Great Barrier Reef

The Passions Of Paradise catamaran.

In the Coral Sea.

A parrot fish.

A giant clam at least a metre across.

The bird sanctuary of Michaelmas Cay.

Feeding time.

Thursday, June 30^th

I was up early for a trip on the Coral Sea to the Great Barrier Reef. I drove into town and parked by the harbour where I signed in and boarded the large catamaran Passions Of Paradise. There were about fifteen companies and boats at the dock that could acommodate hundreds of people Some of the boats take a couple of hundred people The one I booked is one of the last locally owned companies and only takes 80 people. We sailed for two hours to the outer reef. The sea was not too rough and no one got seasick. On the boat I got talking to two middle aged guys who are traveling with their families. They are both in education as well and we talked about lots of things as we sailed. One guy, Mark, is a Collingwood footie fan and the other guy, Andrew, barracks (Australian for roots for which has a very different and rude meaning here) for Melbourne, mortal enemies of Collingwood. I explained how Cassie left me a Collingwood hat and that I've been insulted about it several ties on my travels. Andrew said give it back.

Before we got there one of the guides told us “Don't to touch anything because we are in Australia afterall and it may harm you or you could hurt it”.

When we got to the reef some people did diving and the rest of us had two hours to float and swim around the formations. There were lots of different kinds of corals and fish. I had a digital underwater camera and took lots of photos.

We boarded the boat again and had an excellent buffet lunch with lots of salads fruit and a chicken or vegetable curry and rice. Then we motored for a half hour to Michaelmas Cay. The boat moored off the island and we snorkeled to it following the reef to the beach and seeing the variety of fish and corals. The island is a bird and turtle sanctuary and we are only able to walk on a small part of it but I did take photos of the birds and their chicks. There were a few brown gannets there too. Then I snorkeled back to the boat. We saw a large nuber of large fish under the boat who went crazy when the crew threw some food overboard for them.

As we were sailing back one of the guides gave a great presentation about some of the creatures of the reef, the fate of sharks and the state of the reef.

The reef is still beautiful but there is no doubt that it is in trouble like reefs around the world. There were sections of bleached coral and areas that appeared dead or dying. The cause of this is the change in water temperature cause by global warming. Although there were lots of fish I didn't see the large schools I thought I would and I saw none of the big creatures I was hoping to see: turtles (which nest of the island), rays, sharks, groupers, etcetra.

The Cairns Colonial Club Resort is a really interesting place. It is like an all inclusive Caribbean resort complete with palm trees, tropical plants and pools, except, it is not on the ocean. It is just outside of Cairns in a suburb called Manunda. It is a large confusing complex with many blocks of rooms. There are lots of Asian here who are on package tours. I found my room eventually out it the far corner.

I finally heard the song of the kookaburra as there were five of the sitting on a TV antenae. It does sound like a laugh similar to a pack of hyeana. Then I went to the restaurant for the cold buffet of salads after which I sat in the lobby typing up my journal, e-mailing and putting up a couple of posts on the blog because the internet doesn't work in my remote room.

Kuranda

 Black cockatoos

 The parakeet right after he bit through my necklace.

Meeting a cassowary head on.

 Cuddling a koala.

 Freshwater crocodiles

 A boy and his didgeridoo playing for tips.

 The view of the Cairns area from the Kuranda Scenic Railway.

The view from the Skyrail.

Wednesday June 29^th

When I got up in the morning I heard the two guys next door packing up their dirt bikes so I went out and talked to them about their trip to the northern tip of Cape Point. It took them three days to get there along pretty rough roads some paved and some with very rough corrugations and loose sand or red dirt. They told me about a 'spot tracker' they carry that leaves like digital or electronic bread crumbs so they can be traced by family on the internet in case they get in trouble. After they left I talked to the motel owner who was also off on a motorcycle road trip. I was jealous of all the riding but it's better for me to be driving.

