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This morning we walked the Cairns Esplanade. All of it. We took a few hours to stroll along the 2.5km of waterfront boardwalks, making it as far as the wharf and back, and getting an ice-cream along the way.
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Headed up to the Atherton Tablelands today. First stop was Emerald Creek for some fuel and a quick look at the coffee trees. Next was The Peanut Place, where they sell all manner of peanut related products. Then onto The Crystal Caves in Atherton which is an awesome rock shop and museum. In the museum they have The Empress of Uruguay which is the world’s largest Amethyst Geode.
Headed down to the wharf early this morning for our trip on Ocean Freedom out to the Great Barrier Reef.
The trip out to our first stop at Upolu Cay took an hour. We jumped straight in the water for some snorkelling. Got up early this morning and headed up to Hartley’s Crocodile Adventures to finally check out some crocs. We started the day with a boat ride in the lagoon where the crocs jump up right next to the boat. The lagoon is home to twenty-one crocs including Ted, the second biggest captive croc in the world.
Said goodbye to Cooktown and headed back south this morning. Stopped off at Port Douglas, where we went up to the lookout and then the waterfront. We had gourmet burgers for lunch and did a little shopping before heading back to Cairns along the coast road.
Up early for the drive to Cooktown. The country up here is a strange mix between desert and rainforest, and the start of our trip was quite foggy. First stop was Mount Carbine for fuel where I took some awesome photos of Pale-headed Rosella and then realised my memory card was still in the computer, d’oh!
Lil Sis and I were up early to start our day with a guided bird walk around Julatten. Saw heaps of lifers including Scarlet Honeyeater, Double-eyed Fig-parrot, Papuan Frogmouth, Metallic Starling, Chestnut-breasted Mannikin and Forest Kingfisher.
Headed out of Cairns this morning towards Mareeba. Stopped at the Henry Ross Lookout which had great views of Cairns and the sea. Further up the hill we took the turn to Barron Falls which we thought would be a quick stop but we had to drive through Kuranda to get there. On the drive through we discovered that Kuranda was home to the largest butterfly aviary in Australia but as it didn’t open for another forty-five minutes we headed out to the falls first.
Started the day with a cooked breakfast at the motel and went to the grocery store for some supplies. With that done, we headed out to the Botanic Gardens. Wandered through the rainforest and checked out the tropical gardens and of course did some bird watching.
Up at 4:00am to catch the 6:45am coach to Sydney. Arrived at Sydney Airport at 11:00am. Checked in and after heading through security, where Mum had to take her boots off and run them through the scanner, and I got pulled up and questioned about my spotting scope (which I’d known I would), we got some Subway for lunch and hung around at Gate 34 waiting for our 2:15pm flight to Cairns.
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