Our life in Tropical North Queensland

We had the pleasure of having Helene and Yesica, sister in law and niece, from France, spending a few days with us last week. As Helene said, their visit was short but memorable.

We couldn’t let them visit us without showing them one of our gems, the Great Barrier Reef so we booked with one of the many Great Barrier Reef cruises available and off we went. The trip to the reef was a bit rough but we all got there safe and sound. Little Nicholas was the one who probably enjoyed the trip most, with so much motion, he spent most of the trip happily asleep.

Three of us decided to go diving and only one wasn’t brave enough, sorry, wasn’t in the mood, for diving, so he went snorkelling. Can you guess who??????

The day was beautiful, we had a great time and the French girls were extremely impressed with the corals.

And the day after we took off again, this time to visit Port Douglas, Cape Tribulation and the Daintree Forest. By the way, did you know that we help to save the Daintree Rainforest? Every month, Cairns Unlimited buys back five square metres of Daintree Rainforest.

Port Douglas was only a short stop to have breakfast in our favourite cafe, although this time we were all a bit dissapointed with the food, which had been fabulous before. The markets were on, so Steve, Nicholas, Helene and Yesi went to have a bit of a walk while I just waited for them sitting on a bench. I had taken some car sickness pill which hadn’t agreed with me and I was feeling a bit “drunk”. I even had to make my way to the car on my own, since I was falling asleep on the bench and I was a bit embarrased about it. I sent Steve a text to let them know where I was going, and when he showed it to me, it didn’t make any sense at all.

But I felt much better after the delicious hand made ice cream that we had at Floravilla. The flavours were all very exotic. Steve went for the Chilli Chocolate and I tried the Goji Berry with Rainforest Honey Yoghurt. I cannot remember what the girls had, but they were also very excited about them.

We also had time to do a Daintree River Cruise aboard Solar Whisper, where we spotted a few crocodiles, snakes, frogs and birds. It is definetely one of the most beautiful places in the world.

It was already late afternoon by the time we made it to our accomodation in Cape Tribulation Cape Tribulation Beach House. We had two lovely cabins only a couple of minutes from the beach but, most importantly, from the bar. The girls and Steve, after a very early dinner, since we all forgot to each lunch, joined Mason’s Tours for a crocodile spotting night walk. And I, very happily, put the little one to sleep and went to bed as well at 8pm. I know, very very unSpanish but it felt like heaven.

The explorers had a good time although there was no croc to be spotted. However, they came back talking about cane toads, spiders, native mice, white tail rats, sleeping kingfishers, other birds, fish in the crystal clear bubbling brook, wood frogs and even fresh cassowary poo.

The plan for the morning after was to go jungle surfing but someone didn’t plan ahead and the tour was booked out. So instead, we started to make our own way back to Cairns, stopping at Mossman Gorge. There has been talks about a road being built in Mossman Gorge but when we got there we couldn’t see much happening. There are a few massive blocks of concrete which are the base for a boardwalk that will eventually go through the rainforest to the gorge. But up to day, everything is just as it was before and you still have to walk through the rainforest to get there. It was a cool and misty morning and we know that the water in Mossman Gorge is freezing. However, there were still a few brave people having a swin. None of us, though.

All the way back to Cairns, about 60 kilometres, little Nicholas was crying. We tried everything to make him stop and go to sleep. Will you believe he fell asleep only one block away from home? Our little prince!

Helene and Yesi are now back to Stanthorpe, Steve’s home town. And Yesi will be back in France very soon. It was great to have you over, girls. Now it is time for the two rascals, Flynn and Joseph, to come and visit. We look forward to seeing you two.

And everyone, keep tuned. There are lots of news coming up very soon. That’s all I can say for now.

The baby is not here yet, so we’re still visiting lots of places in the area. And the weather has given us a break, so this week has been pretty frantic at Cairns Unlimited.

Last Sunday I took my parents to the Cairns Botanic Gardens, where we saw lots of different species of plants from all over the world. Of course, only from those nations with a climate similar to the tropical weather you can find in Cairns, otherwise, it would be impossible for them to survive. My mum is very surprised to find in Australia plants and flowers she has seen in Spain. I guess she thought that when she was coming to Australia she was leaving Planet Earth and arriving to a completely different planet.

After the Botanic Gardens we went to visit the Centenary Lakes, one of my favourite places in Cairns. The Centenary Lakes is the name given to the park where one freshwater lake and one saltwater lake coexist. It’s a beautiful place, with lots of different plants, trees and where lots of people go for the typical Aussie barbecue.

Then on Monday we visited Tjapukai Aboriginal Cultural Park, , where we learned about the traditions of the Tjapukai peole. It was very interesting. First we started with the Creation Theatre, listening to the way the world was created. Then we moved on to the Dance Theatre, where we saw a demonstration of their dances and songs. Then, it was time to try our luck throwing the spears and boomerangs. My mum wasn’t too bad with the spear and my dad did pretty well throwing the boomeran. I was crap at both of them. Here you have a couple of pics of our day:

And yesterday it was time to visit Kuranda. We had a full day planned: first, from Cairns to Kuranda on Skyrail, , then a visit to the Koala Gardens, and Bird World, and back to Cairns onboard the Kuranda Scenic Railway, .