Finally I got underway and drove to the town of Kuranda. This is a town up on a mountain plateau that can be reached by a famous scenic railroad. I had been thinking about booking a ride on the train but decided to drive there instead as I was approaching it from the opposite direction. I got to town before all the train tourists so it was very quiet. I wandered around for a bit before finding the Bird Aviary and the Koala Gardens. The aviary was excellent; the kind that you walk into and the birds are free to fly around. There were many species of parrots, water birds, cockatoos (including the black one that I saw yesterday) and a cassowary. I wandered around happily taking photos including some close ups of the cassowary. A parrot landed on my shoulder and bit through the chain I had around my neck. Luckily I didn't loose it or the Canadian coin pendent on it. After about an hour I went to the Koala Garden and saw lizards, wallabies, sugar gliders, wombats and koalas. I paid $20 to be photographed while holding 'Joshy' the koala. Great experience! Very soft and cuddly.

After that I went down to the train station to take a photo of it arriving and it was already there. I looked at the rates and got talking to a couple who were buying a ticket for the train down to Cairns and then the Skyrail back up again. I decided to do the same thing. So I purchased the tickets and then went back to town to explore the shops, markets and aboriginal art shops while waiting for the 2pm departure. I also used the wifi at the tourist information kiosk to book a cheap hotel in Cairns for the night.

I bought a chicken burger for lunch and talked to two guys (a father and son combo) I shared a table with who had just returned from a drive to Cape York in a 4x4. They too talked about how rough the roads were and said they had see a number of people on motorcycles and bicycles!

I rode the train with the couple I had talked to earlier (Darren and Helen) and we had a good time on the old train. It travels along a narrow ledge that hundreds of workers had cut out of the mountain in the late 1800's. It follows the river, but hundreds of feet above it, as it gradually descends to the flat lands around Cairns. There are a number of beautiful waterfalls along the way. When we arrived at the bottom we were loaded into a coach for the transfer to the Skyrail. This is a gondola ride back up to Kuranda. It is over 8km long and is in three sections. You have to get off twice to change sections. The views were spectacular!

All told the two rides took three hours. I was glad of the company and we exchanged e-mails as they live about an hour from Chelsea. Darrin is a mechanic but has done heaps of other interesting things like driving tour buses all over the country, driving through the outback and working on a cattle station. Interesting guy. Then we split up and I drove back down the mountain to the hotel in Cairns. The road down was almost as exciting as the train or the skyrail! It was narrow and full of tight turns as it descended through the forest to the bottom.

I grabbed a Moroccan sandwich from Subway that they have been advertising and went back to the hotel where I fought a losing battle with the internet, but did manage to book another hotel for tomorrow night. 

Cooktown to Laura and Mareeba

Australian cowboys

Dog handler and his cattle herders.

 The main hub of the town of Laura.

 Aboriginal rock wall painting.

 Magnetic termite mound.

 Local Laura kids.

One of the beautiful roads through the region.

 Black cookatoos.

A different type of termite mound.

Tuesday June 28^th

I got up this morning and wandered down to the little restaurant kiosk by the harbour and had a bacon and egg breakfast. Then I phoned home and talked to dad and mom.

After that I had a talk with a man I met yesterday, Gavin Whiteman, who is a teacher in the northern part of the state on the Cape York Peninsula. The further north you go the more remote it gets and the more aboriginals there are. Sort of like Canada except here it gets hotter as you go north! He is an ex-vagabond world traveler who at 44 got married and now has a young son. He teaches in an aboriginal state school. I asked him if I could contact him after the holidays and get some information about the school and the students to share with my Caulfield students, who are largely ignorant of aboriginal issues. He agreed and I hope we can connect.

I took one more tour of the town and took a couple of photos of the inside of the Top Pub from last night. I had hoped to climb Mt. Cook but it was drizzling and the summit was encased in cloud so I set off south.

The weather improved as I went and I enjoyed the countryside. About an hour later I came across a group of cowboys herding cattle. There were a couple of aboriginals and a white girl riding a riding helmet who was out learning from her dad. There was also another cowboy with dogs in cages in the back of a truck. I asked if I could take photos and they consented. I talked to the dog cowboy and found out the dogs are used to help round up the cattle. Two cages: one for good dogs and one for dogs that 'don't listen'.

