Tao 5: Cairns

Our flight arrived at Cairns Airport shortly after 5:30PM. We picked up our rental car – a tiny Toyota Yaris, and was on our way.  We booked a snorkeling trip with Wavelength in Port Douglas, a town about 60km north of Cairns. A lot of Great Barrier Reef snorkeling tours start from there because of its proximity to the reef.

We were staying at a B&B in a small town called Oak Beach less than 20km south of Port Douglas. The day’s light is mostly gone by the time we left with our rental car.  The road to the mountain town is single lane and winding, not unlike Rt17 in northern California. By now I’m very comfortable driving on the left, so we made good time. I dread the day when I have to drive on the right-hand side again.

The B&B is owned by Rita and Tom, a couple originally from Germany. We lived in a recently-built bungalow with heating, toilet and shower, what luxury! There is an angry bird roaming in the darkness though.  It follows us around and makes a hissing noise whenever we get close. Rita said it’s begging for food. To me it looks more like it’s demanding food. Tracy was afraid of the guy.  I would not be intimidated by a puny bird. But it managed to give me a little scare one day when I was backing out of the door and didn’t see it behind me. The hiss caught me off guard. Anyway, the Angry Bird comes out after dark so we can’t get a picture of it. But we did find one that looked just like it later on in the zoo.

AB's maybe 50cm tall. But still puny.

Day 1:

The next morning we got up at 7 and drove the 17km to Port Douglas.  The boat was not scheduled to leave until 8:30.  A friendly girl at the reception recommended a nearby cafe for breakfast.  We ordered bacon egg rolls and coffee for a total of $15.  That’s one of the cheapest meals we had in Australia, where we found to be a more expensive destination than US and Europe. Toward the end of our stay in Australia, the exchange rates moved in favor of USD by quite a bit (from 1.08 to 0.98 or so) and that came as a bit of relief.

Bacon is done differently here.  It’s not grilled till crunchy like in the States. It’s just lightly cooked and still looks pink and white.  It tasted good but I prefer the crunchier variety.

Our boat leave right on time after a safety demonstration by Tim, the resident jack-of-all-trades, and a itinerary explanation by our captain John.

John showing us where we are going on a map

Listening attentively

Our boat with John at the helm

The two of us in snorkel gear

True to its reputation, the Great Barrier Reef is alive with all kinds of fishes, corals and other sea creatures. We didn’t have an underwater camera, so I’m putting a couple of videos shot by our marine biologist Susan.

We visited three different spots. Thanks to calm seas and motion sickness medication, the day passed without incident.  For dinner we bought lamb steak and Kangaroo BBQ from a local grocery store. Yup you can buy Kangaroo meat in Australia, and crocodile burgers, we didn’t get to try the latter.  I think you can get those in the Northern Territories, where crocs are plenty.  Anyways the lamb tasted excellent.  Kangaroo meat is kind like very lean beef.  I prefer beef.

Day 2:

Today’s destination is Daintree National Park. This large area is covered with rainforests. Driving north from our lodge, we passed fertile farmlands and crossed Daintree river on a car ferry. Cape Tribulation lies at the end of the paved road. We got out of the car here and walked toward the beach.

We are at the northern most point in our Australian trip.  It’s hot and humid here. There’s barely any breeze in the rain forest. Both of us are covered in sweat soon. Luckily there were no mosquitoes to make things worse.

We found lots of sand balls arranged in different patterns on the beach. Want to guess who made these?

Here is the culprit. These crabs filter sand for food particles, then spit the sand out in the shape of little balls. Neat huh?

Here is where the rainforest meets the sea.

Strange fruits that grows directly from the tree trunk

A suspension bridge at Mossman Gorge, another section of Daintree

Large fig trees

It’s probably better to go with a guide for Daintree. To untrained eyes(us), the trees starts to look similar after a while, and we don’t know what we are looking for. I think it would be more fun if someone can explain how things work in the rainforest. There are signs that do this, but they are few and far between.

Day 3:

Well well, this is the day Tracy’s been waiting for all along – to hold a koala. The small zoo is right outside of Port Douglas. We arrived early for a breakfast with the birds.

Tracy and the FrogMouth brothers

A pink cockatoo watching us with interest

Parret and his favorite meal

A friendly smiling lizard

What's he doing pointing that thing at us

A bird walking on the canvas ceiling

After koala presentation, each of us got a chance to pay a fee to hold one. This little guy is pretty heavy at around 9kg. It thinks you are a tree, so no sudden movements or it’s going to grab hard. Koalas have long and sharp claws, you won’t enjoy that.

Sleepy head

You get to buy some kangaroo food for $2 and hand feed the animals here as well. We had a lot of fun interacting with the animals here. Be careful though, the birds in the park have learned where the easy food is. In this video below, Tracy was not happy when she was interrupted by a bird.

Tracy heeding a wallaby

A wallaby mom and two babies

Very kawaii

They seemed to like the food quite a lot

This emu has striking eyes

They like the same food

Kangaroos are certainly not defenseless

What!? No more?

After the park, we still have a few hours to kill. Port Douglas downtown is quite small, but has some interesting stores. Too bad we cannot buy anything to add to the weight of our packs.

They have Target stores too.

The newly completed International Terminal at Cairns Airport is not fully in use.  When we arrived at 5pm, there’s no one in there (the next flight is 9:30PM).  We almost thought we were in the wrong terminal.

We are flying to New Zealand from Cairns. We feel with our 3 weeks in Australia we have only scratched the surface. I think the best way to experience Australia is to drive around the country. This is easier said than done. Australia is a very large country, and the roads in many places are still unpaved. Oh well, there’s no point trying to see everything in one go, I’m sure we will be back for more.