My mum is not very impressed with heights and we thought Skyrail could be a bit challenging for her. But as soon as we got it, she was absolutely amazed by the beauty of the scenery surrounding us. If you are lucky enough to go to Kuranda on a clear day, you will be able to see the Coral Sea, the cane sugar plantations by the coast and even a couple of the islands

Skyrail has been built taking into consideration the environment and they are very proud, so they should be, of not having destroyed any part of the rainforest while building it. All the posts were situated where there were clearings, so no trees were cut down at all. Of course, to be able to take the posts to where they were going to be located, workers would have to take them through a very dense rainforest. However, they used helicopters to transport the posts. And the workers had to work one hour each day to their work place and one hour back. A whole lot of work, isn’t it? But it’s definetely worth it.

When you go on Skyrail, make sure you stop in the two stations along the way. And if you are lucky enough to catch one of the rangers and do the guided tour with them, don’t miss it. They will tell you a lot about the plants in that section of the rainforest. You will then learn why a plant is called “Wait a while”, for example.

After being dropped off in Kuranda and taking the free bus that connects both the Skyrail Terminal and the Kuranda Scenic Railway station with the town centre, we made our way to Koala Gardens. You may not know that not all the states in Australia have the same laws, and while in New South Wales you cannot hold koalas, , that’s something very popular in Queensland. Don’t worry, koalas only “work” 30 minutes so they don’t get stressed. And by the way they spend their whole day sleeping, you can see their levels of stress are pretty low.

And then it was time to visit Bird World, almost next door. It’s a small enclosure where there are lots of different species of birds flying around you. If you visit it, you will have to be carefull with your jewellery, because some of the birds are attracted to all shinning things and you could loose your earings or a necklace very easily. So without our jewellery we entered the premises and were welcomed by lots of different birds. They were absolutely fantastic and so used to humans that they’re not scared to come close to you.

And then it was just time to hang around the markets, do a bit of shopping for friends and family back in Spain and enjoy a cold drink just before we got on the Kuranda Scenic Railway to come back to Cairns.

Again, as it happened with the Skyrail, both my parents were very impressed with the train. It took us about 90 minutes to descend from Kuranda to Cairns, all the time through amazing scenery, waterfalls, rainforest, etc. While you are on the train, you will be able to hear the story of the first pioneers of the area, those who built the rail line and their sufferings. I don’t think we ever give a second thought about things such as whoever built the first railway lines in very inhospitable and remote areas. Kuranda Scenic Railway hasn’t forgotten its origins and the whole presentation you can see while on the train is really worth while and eye opening. Of course, don’t forget to still keep an eye on the scenery.

No, I’m not taking about dinner with the in-laws…

Last weekend, after two years in Cairns, maria and I finally made time to visit one of the region’s premier wildlife attractions, Cairns Tropical Zoo, just north of Cairns near Palm Cove. Neither of us had been to a zoo for ages, and I have to tell you we were quite looking forward to it.

We arrived just in time for the free flight bird show at 10:45am. This was a fascinating start to the day, with ‘performances’ by Jack the magpie, a clever Cockatoo, and a couple of raptors, including a massive Wedge Tailed Eagle, arriving and departing low over the heads of the delighted crowd.
             
There are shows and events scheduled around the zoo throughout the day, but generally we were happy to just wander and discover. Of course, there was one more compulsory scheduled stop and that was the morning koala cuddling!! Maria has never forgiven me that she missed out on cuddling a koala when we came to Australia on holidays from Spain four years ago… so there was no option.

At first thought, it may seem selfish to exploit these beautiful koalas for our own silly whim. I’m sure given a choice, the koala would choose not to be handled by strangers but to be left to its own devices to sleep in the fork of a tree. But the zoo follows strict guidelines that ensure that no individual koala is disturbed for more than 30 minutes on any given day for ‘cuddling’. And besides, the money that is raised by koala cuddling photos (yes, it costs a little extra) goes towards protecting the koala habitat.

                                                                                                                                                                             Does Does anyone else notice the eerie resemblance between the two?

I was hoping to catch a glimpse of the koala’s ancient relative, the Drop Bear, but I learnt that nobody has ever managed to capture a Drop Bear, and they only exist in the wild.

We wandered the crocodile and alligator area (”lean a bit more to the left” Maria was calling “I can’t get you in the photo!”) and strolled through the birds aviary. The croc below is one of a number of 4.5 metre monsters that call Cairns Tropical Zoo home, and in the afternoon we watched a very informative croc feeding show.

The two birds behind Maria - correct me if I’m wrong - are Papuan Frogmouths. Bird enthusiasts may be interested to take a look at our Birdwatching page.

The zoo is proud to house two of these gorgeous and extremely endangered red pandas, and this was one the highlights of the day for me. The male of the couple remained stretched out on the roof of their little house, but - to the delight of the crowd - the female came forward to retrieve dates and berries which the handler left in various locations around their enclosure.

All in all, it was a terrific day out, and I haven;t covered everything in this short blog entry. There was also the reptile house, the free range kangaroo area, wombats, dingoes, lemurs, tiny, tiny monkeys, a koala ‘maternity ward’, and loads of other beasts to see.

Something I should mention was the quality of the food at the zoo’s cafe/restaurant. Normally I dread eating at zoos, theme parks and popular tourists attractions, as the food is normally of the lowest quality and way overpriced. But the salads here were fresh, and loaded with tasty treats like olives and chunks of fetta. The sandwiches were generously filled and equally fresh, and the lasagne was tasty and filling. Prices were on a par with your local corner cafe. A pleasant surprise, and a great end to our day at Cairns Tropical Zoo!

Now we just need to go back and experience Cairns Night Zoo!!!