I continued on my drive and came to another fork in the road (decisions decisions!) and turned west on a 70 km drive to the town of Laura, which is beside a national park which I had seen on Google Maps. I found a very small community with a general store, a road house petrol station, and a motel. I found out the park is off road only so I decided not to go there. I also found a cultural museum describing the history of the area from aboriginal times through the gold rush in the area and then the settlers and ranchers of the stations (Australian for ranch). I found it really interesting and watched a video of the life of the aborigines that showed the rock and cave paintings that are in the national park and some native dancing. I bought a drink at the road house and talked to a motorcycle rider (with the same haircut type as mine) who had stopped for a drink about his travels through the outback.

Now I had to make tracks as I wanted to get to Cairns before sunset. En route I saw a large flock of black cookatoos but couldn't get close enough to get good photos. I also saw thousands of termite mounds in three different styles. One was built by the 'magnetic' termites as they are known because they build a fan shaped structure that always faces in an east-west direction to stop the colony from over heating. The second are smaller and more cone shaped and the third are large and shaped like large mounds. They seem to be three different types of termites and the three types don't overlap and change in areas from north to south.

The trip was taking longer than I expected and I was beginning to think that northern

Australian kilometres were twice as long as southern ones. As I drove I read a number of unusual names of mainly dry water beds: Double Barrel Creek, Shortspoon Creek, Dead Dog Creek, Saltbag Creek, Capsize Creek, Surprise Creek...

As the sun was setting I arrived at Mareeba and realized I wouldn't make it to Cairns (still 60ks away), so I got a room in a small nondescript motel. The proprietor is another motorcycle rider who is planning on riding through North America after he sells the motel, so we had a chat about that. Finally, I went to Coles to get some groceries for dinner and settle in for the night. I watched an amazing show by David Attenborough on bioluminescence called Seeing In The Dark (check it out!).

Mossman Gorge to Cooktown

 The beautiful serene 3km walk through the rainforest by the gorge.

 A kookaburra.

 The harbour of Cooktown with 30 degrees and humidity.

 Cooktown Beach but you can't go in the water because of saltwater crocodiles!

 I had a couple of beers here in the evening with some colourful locals.

 Captain Cook, who landed here on June 17, 1770.

The harbour outside my window.

Monday June 27^th

I was up early and listened to the unbelievably loud calls of a flock of yellow crested cookatoos in a tree by the hotel.

After breakfast I checked out and then drove into Port Douglas to get a few shots of the town in the daylight before beginnng the drive back to Cairns. Then I set out for Mossman Gorge. It was a half hour drive and I arrived before the crowds. I parked at the information centre and decided to walk the two kilometres instead of taking the shuttle. The road passed sugar cane fields before entering the rainforest. I love rainforests the smell of the damp earth and sounds of the birds and the lushness of the forest. When I got to the actual park I took the short hike on the elevated track along the Mossman River. It was basically a river rushing over boulders. But for me the highlight was a three kilometres walking trail loop that wound through the rainforest past innumerable types of trees and vines. I saw no one and loved the solitude and ambience of the forest. I read the signs about the incredible biodiversity of the trees and plants here. Then I walked back to the centre.

I decided to take a different route back to Cairns which instead of following the coast would go more inland and up over the mountains in a longer loop. But when I got to a fork in the road my FOMO kicked in and I decided to drive north instead to Cooktown. The road north out of Daintree yesterday went to Cooktown (the site where Captain Cook first landed to repair the Discovery) but I was disappointed that it was off road only, so I didn't go there. So I was happy to find a different route. The drive took about three hours and wound around the coastal mountains and through the drier interior to finally arrive in Cooktown. Just outside the town was Black Mountain National Park which contains a couple of bizarre mountains which are very different from the other mountains in the area because they are made of thousands of black boulders. Apparently there are species of reptiles, frogs and birds that are unique to this environment.

Once I got to Cooktown I drove around the small community and discovered the harbour. I walked around looking at the fishing boats and watching people fishing from the pier. I had lunch at a fish and chip kiosk by the harbour and it was so hot sitting in the sun that sweat was running off my head into the paper wrapping on my meal!

I drove through town to the local beach, which is another lovely beach with warnings about crocs. I walked its length in the hot sun before returning to town. I walked the length of the main street checking out the colonial era buildings and the statues commemorating Captain Cook's landing here in 1770.

