Having finished our sail, we flew from Hamilton Island to Cairns, by way of Brisbane. If you look at a map, you'll see that's like flying from Portland to Seattle by way of San Francisco. In Cairns, we arrived to the hotel around 8pm, found a pub for dinner (Pizza or Fish-n-Chips are the choices everywhere). In the morning, we walked to pick up a rental car and drove north along the coast toward Port Douglas. This drive is billed as one of the top 5 most scenic drives in the world. Yawn. OK, it's a decent drive along the coast and is a pleasant drive. Not nearly as nice as the drive from the Kangaroo Island Ferry Terminal I'll cover later. Not nearly as scenic as Hwy 101 on the Oregon Coast, the Hana Highway on Maui, the Washington county scenic loop, North & South Rim of the Grand Canyon, the 40-miles into Arches National Park (you get the idea...marketing hype is a bunch of bull everywhere).
On the way, we stopped at Hartley's Crocodile park. They have a great show with a dude who, knowing the croc's instinctual behavior, moves around within a couple of feet of the croc. This 14' long critter could CHOMP and move wicked fast - but the guy would tell us what behaviour he was going to stimulate and BAM! that's what the croc did.
On the way, we stopped at Hartley's Crocodile park. They have a great show with a dude who, knowing the croc's instinctual behavior, moves around within a couple of feet of the croc. This 14' long critter could CHOMP and move wicked fast - but the guy would tell us what behaviour he was going to stimulate and BAM! that's what the croc did.
We toured their lagoon in a boat, where another trainer got a croc to leap out of the water (driven by its tail). Don't want to be within reach of any of these guys!
They had Koalas here and a sign claimed that although they may look and act drunk/hungover, they are not. In fact, the eucalyptus leaves they eat are low in nutrition and slightly poisonous so it takes all of their energy to digest the stuff -- they sleep up to 22hrs/day. We noted that eucalyptus oil for sale has a skull & crossbones. We prefer to think of them as harmless drunks... They also had a cassowary - really cool bird, but don't get him mad at you!
We drove on to our self-contained (full complement of dishes & appliances) apartment, then drove the few km to Port Douglas where we had dinner at a bar whose featured attraction is cane toad racing. A bit of wandering found most of the shops closed in the cute town (it was after 6pm, afterall). It is a curious blend of the old and art-deco new. Stopped for groceries on the way home to save some $$$ on food since we had a kitchen. They have some interesting green ants one can eat for a vitamin C boost -- we passed. Perhaps the tiny lizards like to eat them.
At breakfast the next morning, we met a couple from Auckland, Jason and Amanda. We had nice conversation with them each morning and they invited us to call them up when we arrive in New Zealand. Our goal for the day was to visit Mossman Gorge and Daintree National Park. We started the drive and a few km letter it started to rain, so we did a U-turn to pick up coats, but was in the right-hand lane after the turn around and surprised to see on-coming traffic. Managed to swerve into the left lane after first instinct was to go right. (Remember, this was our first time driving here on the wrong side.)
Back on the LH side of the road with coats, we picked up some delicious tree-fallen mangos on the way to Mossman Gorge where we found some short tracks (hiking paths) leading to a steep, moss-covered gorge full of large, rounded boulders. Beautiful and serene. One could find some very nice photo spots in the gorge, but with the rain and coolish temperatures, we did only a bit of that and also resisted the swimming. One of the larger trees is a strangler fig. It germinates in the crotch of a tree branch, sends roots to the ground and eventually strangles the host tree.
We then drove up to Daintree and were surpised at the lack of access. We watched another deluge from the car with some interesting photos through the windshield and during a brief lull sprinted to a steel-roofed cafe for a noisy lunch.
We drove on to our self-contained (full complement of dishes & appliances) apartment, then drove the few km to Port Douglas where we had dinner at a bar whose featured attraction is cane toad racing. A bit of wandering found most of the shops closed in the cute town (it was after 6pm, afterall). It is a curious blend of the old and art-deco new. Stopped for groceries on the way home to save some $$$ on food since we had a kitchen. They have some interesting green ants one can eat for a vitamin C boost -- we passed. Perhaps the tiny lizards like to eat them.
At breakfast the next morning, we met a couple from Auckland, Jason and Amanda. We had nice conversation with them each morning and they invited us to call them up when we arrive in New Zealand. Our goal for the day was to visit Mossman Gorge and Daintree National Park. We started the drive and a few km letter it started to rain, so we did a U-turn to pick up coats, but was in the right-hand lane after the turn around and surprised to see on-coming traffic. Managed to swerve into the left lane after first instinct was to go right. (Remember, this was our first time driving here on the wrong side.)
Back on the LH side of the road with coats, we picked up some delicious tree-fallen mangos on the way to Mossman Gorge where we found some short tracks (hiking paths) leading to a steep, moss-covered gorge full of large, rounded boulders. Beautiful and serene. One could find some very nice photo spots in the gorge, but with the rain and coolish temperatures, we did only a bit of that and also resisted the swimming. One of the larger trees is a strangler fig. It germinates in the crotch of a tree branch, sends roots to the ground and eventually strangles the host tree.
We then drove up to Daintree and were surpised at the lack of access. We watched another deluge from the car with some interesting photos through the windshield and during a brief lull sprinted to a steel-roofed cafe for a noisy lunch.
To see some of the park, we took a Daintree River tour where we saw a single croc's snout for just a second, a nesting frogman bird (2 pictures - one nesting, one on a branch), some green tree snakes, and a couple of other birds whose name I can't recall.
For the last day in Port Douglas area, we drove up to Mount Molloy. We thought it would be a scenic vista, but it ended up a small mountain town with no view. They do have several building lots for sale, if anyone is interested. To conclude the day, we re-visited the Croc Adventure. We had hoped to get out to the Great Barrier Reef one more time, but it was rainy with 25 knot winds and 1.5 meter swells...not really the best conditions.
Next AM we arose early, drove the windy road back to Cairns, turned in the car, and picked up a coach (tour bus) to the Kuranda tram. This tram goes through rain forest (sometimes above, sometimes below the canopy) to Kuranda, with two stops on the way up and views of a terrific waterfall that cascades down a steep gorge. Kuranda is a town nestled within the rainforest and it allows you to get close up and personal with it.
At Kuranda, we saw a butterfly exhibit where they feature the Blue Ulysses Butterfly. It only lives in the Australian Rainforest. BTW - that Blue Ulysses Butterfly is reputed to be the most difficult to photograph. About 200 shots gave this one...
We took a scenic train ride down the mountain. The train was originally built to assist in the building of a huge dam above the gorge. Now it's primarily for tourists.
Our final night in Cairns, while enjoying some "canapes" for dinner, we fell into conversation with "Shady" McGrady of the Australian Police who was quite entertaining. The people have been really great and very welcoming.
Most of your vacations bring rain. It might just be the two of you, consider renting out your rain making presence. Farmers, deserts, etc... Could be big business.
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