Day 1So, we said goodbye to Uluru and headed to Cairns, a city on the upper northeastern coast of Australia. Because it is in the tropics, right off the Great Barrier Reef, and in the middle of a rainforest there is quite the draw for tourists. While planning the trip, we figured we would get some beach days in at Cairns since it's got a tropical climate. We didn't take into account the fact that it is in the middle of a rainforest and we were going during the wet season. Even if we did go on a day with lots of sunshine we wouldn't be able to go swimming because of the deadly jellyfish. When I say deadly, I don't mean the cute and cuddly jellyfish that sting you, cause some pain, and then you and the jellyfish make up and go have coffee together. These jellyfish really do kill you so the beaches are completely abandoned for a few months a year when they are around, which happened to coincide with our trip. The first day, we actually didn't arrive in town until around dinner time, so we just went out to dinner and called it a day.
Day 2 (Rainforest) The first actual day there we went on a rainforest tour. We got picked up at our hostel by this four-wheel drive looking contraption that makes a Hummer look like a mini-Cooper. It drove us around in the rainforest for a bit and then we went on a pontoon ride along this river in the middle of the rainforest.| During the entire drive and the boat ride it was pouring rain, big shocker since we were in the rainforest. If you've seen the pictures where Colleen and I are in our ponchos, it was this day. Anyway, after the rain died down and the water level on the road we were driving on dropped below three feet (wish I was joking) we went deeper into the rainforest and walked around a little bit on what they call "board walks" meaning walking trails that aren't dirt, but boards. When Colleen and I read the pamphlet we thought the boardwalks would be similar to beach boardwalks where we could win stuffed animals from carnies by throwing some darts or something. Not so much. |
Raindrops keep fallin' on our heads ... |
Day 3 (Great Barrier Reef)The second full day we went on a ferry in the morning to Fitzroy Island, which is on the reef. It was down pouring again, but we were just going to go snorkeling so the rain didn't really matter too much. The island was far enough off the coast that we were informed the deadly jellyfish didn't hang out there, only the cuddly ones. We wore wet suits anyway when we went. We snorkeled all morning until Colleen and I both had huge open sores on our feet from coral that was lodged in our flippers. This beach wasn't a traditional sand beach, but was made up of centuries of old coral that had washed up along the coast that's rather sharp. Some of it had gotten into our flippers so that wasn't too cool, but the snorkeling was good times. After snorkeling the sun had come out so we hiked to the nudey beach. I'm not making that up, the beach was actually called "Nudey Beach" and it was clothing optional. We weren't really expecting a huge crowd at the beach since it was off-peak season for tourists and it had been raining all day so there was literally fifty people or so on this entire island, and it was a mile hike to get to the nudey beach. Sure enough, there was this one random dude chilling on a log in the middle of the beach (with clothes on) when we arrived. I'm a practicing nudist so I ran to the end of the beach and jumped on in with my trunks left behind on the beach. After some coaxing I got Colleen to join me and then the random dude joined in the fun. We all splashed around naked and sang Kumbaya and had a grand time, until some random tourist couple showed up to the beach with a camcorder and was filming everything ... so if you see my white ass on the Internet it's all legit. I was on a nude beach so it's cool.
Wish I could be, part of your world ... |
A real life nudey beach!!! |
Day 4 (Animal Parks)The third full day we rented a car again because we wanted to drive up and go to the crocodile farm. On the way we stopped in this village called Kuranda, which is like Vermont squeezed into a village. There are all these hippy artists that have stands and sell their stuff. It is also the home to the Koala Gardens, BirdWorld, and the Butterfly Sanctuary. We got the value pack and hit up all three. We couldn't go to the koala gardens without dropping a few extra bucks and actually holding a koala, so we did that. Koalas sleep like 20 hours a day so they basically just pluck one off a tree and hand it to you, and the koala is groggy and looking like pissed at you for waking it up, but I thought the pictures turned out cool. You can be the judge. After Kuranda, we went to the crocodile farm, which was outstanding. They take you out on this raft where crocodiles are swimming around you and if you put your arm out the window they'll bite it off so they tell you not to do that. After the raft ride, we went to a crocodile show where this guy (no, not Steve Irwin) messes around with a crocodile and hand feeds him minnows and does other stuff. Good times.
Nick, Colleen, and Kuddles the Koala |
Day 5 (Tablelands)| For our last day in Cairns, we went driving around again in the surrounding area south of Cairns called the "Tablelands." While on this little drive we saw such things as the world's largest fig tree and drove around on this waterfall circuit, which had some pretty nice waterfalls. I also got stung by a bee. I was all worried cause everything else in Australia is deadly, so I figured the bee bite was going to kill me so that kind of worried me for a bit. After an hour I was still conscious so I figured I would be all right. At the end of our little road trip, we stopped at a cheese shop in the middle of nowhere fittingly called "Out of the Whey." It was on this road that was seriously five feet across at its widest point. We had some tea and crumpets, stopped by one last waterfall, and then headed home. |
That's a big tree. |
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