Cairns

Hi everyone. this will be the last Blog for a couple of weeks as we are flying home tomorrow for 2 weeks. We have done a few things in the past few days and here is the story.

The drive down the coast from Wonga to Cairns is quite spectacular. The road hugs the coast and you can see this amazing vista of blue sea and sky and beautiful beaches and headlands. Not much surf though as the beaches are protected by the Great Barrier Reef.

There was a lot of traffic as it was Sunday and a lot of people are out for a drive.











The caravan park (Cool Waters) is really nice and pet friendly so there are a lot of dogs but they are generally well behaved.

Ray had been having a bit of trouble with one of the lenses on his camera so on Monday we went to a camera shop at Smithfield to try to get it fixed. But no luck. The lady suggested we go into Camera House in Cairns Central. so off we went into town. Found Camera House and it turned out that Ray had an analogue lens on a digital camera. Works but not so good and it wasn't really worth getting the lens fixed. So he bought a new Sigma lens. So then we needed to try it out. We headed down to the Esplanade and the marina to look at some of the little boats.

Wow what a collection of boats. Huge pleasure craft having maintenance done on them. Registered in the Caymans and the Caribbean. They had been here for trips to the Reef and had to be gone from Australia before December due to cyclones. Insurance companies don't like the boats being in Cairns for cyclone season. We were talking to a fellow who was organising contractors to do some maintenance work.

This is another of the boats. Inside that bottom door was a fully equipped gym. It must be tough being that wealthy. The boats still needed a little TLC though. It looked like the big stuff was done but the little stuff not. Decks needed varnishing and doors needed fixing.

This is the walkway along the foreshore. Tide was out so it looked a little murky.












Next day, Tuesday we headed up to Hartley's Crocodile Farm.

Ray and I first came to Hartley's in 1982. They had a big concrete pit out in the open and in it were 6 dingo pups. You could just pick them up for a cuddle. They also had a huge croc, abut 6 metres long and about 100 years old. But he died about 5 years ago. It is still an interesting place. As soon as we got there we were just in time for a boat ride on their lagoon to feed crocs.
This is one jumping out of the water for some chicken.

Finally we see a cassowary. In captivity as he has a sore foot but one just the same.

A bearded dragon resting on a stick.

This big croc is called Sollie after a dog he killed on New Years day a couple of years ago. Apparently some indigenous kids were going for a swim down near Innisfail and the dog jumped in the water first, luckily as it happened. He saved the kids though.

A lace monitor. We also have a big one in the caravan park.

A very talkative and cheeky Major Mitchell cockatoo. Tried to get you to touch him and then he would bite you. 

And how cute was this. a mother koala and her little one. Both seemed to look straight at the camera. Posers.

This is a young cassowary who has sustained a leg injury and won't be released back into the wild as he wouldn't be able to cope. Looks very much like an emu.











The next day was our last sight seeing day in Cairns. We decided to catch the Sky Rail up and back to Kuranda. We had gone up there in the train in 1982 and we figured the train trip wouldn't have changed too much.

The Sky Rail was completed in 1995 after 1 year in construction although apparently it had taken years of work before that to get all of the permissions. It is 7.5km long and goes from Cairns to Kuranda. All of the towers were lifted into place by helicopter to as not to disturb the environment too much. There are 2 stations on the way, Red Peak and Barron Gorge. you can get out at both and go for a walk around then get back on and continue your journey. This is Barron falls from the lookout

This is Barron River from the gondola.

Looking back down on a part of cairns as you come over the last mountain heading back down.

Coming down into Barron Gorge Station

Me in the gondola with the Sky Rail behind me.

Ray in the gondola.

One of the views on our trip.

The gondola trip over the rainforest. it really was a wonderful trip and worth the money. Looking down into the rainforest was just amazing.


Well that is all of the Blog for now. We will be back in Wollongong tomorrow afternoon and fly back to Cairns to continue our journey on 29th September so I will Blog again from then on.