Cairns

Cape Tribulation,Daintree tour – The tour was with Tropic Wings and pickup was at 0715 about 1 mile from where I was staying so I had a nice walk before I got to ride for the day. One thing in Queensland is that everyone needs to ride with a seat belt on or a $1,000 AUD fine or about $700 USD. We traveled along the captain cook highway which went along the coast line. The habitat wildlife park was the first stop on the tour after pickups. The habitat has 4 areas and I was able to go through 3 of the areas.  The habitat was quite nice but kinda like a zoo. We were able to feed some birds and the wallabies were quite friendly and as they knew we could feed them some sweat potatoes. They were soft and we even were able to see a baby feeding on mom and also a mom carrying a baby in their pouch. 

There was plenty of sugar cane fields in the area being the main crop. The cane fields used to be burned then cut. The burning got rid of the rats and snakes allowing the farmers to cut the cane without issue. The cane is cut in fields with a machine now and is loaded onto rail cars. Whenthe cars are full the locomotives are called in to take the cane cut into 12 inch lengths to the mill. The mills make raw sugar cane but not milled sugar. The mill we stopped at and looked at from the outside makes its own power with the steam from the refining process but also provides electricity to the town. The cane is taken from the stalk and the water content is removed giving us the raw sugar cane. 

Daintree National park was our next stop and has two areas and is over 1,000k square. The rain forest gets 4-6 meters of rain annually hence rain forest. At the summit of Thortans peek gets 10 meters of rain during the rainy season. Daintree is one of two places where the rain forest meets the beach.  The beach also joins the reef so that is a national heritage site 

We passed a Barramundi fish farm and were told that all barramundi fish are all male when born but if they move to salt water at 30 cm they can change to female. The farm is all male since it is fresh water

A Cassawory bird does not fly but does have large talons that will kill you. They are found all over the park but we did not see any on our journey. The female is territorial and will fight other females but not males. The female is also a bit of a hussy as she will mate with all the males she can during mating season. When she is done mating she will find a male with a nice nest and lay her eggs.  She then leaves and the male will sit on the eggs for 50 days and he looses all kinds of weight since he does not leave the nest. He will look after the chicks, 1-4 of them, for the next 12 to 18 months and then tell them to shove off. Once he is free of chicks he looks for another female to place her eggs in his nest and mate. 

We had to take a ferry to get to the National Park and the ferry is on a cable! The ferry goes between the two sides of the Daintree river about every 10 minutes and is the only way to access the park. There are people who live on the park side of the river who are homesteaders with no city water, sewage, electricity or even mail. These are hearty people like homesteaders in the US. Lunch was at a little spot outside of the park and they had a little swimming hole. Some on our tour did swim in the water as it was crystal clear. I only put my feet in and had the fish come up and enjoy my toes. We stopped for ice cream with exotic flavors. The ice cream was not bad but I would have liked to have some vanilla in lieu of the coconut. The last stop on the tour was an hour on the Daintree river to look for some crocs! The captain of the boat is what you would expect for a croc hunter captain. He, his wife and dog go on the last tour of the day. We spotted a tiny female in the brush covering the river, a disappointment. Everyone was looking for Scarface who is over 16 feet long, over 800 lbs and has no teeth! Scarface is the alpha male in the area of the tour. He got his scars from all the fighting to keep his territory. Scarface also has to drown his prey and then let them soften up so he can “gum” his food. As luck would have it, he came out of an off shoot of the river and boy was he big! He did not care about us being the celebrity and all.

After the boat ride it was the 1 hour home on the bus when many took naps. I did not nap but did have the driver drop me off at the store closer to my place I was staying.