Overlooking the harbour was a lovely motel so I booked a room. I spent the last part of the afternoon lounging by the small motel pool before updating the blog about the last two weeks of school.

In the evening I walked to the other end of the town to the local old Cooktown Hotel and the Top Pub. I enjoyed a couple of beer while watching and listening to the colourful locals. There were three aboriginals (one with a missing hand) and three whites with lots of tattoos and few teeth. The accent here is particularly difficult to discern. I asked the bartender how bad the crocs were in the area and whether or not you could use the beaches at all. He said that people who wanted to go for a swim would take their dog with them and any croc in the area would take a splashing dog before a person. I watched the rest of a local rugby match on the hotel TV before returning to my room for the night.

Daintree National Park

Sugar cane harvesting.

You can't swim from the the beaches or the rivers because of the crocs.

A male cassowary and chick!

The beautiful ancient rainforest apparently the oldest on earth.

A mud skipper. One of the first creatures to venture out of the water onto the land.

The fruit of the tree that is poisonous but the cassowary eats it whole and passes the seed thus propagating the plant.

The ferry across the Daintree River.

Daintree village main drag.

Sunday June 26^th

I woke up early and after breakfast decided to drive north to Daintree National Park and visit Mossman Gorge which everyone at school had told me to see. The first part of the road was through sugar cane fields and past the mountains. Since it was drizzling a little bit when I got to the gorge I decided to leave it until the end of the day.

A little further along the road I came to the Daintree River Ferry Crossing which was a barge pulled across the river by cables. It carried about fifteen vehicles across the croc infested river. The road on the other side is narrow and winds through the rainforest reputed to be the oldest on earth. This is where the rainforest comes right down to the ocean and parts of it are actually growing on sand. I turned off and took the even smaller road past the Daintree Discovery Centre to go to Jindalba National Park further along the road. As I turned a corner I found a cassowary crossing the road! This is a 6ft tall flightless bird with a blue head. I stopped on the road and watched as it stopped and turned and looked back. I had separated the bird from a large chick which was hestitant to cross because of my car. The adult made a couple of sounds and the chick crossed in front of me and they stood there for a minute looking at me and then disappeared into the forest. Very cool!

At the end of this road was the Jindalba Boardwalk through the rainforest. I always feel honoured and awed to be in one of my favourite places, the rainforest, enjoying the majesty of the trees, the quiet and the heavy damp moisture ladden air.

I drove back to the Daintree Information Centre and paid the entrance fee to take a walk through another part of the forest on a raised canopy walk and climb a tower to see the forest from above. They also had a very interesting interpretive centre where I learned that female cassowaries are larger than males and do nothing regarding parenthood other than laying the eggs. The male incubates them and then rears the chicks for about a year. The cassowaries are ancient birds which are vital for the rainforest. They eat forest fruits whole (including poisonous ones) and disperse the seeds in their droppings thus planting new trees. Some of the trees are dependent on this process and scientists have discovered that a seed passing through the bird has a 95 percent chance of germinating but only 5 percent if it doesn't. Reading all the information I was once more reminded not to touch or pick up anything in Australia. There is a plant that has silicon hair around the edge of its leaves which release a burning irritant which causes a severe itching that lasts for months!

After leaving the centre I continued the drive to Cape Tribulation and the Kulki Lookout where I photographed the view and walked along the beautiful beach. There are nice sandy beaches along parts of the road, but they all have signs warning you not to go in the water or near the edge because of the crocs (salties and freshwater ones) and in the summer 'stingers' which are deadly fingernail size jellyfish. Their stings can cause an agonizing death apparently. I have heard a couple of people talk about a woman who was taken by a croc a couple of weeks ago on one of these beaches as she was standing knee deep in the water! You have to wonder why anyone lives up here.

I drove a few kilometres north until the pavement ended. My rental car agreement says I cannot take the car off road on the unpaved roads up here so I turned back. The road continues to Cooktown but is not suitable for anything but a four wheel drive vehicle.

