Robb and Sue's Excellent Adventure: Australia Entry 6

July 19 – Cairns

It is almost three weeks since we have updated out blog. Time seems to be passing quickly. It is hard to believe we only have six weeks left before we leave Cairns and set off westward. Sue keeps reminding me that we have to start planning our trip and I know we will have to do that soon. There are many fascinating things to see on our 6000 km trek across the top of Australia and down the west coast and although we have a goodly amount of time, we know that we will have to plan our route and stops carefully if we are to make the best of this trip. The road to Western Australia is long and lonely often with hundreds of kilometres between settlements, so we are planning to map out our route and stops along the way in some detail, if for no other reason than to ensure we don't run out of fuel in the middle of nowhere. I'm sure we will have some amazing things to write about in this blog as we head west, but that's still in the future.
We continue to enjoy our time here in Cairns. What a wonderful place this is! It is still a delight each morning when we rise and look out our bedroom window at the green palms filling the courtyard in front of us, the dark green of the jungle-covered hills behind our complex, and the blue sky and puffy white clouds (at least most mornings these days). The mornings are cool but the hot sun soon warms up the air to a very pleasant 24 or 25 degrees and it seems there is always a breeze blowing to give a freshness to the air. The tv weather forecasts continue to bemoan the low temperatures being experienced here, and for that matter, throughout Australia, but we find it just about perfect...like the best of Canadian summer days.

This particular Australian winter is certainly newsworthy however. I've written before about the heavy rains and flooding in the south, after all the talk about drought, but now the attention is on the “cold” weather. Since mid June cold Antarctic air has been sweeping north as far as the tropics and temperatures everywhere are 7-10 degrees below normal. A typical tv forecaster may say something like: “Brisbane will continue fine (read “sunny”) and cold with temperatures from a low 7 to a high of 17.” Certainly “cold” is a relative term, but there have been many records set and July is on track to be the coldest July on record. Nearly everyday we hear of a town recording its coldest temperature since records have been kept or perhaps the coldest in 40 years, or similar. Melbourne has been cold and wet and just this morning a record snowfall was reported near the city. Sydney continues to have highs in the low teens. “Shocking” as the Aussies put it! Here in the tropics we've even had below-zero temperatures on the table lands, the high plateau rising up from the narrow coastal plain. Temperatures as low as -7 have been recorded and these freezing nights have caused havoc with farmers who have lost millions of dollars as a result of frozen crops. Even here in Cairns people will talk about having to go out on a “cold morning”, though of course we think it is just fine. I'm sure we'll look back on these pleasant days with envy when we hit 40 degrees crossing some desert in Western Australia!

Last week we drove two hours north to the Daintree Rainforest and had a fascinating day exploring the area. The Daintree is Australia's largest tract of rainforest covering some 1200 square kilometres. This unique rainforest is by far the oldest continuously-existing forest on earth, dating back over 100 million years. (Compare that with the Amazon jungle that we visited a few months ago which is a youthful 6 million years!) The forest is a spectacular ecosystem having a huge diversity of plants and some of the oldest plant species on the planet. We arrived at the banks of the Daintree River and took the short ferry across to the north shore. There had been a plan for a bridge to connect the cane-covered lands to the south with the forest, but local residents had raised a protest and the plans for a bridge, along with a marina and hotel, were scrapped, keeping the river and surrounding area in its pristine condition. (A local told us that there is no electrical supply to the Daintree area and locals use solar panels or small generators for their electrical needs.) A short drive took us to the Daintree Discovery Centre, a series of board walks, lookouts and interpretive centres which gives visitors a quick snapshot of life in the forest.

We spent a couple of hours walking around and listening to the self-guided audio and it was interesting, though I for one, had mixed feelings about the place. The centre was well constructed with the boardwalks at ground level and higher up in the forest canopy, providing a view of the forest without adversely impacting its natural state. And supposedly it has retained its status as a habitat for many animal species as well, despite the throngs of tourists tramping along the walkways. But, as I say, we had mixed feelings about the place. First of all, the entry fee as usual for attractions here is high at $25. Secondly, we have seen so many rainforests over the last few months, and go for a stroll in the forest for free whenever we want virtually in our backyard, that it didn't seem all that special. True, the guide book and audio were informative, but it all felt somewhat contrived....to me at least... I guess something akin to visiting an aquarium after diving on the Barrier Reef. In fact after visiting the centre, we drove along the road to another area where there was a free walk through the forest, which we enjoyed just as much. I think the Discovery Centre would be perfect for someone on a short visit to this part of the world who doesn't have the same opportunities we do to experience the rainforests along the Queensland coast. I guess I had expected to be a little disappointed in the Centre and that's how it turned out. However...all part of the experience.