Sugar cane field

Snorkeling on Great Barrier Reef day 1 – I went snorkeling the first day on a boat Passions of Paradise. The boat was a catamaran sailboat. Passions is more of a snorkel or introduction to diving boat. We however did not sail but motored out to the reef and it was a 2 hour journey. When completing the paperwork on the journey the crew was concerned about my blood thinners.  There were three different crew members who came and spoke with me about the blood thinners and suggested that I make sure I stay 1 meter from the coral.  I also was assigned a guide to keep watch of me, Lilly and Aussie.  Corinda, from The Netherlands but no Dutch accent, came by and made sure that I can use my gear.  So on with the mask, snorkel and fins I had to put on within the cabin.  We also were given a stinger suit to wear which was to protect from jellyfish stings, it is jellyfish season.  One type of jellyfish will kill in 3-5 minutes and the other will cause you pain of 10 out of 10 for days.  The second also will flair up when you have a change in body temperature.  The boat ride was much better than whale watching as the seas were not as rough.  The two hours was peaceful on the ride out. Note to self, the bar does not open until 1000 and I am going to hold off until the way home anyway.  There was a group of young girls who were on a birthday trip with us and they were a hoot and locals from Carins.  We got the 20 minute call meaning we are 20 minutes from the anchor point and everyone is putting on their stinger suits.  There was also a group of 21 people and while putting their suits on we had a young lady get sick. She was not the only one feeling ill on the way out. Milo reef was our first stop. The initial entry into the water was not smooth but I do have to say that I was able to settle down well.  The reef is full of color and is not very deep as I was able to see lots of fish and coral. Initially I went in found my “guide” Lilly and then made my way to drifting through the reef. I do enjoy getting my breathing under control and just looking and watching the fish swim.  Seeing a small reef shark and a couple of turtles was the highlight of the first tour.  The coral came in all shapes and sizes as well as colors. I am amazed at how mother nature is able to create so many wonderful things for us to enjoy. The crew of the ship were very professional as they have to deal with 100 or more people daily with many of the people not listening. We had to remove our stinger suits and hang them to dry while we head to our next destination but I don’t think they are going to get very dry. Putting it on the second time will be even more difficult but having the suit is important. Getting out of the suit was hard as it was very sticky to you my body.  I figured it was going to be hard but was a bit rough to get your suit off.  The boat tie off to mooring balls and they are attached to the bottom with three heavy concrete blocks tied together.  When I exited the water and took off my mask and was bending over it was a waterfall of water out of my nose, my sinus cavity is cleaned out for sure. The second area we went to was 15 minutes from the first spot but it was only a few yards and we went backwards the entire time. The boat tie off to mooring balls and they are attached to the bottom with three heavy concrete blocks tied together.  The second time snorkeling was at three sisters.  The sisters were much different than the other part of the reef. This was not as colorful but was much deeper than the first.  The fish were more plentiful and colorful here. I also saw a larger shark here at the end of my time in the water. I was more aware of the boat and did not go as far away when I needed to get a call from the boat to come back. Our return trip the 2 hours went a bit quicker as the girls were a bit drunk and full of joy. The birthday girl got a cake from the first mate.   I enjoyed speaking with the girls on the ride home. They are a fine group of young ladies enjoying their day on the water. 

Great Barrier Reef day 2 – I was excited to dive but was not able to dive due to the medications I am taking. I was on the Silverswift, a boat geared to diving but I had to snorkel. I could have gotten a physical here in Carins to be able to dive but without that I am regulated to snorkeling only. I am a bit disappointed but don’t want to die nor get the tour operator in trouble. We will have three chances to snorkel today on the reef.  The boat’s crew seems a bit less friendly today.  They were not saying hello to new guests when they went by or having friendly chatting that I was able to observe. In the harbor was a large private vessel that was being built by Steve Jobs before his death.  The vessel is long and sleek with multiple levels and lots of glass. The boat traveling to the reef was much faster today than yesterday as it took just over 1.5 hours before our first stop.  We did make a pit stop along the way to drop a crew member off at a platform in the ocean that the tour company uses for guests to snorkel and dive. The crew member stays on the boat for 4 days and 3 nights then has 3 days off. Their job is to maintain the equipment and tend to the guests when they arrive.  Might get lonely as the only crew member but could be fun as I am sure they can snorkel and dive at night though it may not be safe.  Our first dive spot Flynn Reef, was a nice spot with plenty of fish even a six foot shark!   The second spot was about 300 yards further down and was very similar to the first spot and is called Thetford Reef.  Between the first two spots I was snorkeling for close to 2 hours.  After a nice lunch we went to our third spot and it was maybe 600 yards from number two spot, Pellowe Reef.  This spot had plenty of coral but was in a strong current. Swimming back to the boat from about 300 yards was harder than I would have liked. I ended the third trip before we had to get out due to being tired after 2 full days of snorkeling.  This trip left at 0830 and we got back to the dock about 1630 when yesterday it was off the dock at 0800 and back at 1700.  All in all both days were quite fun and enjoyable.