On the way back I took another walk through the forest on a different trail called the Narrdja boardwalk and delighted in the smells of wet earth and salt air. I stopped at a restaurant along the way that sold burgers of croc, roo, emu, wild boar, camel and buffalo. I had a sampler plate of the first three, which was very good.

After taking the return ferry I drove to Daintree Village and had a look around. It is a very small village with not much to offer except a couple small places to stay.

On the way home I stopped at Mossman Gorge but it was too late to do the trek so I got some information for tomorrow and drove back to the hotel (and my two bedroom apartment) for the evening.

Port Douglas, Queensland

My little Wickedcamper rental draws lots of attention.

A couple of the beaches along the coastal drive from Cairns to Port Douglas.

The beautiful arrangements of sand excavated by the bubbler crabs.

Sunset over the beach at Port Douglas.

A section of the main drag of the touristy town of Port Douglas.

Editor's note: The 'm' ',' '.' keys on the laptop I am using have stopped working for some unknown reason. As a result I have to cut and paste those three characters. If I miss some please forgive me. Hopefully I can get it fixed when I return to Melbourne.

Saturday, June 25^th.

Today I flew from Melbourne to Cairns, Queensland via Tiger Airlines. The flight was a budget flight, with no TV's, no food and no leg room. However, I got there safely. The change in temperature was evident as soon as I got off the plane on the runway. It was 28 degrees and partly sunny, so I ditched my down and sweater in my luggage and took a shuttle bus into town to the offices of WickedCampers and found no one there. I knew that it was an after hours pick up, as they close at noon, but I didn't know where to get my car. So I went across the street to the Tourist Information Shop and she kindly let me use the password on my computer so I could look up the information I had. Turns out the car was outside the gates and the keys were in the exhaust and I didn't have talk to anyone or sign anything or show anyone my new licence that I had been sweating about.

I thought about where I wanted to stay and decided I'd drive up to Port Douglas and stay there, as there are a few things I want to see in the area. I used the website Wotif and booked a room at the Oaks Lagoons. So I got the car and installed my iPod and GPS programmed it for Port Douglas, but it said it couldn't calculate the route because the route data was full. Argh! So I drove around blindly, initially heading the wrong direction, until I found a sign directing me to Port Douglas. It was about a 60km drive and most of it was right along the coast driving north.

As it was getting late I decided to drive into town (about 10km away) and see what was there. I checked out the beach and walked up to a lookout over the area, then I walked around town. It is a very tourist little town with lots of restaurants and shops. I didn't feel like eating a big meal by myself so I bought some groceries and headed back to the room. Turns out the 'room' is a two bedroom apartment, complete with kitchen, livingroom, washer, dryer and dishwasher! I worked on the computer for a bit, but you only get a half hour of computer time and then they charge for it. I saw hundreds of large bats flying over the road at dusks, couldn't get photos though, maybe tomorrow. I went to bed in anticipation of an early start in the morning.

Week Eleven Term Two

 Our set for the First Fleet expo.

 The gathering crowd of parents, teachers and convicts.

 The crew and convicts singing Botany Bay.

Captain Phillip and his crew singing Waltzing Matilda.

Goodbye to two great teachers: Michelle and Matt.

June 20-24^th.

This was the last week of term and was very busy. About a third of our students are on early vacation to France, so we didn't do too much new. We had practices for our First Fleet Expo on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and the big day was Thursday. It went off well except that we started a bit early than we had advertised and a number of parents were upset that they arrived after we were finished. Oops.

On Friday we had an end of term assembly where Joel had all the grade teams sing a song they had been working on and we said goodbyes to three staff who are leaving. Nurse Michelle has got a promotion, teacher Michelle is taking a leave to complete her masters and Matt is changing schools. Joel also had the school 'band' play two numbers: Stand By Me and Smoke on the Water. Quite amusing.

All week I had been looking and waiting for my driver's licence. I had sent a photo of the expired one and filled out all the forms electronically but I was worried that they would want to see the real thing when I picked up the car. I even phoned dad again on Friday asking for the tracking number to see if I could pick it up somewhere. The website said it was being delivered today, and it arrived at school just before the assembly and an hour before school ended. If it didn't come today I wouldn't get it until after the two week school holiday.