Cairns

Cairns in tropical North Queensland and the one thing that hit us was when we arrived at the airport was the humidity. We have never been anywhere that was so humid. Fortunately the following few day’s were clear and the humidity a lot lower.

We couldn’t resist taking a picture of our hotel, on the left, with a fantastic view of the pacific ocean.

The one thing that we noticed when we arrived as how green everywhere was, I suppose we didn’t really know what to expect.

Stunning, absolutely stunning.

New Years Eve

Wandering around Cairns on the morning of New Years eve.

Getting prepared for new years eve, checking out the pool for later. It felt odd being in an outdoor swimming pool on new years eve.

Getting prepared for the New Year firework display. In Cairns they left them off at 9pm so that children can see them and then again at midnight for everyone else to enjoy the start of 2013 and Keith’s impending 50th birthday. It was weird phoning home just after midnight when we were in 2013 and the UK was still in 2012.

And let the fireworks begin

Port Douglas

A friend recommended the beach at Port Douglas, the day we arrived there was a lot of debris. Not the greatest beach in the world?

Unusual combination of businesses? Do you get a free massage with every tax return? Alternatively does it mean that they massage your tax returns presumably to save tax?

Tjapukai Aboriginal Cultural Park and Kuranda Scenic Railway

Just 15 minutes north of Cairns is the Skyrail Rainforest Cable way. This traverses Australia’s Wet Tropics World Heritage Area that has survived against all odds to become the home of the world’s oldest continually surviving tropical rainforest. The journey starts from Smithfield goes to Karunda and you glide just over the jungle canopy.

When you are over the forest you can feel the heat and humidity.

Tjapukai Aboriginal Cultural Park

This park is one of the most authentic Aboriginal museums in Australia and it celebrates the rich history of the worlds oldest living culture, dating back some 40,000 years.

What is interesting is that this park is not just a museum but people live here permanently which is why there are houses bars and churches.

Fitzpatrick, authentic Aboriginal name? On the first view of this sign we thought that pokies were some sort of traditional Aboriginal dish but it turns out that they are poker gaming machines.

Fantastic looking art gallery built in the shape of the ship.

This is not very authentic, the church is catholic, but although Aboriginal people are very religious and spiritual they do not pray to a single god they cannot see instead each group generally believes in a number of different gods, whose image is often depicted in some tangible, recognisable form. This form may be that of a particular landscape feature, an image in a rock art shelter, or in a plant or animal form..

Wherever we go we always head for the tourist information to pickup local maps.

Bird of paradise flowers grow wild, this was Keith’s mum’s favourite flower.

Kuranda Scenic Railway

This railway winds its way on a journey between Cairns to Kuranda, rising from sea level to 327 meters.

This is the most unique railway journeys in Australia which goes through the rainforest. This has an incredible array of plants and animals.

Twelve hundred species of flowering plants, eight hundred different rainforest trees, spectacular orchids, strangler figs, exotic palms and hundreds of unique creatures inhabit this lush green world.

The day we went the rainforest lived up to it’s name, it was a forest and the rain was pouring down. We can also understand why this area is refereed to as the “Wet Tropics”.

The rain was much longer than we expected Pretty impressive

Bridges that cling to the side of the hill and drop along way down the valley.

There are spectacular waterfalls that flow into the stunning Barron Gorge. The pictures that we took didn’t do justice to them.

Great Barrier Reef

As most people know from geography lessons in school the Great Barrier Reef is the largest coral reef in the world composed of 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for 2,300 kilometres (1,400 miles) in the coral sea which is off the coast of Queensland.

The Great Barrier Reef is the world’s biggest single structure made by living organisms and can be seen from outer space.

Green Island

We went from Cairns over to Green Island, our carriage was awaiting us for the 45 minute journey.

First point of call to get an idea about the island.

There are beautiful sandy beaches all around the island off which you can swim, snorkel or Scuba dive.

Resting on a peaceful beach it’s a time to clear the mind and just appreciate the view of the blue coral sea looking back towards the mainland.

To ensure that there is a little damage to the forests as possible tracks have been made and you have to stick to them. Also means that you can see and avoid the snakes.

The ferry across includes a trip on a glass bottomed boat so that you can see the underwater world of the reef.

It was an amazing experience seeing the reef in it’s glory. The pictures are not great using a normal digital camera or phone. When you see these on televisions or in magazines they use infra red so that it maintains the colour of the coral and fish.