Below: My first meal in Australia - a tomato and cheese "toasty"; the only thing I could get in less than the 5 minutes I had before boarding a flight I nearly missed. It's not as good as I'd imagined it'd be but beggars can't be choosers.
I have to say the flight from Brisbane to Cairns is pretty fascinating if you're able to procure a window seat. Not my first seat choice by any means but flying over the ocean as the mountains come into sight is incredible. The water is this amazing blue/green and crystal clear. Undoubtably I'll be taking lots of pictures of the ocean; however since the iPhone 5 announcement did not mention the ability of the phone to be submerged into water you'll have to wait for the really exciting pictures. That's right - this girl is going snorkeling at the great barrier reef! There's so much more it seems to do here as well but this is the main reason I chose to start my Australian tour here.
Below: A sign at the Cairns airport. So great!
Below: A picture of my hotel from the boardwalk.
Below: Thursday nights at Mondo (a restaurant at the hotel) has local singer/songwriter night. These guys were an enjoyable mix of blue grass and blues.
Below: A street sign in Cairns........ a little confusing but I think I'm figuring it out!
Did you know that Australia has almost every tropical fruit in the world but none of it is indigenous to Australia? Yep, that's right.. all this fruit was introduced into Australia from foreign countries as were hoofed animals, the effects of which are starting to show signs on the ecosystem. Did you also know the reason why the US doesn't have passion fruit is because Pablo Escabar used them to smuggle in cocaine into Miami when he first started trafficking drugs into the US? Bastard! That fruit is amazing fresh!
Below are photos from the day and I'll try my best to explain... as much as I remember. It was a long but great day.
Below: A great day to view the mountain ranges and sugar cane crops. Immediately in front of the crop you can see tracks. Once the crop is harvested, it is hauled on a local rail train to the mill for processing. The cane is sliced into about 6' pieces, spun in a centrifuge till the sugar is pressed out of the cane. What remains is processed into molasses.
The sign was too far away however, this is a sight where aborigines have a shop set up. We didn't go in so I have no idea what that means.
Below: Tea tree oil; a cure all remedy costing approximately $8 (ASD). Per Fin, it clears wounds and can be used to scrub away hard mildew. I'll have to take his word for it.
Below: Eucalyptus oil. If tree tree oil doesn't cure it, supposedly this toxic oil will. The eucalyptus tree is abundant here and is lethal to most everything except for the koala bear (which only eats a small percentage of the varying eucalyptus trees). If you have the flu or cold applying a external location of the ailment evidently cures you in 24 hours. Just don't drink otherwise you'll be cured of all because you'll be dead.
Our tour truck. It looks like a vehicle that wants to tour the great outdoors! Bad Ass.
Below: Ahhhh Denver, the sunshine state
A view of the trees along the way.....
About two hours into the trip we took a boat ride in search for crocodiles, birds, bugs and snakes.
A view of the trees and clouds from the river
Is there a croc to be found anywhere?
A local fisherman showing us his morning bounty.
Birds soaring high above the tree tops looking for field mice (in the nearby sugar cane fields)
CRIKEY!!! A crocodile!!!!
.... Ok a baby one but it still counts!
Below: Thanks for letting us know where we are and where we can find the toilets; the two most frequently asked questions.
A picture can't do this canopy justice but I tried.
A kangaroo! In a rehab center and unfortunately will not be released as there's no way he'd survive in the wild. Happily and quite selfishly we got to feed him (and the three other kangaroos and two wallabies). They were so cute.
Me and the wallaby. We were fast friends.
A sign indicating warnings for some bird that supposedly is as tall as a human and lives in this area of the rainforest. We did not see one but we did get the message that slowing down was important.
At a little water hole (where apparently you can swim without fear of crocodiles) we stopped, some swam while the rest of us watched Fin making Aussie tea.
Here he's showing us how to get the loose tea leaves just added to this boiling hot, metal pot of water to the bottom. Yes, he's swinging it in circles and using a centrifugal force to mix the tea. Amazingly it worked and no one was burned by boiling hot water.
To answer your question - no I did not swim and I guess thankfully so as this sign was just down stream about 100 meters. They say insurance companies make them post these signs but I showed you a picture above. Crocs do exist in these here waters!
Kulki Beach 1
An island off at the horizon which I didn't catch the name of but as you can see, it looks like a crocodile. So very appropriate for Australia.
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