Far North Queensland (FNQ)

The Aussies use short forms and acronyms for just about everything.

After leaving Bill at the Brisbane airport we flew to Cairns, picked up a car and drove to Port Douglas about an hour north of Cairns.  This is GBR (Great Barrier Reef) country and of course you have to go snorkelling.  So I just have to tell everyone that I’m not an avid snorkeller at all and would prefer not to, but we are in snorkelling territory.  And although Gary acknowledges my unwarranted fear (after all I am the better swimmer of the two of us), he also thinks I should go, regardless.  So off we went to the ‘baby’ reef – the Low Isles as they’re known, instead of the Outer Reef (for the big people who don’t have melt downs like me).  Anyway………..we only did a short morning instead of the all-day excursion, and part of that time was taken up in the glass bottom boat (children and elderly people, oh yeah, and Gary and I) and then the beach and on came the fins and the goggles and snorkel.  And that’s when I felt the melt down coming.  But I got over that and Gary gently coaxed me into the water.  I’m sure it didn’t look very graceful in the backward walk into the water and continuously falling due to my fins getting caught in the sand, but eventually it all came together and the coral was really amazing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These photos look like I’m having a great time – smile for the camera!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Although Port Douglas was a quaint town (or at least it probably was a few years ago), it was very touristy (everything is about the tours and packages, and they all cost a fair bit).  I think everyone, except for maybe the restaurant/tour company industry (and even many of them were on work visas) was a tourist there.   Besides snorkelling there is the rain forests and gorges.  We drove to Mossman Gorge in Daintree National Park and had a lovely, easy 2.5 km hike, and then drove to Cape Tribulation (don’t you just love the name) – that took almost 2 hours to get there.  It’s probably only 30 minutes worth of kms but the winding roads and speed bumps and ‘watch for cassowaries’ signs and the ferry that crosses the river……….but it was all worth it.

I love this sign entering the beach at Port Douglas.  It sure made me want to swim, NOT! (double click for a larger look)  At least there was a bottle of vinegar in case you got stung by a jelly fish, although if I remember correctly, someone in one of my classes once said that you can urinate on the sting (same idea – ammonia, I guess).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We decided to try a little taste of local Australian food – I don’t actually think the Aussies eat it – Crocodile croquettes (croc croqs) and Kangaroo steak, and I can tell you why they haven’t become world renowned – a bit boring.   And I know this isn’t Australian, but we both tried snails for the first time.  I’ll try most things once but I usually encourage Gary to get it as his meal so that I’m not stuck with it if I don’t like it.  Snails, probably like crocodile and roo meat, are really all about the sauce.

After 4 days in Port Douglas we headed back south to Cairns where we spent 3 days.  We both liked Cairns although quite a bit bigger than Port Douglas but it had local people in the city as well as tourists and some art galleries and restaurants that weren’t just surviving because of the tourist industry (locals ate there too!).

If you’ve been following us on our travels you’ll know that we like botanic gardens, so we couldn’t resist visiting the one in Cairns.  And we also love markets and the one in Cairns was a bit more interesting then some because of it’s Asian influence, and it was also quite bohemian as it seemed to also cater to the backpackers.  There must have been at least 5 local varieties of mangos – YUM!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh, and did I mention the bats here?  Huge!  Unfortunately we didn’t get a photo that would show their size, but they had at least 2 feet wing spans.  They flew around in a colony in the evening right in the middle of town.  YIKES!

Stay tuned for our next post – we’ve booked a 2-day/3-night tour to Uluru (Ayres Rock) on November 3.  Flying to Alice Springs from Cairns and then flying from Alice Springs to Melbourne.