromis

















Pacific Double Saddled Butterfly fish

















Semicircle Angelfish













Spangled Emporer






















Sea Turtle

















and last but not least, Clown Fish. Ian saw one of these on his last dive!

Winter Holiday, Week Two - Great Barrier Reef

Tuesday (day four) was a very special day – we headed to the Great Barrier Reef! From the day we booked our trip to Cairns (in April), William had been adamant and steadfast in his position that he would not go snorkelling at the Great Barrier Reef and there would be nothing we could say or do to change his mind. But luckily for us, once we were in Cairns and he saw the brochure pictures of the boats, the crystal clear water and the colourful fish, he changed his mind – “oh, I can do that.”

We made the trip with the Wylie/Hawker family (from the UK) and the Lalande/Boisvert family (the other Canadian family at Staff College). It was an early start to the day. We met up at the jetty in Cairns by 7:30 am, at which time I promptly took some anti-nausea medication to avoid the experience I had during my 1991 trip to the reef! William wasn’t so keen on taking any medication, which in hind sight wasn’t the best decision. His little belly didn’t feel that great for the first leg of the trip. Luckily Ian has good sea legs! Here we are getting onto our boat and here is the Quicksilver “Silverswift” catamaran.

































The Silverswift took us to two different areas of the outer Great Barrier Reef for three separate “dives”. First we stopped at the Milln Reef, which was about a one and a half hour ride away from Cairns. This is where William took his first dip in the GBR! It was great! After safety instructions from the crew everyone got suited up in wet suits (very helpful in terms of buoyancy), goggles, flippers and snorkels (a lifejacket and noodle as well in William’s case). Then we jumped in. If anyone has heard about my experience snorkelling in 1991, you’ll know that I had great difficulty (and huge anxiety) breathing through a snorkel but finally managed to swim around and look at the reef and fish with the help of a much older gentleman. Well, this time was much better. With William between us we swam around, hand in hand, for around 30 minutes. It was a bit of an overcast day so the colors of the reef weren’t as brilliant as they would have been on a sunny day, but the view was great. We saw lots and lots of very colourful fish, sea cucumbers and we even saw a sea turtle – dude! (a little reference to the sea turtles in “Finding Nemo”!). It was also windy so the water was quite choppy which meant that we bobbed up and down a lot as we tried to swim along; it was hard work!






Proud papa.....






















Proud mama....




















After the first “dive” (we didn’t dive, we snorkelled) we had a buffet lunch on board while heading to another area of the outer reef called the Flynn Reef. When we got there, we geared up (not very quickly I might add) and jumped in all over again. The conditions (cloud cover, wind, choppy water) were similar at the second site, but we saw a larger variety of fish and coral there. We even had our picture taken underwater by the ship’s photographer. (Take a very close look at me. I’m smiling; this after strict instructions by the photographer to not smile when/if she points the camera at you. When you smile, you take in water! I guess that natural instinct to “smile for the camera” got the better of me!)








The trip would have normally involved a third stop at another area of the reef but given the weather and water conditions that day, the crew decided to return to a different area of the Milln Reef for the third dive. William and I decided to sit this one out – by this time we were both quite cold.
























Ian, the Lalandes and Wylies all went for the third dive and had a fantastic time. The sun started to come out so the colors underwater got a little brighter. Here are a few pictures of the Wylie/Hawker family getting suited up and hitting the water!



















Calum, Abigail and Julie































It was great fun to be out there with Ian and William – such a different experience for me as compared to 1991 when I was by myself. I have to say that it was truly amazing – amazing to see this incredible wonder of the world, and even more so, amazing to experience it with my two favourite people!

That evening, upon our return to Cairns, all three families went out for a great feast of Italian food. Great food, great wine and great company - couldn’t ask for anything more!

Winter Holiday, Week Two - Port Douglas

After the Hartley Crocodile Adventure, we continued up the coast to the lovely town of Port Douglas. The view along the way was amazing....this is Rex lookout....

...where I saw this handsome man......

...and this cute little boy!....

Port Douglas is a lovely tourist town. We walked the streets, had a nice coffee, William played at a playground and I even bought a gown for Ian's Staff College Graduation Ball(December)! Then it was off to Four Mile Beach.......

Four Mile Beach, Port Douglas

It was perfect for footy - long, wide and flat!

...pure concentration....

Monday evening we checked out the night markets in Cairns. Every possible touristy thing you can imagine can be found there and it is definitely the place to go if you want a massage for $10! As we often do, we ended the evening with some yummy gelato. Ciao bella!

Winter Holiday, Week Two - Crocodiles

...meet Sparticus!

On Monday (day three) we headed north, but this time we stuck to the coast. Travelling up the Captain Cook Highway, we stopped near Wangetti at Hartley's Crocodile Adventures. There we saw plenty of saltwater (salties) and freshwater (freshies) crocodiles. We actually watched a feeding session (above) - and yes, crocs also show their appreciation for good food by letting out a good, hearty belch!

This fellow's name is "Sollie" - apparently named after the dog he ate, seriously...

No worries, this is just a model of a croc...