Arrival at Cairns
Trip Start
Apr 16, 2008
1
5
13
Trip End
Jun 21, 2008
Cairns, Australia
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
It's even warmer here in Cairns and quite humid. Everywhere is very green, even the birds, green lorikeets. They make quite a noise in the morning and in the evening. There are others birds as well. On the first evening we were here we wondered what the black birds were flying around after dark. They have a 2ft wingspan so were quite big. It turns out they are fruit bats!
Our apartment is right on the Esplanade. To the right we can see rainforest and to the left we can see the sea. We took a guided tour up to the Daintree rainforest and beyond in a 4-wheel drive mini-bus on Thursday 1st May. We had only been going for around 1hr when all the lights came on on the dashboard. We kept going but Mark, the driver, phoned the office and they were meeting us at the Daintree River with another bus - trouble with the alternator. It was a bit mad, driving for 30 mins then getting out and taking in the views, which I might add were spectacular. We drove to Cape Tribulation, where Captain Cook landed, and stopped to take in the view there. This is where all Captain Cook's trials and tribulations started - apparently he was in a bad mood when he landed. Other places are named after his moods as well. Some where around there we stopped and had a walk round some of the rain forest where we were lucky enough to spot a young cassowary - a large bird similar to an emu but with bright blue feathers on its head. At another stop we were given a BBQ lunch of large steaks and salad. The highlight of the day was a paddle or swim in Emmegan creek. The spot we were in was quite safe but if you went 400m further down from where we were there was the possibility of coming face to face with a crocodile - and they were rather big (that's not very far Bill thinks). Bill decided he was going to have a bit of a swim as did a few of the others while Mark set to making a cup of billy tea for us (a brew in a tin can over a camp fire - but we cheated and brought along a calor gas ring) and cutting up a selection of the tropical fruit he'd bought along for us to try. Some of it tasted disgusting. During the morning we went on a boat trip up the Daintree River and saw 3 crocodiles lazily eye-ing up the contents of the boat from the riverbank. It really was exciting to see them in their natural habitat. The drive back was the boring bit though.
Well having suffered the trials and tribulations of a long day, just like captain Cook, we thought the following day we may have a 'chill out'......yeah right!!! A walk around Cairns following the 'Heritage Trail', seeing all the very old buildings (80 years old) was nice and relaxing true enough. We went into the local museum, cue the local guide 'Rich', we are sure he is the brother of Crocodile Dundee, he was great showing the two of us the exhibits inside and explaining what 'George', an indigenous person had told him!!!! He made us laugh and to quote
" An Irishman goes into a bar and orders 2 drinks. 1 is normal size and the other is very small. He drinks the normal size one and is just leaving when the bar maid says ' aren't you going to drink the small glass up? Óh I forgot about that he says' and out of his pocket he pulls a very small man. The bar maid says ' is that a leprecorn? 'No' he replies 'It's an Australian with all the bullshit squeezed out'. Boom, Boom.
Well after we stopped rolling around the streets we found ourselves at the roof top dome here in Cairns where there is a magic wonderland above the casino hotel. It houses all kinds of local tropical birds and was great fun, one even tried to eat Bill......maybe he tasted nice!!!! We did venture into the Casino but decided as a wise Mr Plumb once told Tina, only gamble what you can afford to loose. We left having just looked around having had coffee and cake to die for....at least 100000 calories.
We by now thought it was a good idea to head back to the hotel, unfortunately we went past an art gallery full of Aboriginal art work......yep we bought one. No its not a typical piece you would expect its very contemporary absolutely striking to see and if you want to know more it will be locked in the 'Murray Vault' called home when we return in several weeks time as it cost a months wages........ouch!!!!!! I guess that's an invite to anyone who remembers .
How on earth do we top that???
Stay tuned for the next exciting episode of ' Murray's adventures in Queensland'
On a sober note, we should explain that the shortage of pictures is due to the fact that the upload time is horrendous and would cost us another arm & a leg so for now its just a descriptive verses for you all but on our return to the UK we will place a few of the thousands we will have by then.
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