We made our way back to the ferry in the early afternoon as we had arranged to take a tour on a river boat along the Daintree. We boarded a small flat-bottomed skiff that could hold about 16 people though there were only about 8 of us on board for this excursion. Our captain was a delightful fellow of about 50ish with wispy gray hair, a gray beard, and a large pair of spectacles which would have been fashionable in the eighties. Freddie normally chartered out his game fishing boat, but he was doing some river cruises for a few weeks as the seas in early winter are too rough for small craft. He welcomed us aboard with a smile, which we were to discover never left his face, and a firm handshake. He asked us where we were from and told us to feel free to move around the small craft as we wanted to in order to get good views of the river as we motored along. We initially crossed the river to pick up a family who were staying on the other side of the ferry crossing and we again had one of those “isn't it a small world” coincidences. A man and woman and their two young children boarded and as they were climbing on board Freddie introduced us and the other couple on board, jokingly making some comment about wild Canadians or something. The woman stepping into the boat immediately said, “Canadians...where are you from?” And naturally they too were from Calgary, though they were now living in Adelaide, the man having been transferred by an oil company. (No not Shell, though we have met 2 or 3 people along the way who do work for Shell).

We spent about 90 minutes on this river excursion, slowly making our way up stream while Freddie kept up a constant and most interesting dialog about the plant and animal life along the river bank. Although he joked with us that he just made up all the names of the trees and plants and birds along the river (“Who would know the difference?” he said) it was clear that he indeed had a good knowledge of the local flora and fauna and was very adept at not only talking about these, but also spotting interesting things along our route. Along the way we spotted a large crocodile basking in the sun on the river bank, a tiny new born crock, no more than 12 inches long sitting on a log by the bank, and several types of colorful birds including a gorgeous blue and orange Paradise Kingfisher. At one point Freddie maneuvered the boat in close to the bank under the leaves of an overhanging tree, saying it was a favorite of the green tree snake. And sure enough we spotted two or three of these green and yellow snakes intertwined with the outermost branches of the tree. And later, as if by magic, Freddie produced a tree frog from under a bench on the boat. He said it lived there, I assume being fed regularly by Freddie and the other boat captains. Our excursion along the Daintree was certainly the highlight of the day and something which will no doubt rank among our best experiences in Australia.

A few days ago we again ventured up to the Atherton Table lands and visited another of the crater lakes situated south of Atherton. We drove up the winding road under a clear blue sky, quite different from the misty and cool day we'd had last time we'd driven the road. And we had a fabulous walk around Eacham Lake seeing more native birds than we had on any previous walk. And of course the towering forest surrounding the lake was as beautiful as ever. As I've said before, the countryside here is just amazing and we are continually awed by the diversity and beauty of this part of Queensland.

We have enrolled in introductory drawing classes being given at one of the local art galleries. We spend two hours each Thursday evening in a small group with a local artist to guide us through the intricacies of getting a reasonable facsimile down on paper. Our first class was last Thursday and we are going to our second tonight. I've always envied people who can draw or paint and my respect for their talent has grown even greater after just one class which covered some of the basics! When we were in Guatemala at our language school, one of the women staying our “casa” (the couple from Calgary) was sketching scenes around Antigua and we thought what a great way to record one's impressions of a place. Her drawings seemed to capture a certain essence of a scene that a photo wouldn't. Unfortunately, I don't think we will be progressing to that level in the next few weeks and will have to rely on our digital camera for our images. But I'm sure our classes will be fun and hopefully we will be able to draw something at least recognizable when they are over.

Today we are going to the Cairns Show. This is the small city equivalent of our Calgary Stampede, with all the usual attractions, rides, shows, etc. Should be interesting. And then on Sunday, we are going to pack up the tent and drive south a hundred kilometres or so for a couple of nights camping at Mission Beach. We had briefly visited this beautiful stretch of beach when we were apartment hunting in May and planned to make a return visit when the weather was better...so we are off for a couple of nights.

The sugar cane harvest is finally in full swing here. We often see smoke rising from the fields surrounding Cairns as the cane fields are burned in preparation for harvesting. (Some fields are torched while others are just harvested without burning....we'll have to find out why). Large harvesters slash wide strips in the dense fields as they fell and strip the cane of its leaves and cut it into 2 ft lengths. Their loads are eventually dumped into trucks or cane train cars for transport to a processing plant. The nearest one to us is at Gordonvale 20kms to the south and smoke from the plant can be seen rising high into the air from miles away. It will be four months or more before the harvesting of the vast cane fields which cover eastern Queensland is complete. Quite the operation!

Well, that's all for this entry. Some photos are attached.

Attempting to master the boomerang