East Bedarra Island Retreat

We got to Lake Tinaroo via a quick stop over at a local B&B - our first real bed for nearly 3 months! Tinaroo was pretty chilled, except for the kids' rave party on Saturday night. The fish weren't biting probably because they were too busy dodging the water skiiers, but we snared a haul of fresh water lobster for lunch!

... mostly hard) and plenty of fish. We did see a fair amount of sharks, although no Hammerheads as we had hoped. We also saw one Manta Ray and a turtle. For me, the top dives were the Shark Feed and another called "Steve's Bommie", which I said they should rename to "Steve's The Bomb" or "World's Best Safety Stop".
Steve's Bommie was basically a huge hill/mound of various corals. The fish life here was immense. There were various schools of fish ...

... was a pretty quiet day but it was nice to get a chance to explore the little tourist backpacking beach town that is Cairns. I could really see myself staying and working here for a while someday!

After our afternoon in the city, we went to eat at Cam and Tara's favorite place in Yorkey's Knob, the Boat Club at the marina. We ate some delicious seafood in the outdoor restaurant overlooking the ocean at the marina. Another perfect day comes to a close. :]

... just sort of floating along on the surface. The visibility was not the greatest so I couldn't see too far, which explains my surprise when I looked down and I was swimming right over a turtle! I was quite happy since I had been hoping to see a turtle again. They're so graceful and lovely. I was disappointed that I didn't have a camera at that point, but it turned out for the best. He started to swim a little and I ...

Moin alle mitnand**! Ja Max lebt noch! Da ihr mich jetzt alle dazu gedraengt habt mal wied** was von mir ho**en zu lassen und meinen Travelblog mal wied** zu aktualisi**en, habe ich mich heute dazu entschlossen mal wied** was von mir ho**en zu lassen. Also auf diesem Wege auch sorry dass ichs grad mim schreiben net so genau nehm! Ab** and****seits: WAS GLAUBT IHR DENN EIGENTLICH??? BIN ICH HIER NUR ZUM BLOGSCHREIBEN DA ODER WAS?? ICH HAB ...

... We spent the weekend in the Yorkies Knob Boat club inaugural Barramundi Fishing Tournament. It was good fun but it rained pretty much throughout the weekend. We didn't manage to catch any barramundi but we caught a couple different smaller fish which we cooked up into a fish sandwich. Despite none of us on the boat catching a fish we all won door prizes, I got a knife kit (should be easy to get through customs), Tarrah got a set of lures and Kent got a rod. All ...

... the rainforest canopy. There were some stunning views of the rainforest, mountains, and ocean in the background. The sky rail ended in a small tourist town of Korunda. I wandered through a butterfly sanctuary and took a scenic train back through the rainforest and overlooking the gorge. It was a nice quiet day. Rachel and I found dinner and settled in for our big trip tomorrow. Hoping for another exciting journey to a new place. We'll see what happens.

A few parting thoughts about Cairns.  It's hot here! A tropical paradise .....or an open air sauna for Scandinavians.  Forget about keeping up with your laundry.  Know that you and your clothes will be soaking wet within 30 minutes of showering.  A little travel tip you might appreciate....Since using deodorant in a a traditional manner is a losing proposition, I've resorted to applying ...

... bird swoop down and fly off with a baby bandicoot in its mouth. It seems there is more danger around here than when international guests mistakenly think they’re just large and furry rats.

We had the evening free to do whatever we chose and I was amongst a fairly large group that ate in an Irish pub before going on to The Woolshed. I wasn’t quite so impressed here second time around. Perhaps it was because we didn’t have the prime ...

... namely the Daintree National Park and The Great Barrier Reef. We were now in true wilderness country, where only four wheel drive vehicles are allowed to traverse the unsealed roads. They had obviously been upgraded recently though because it surprised me how smooth and well graded the gravel surfaces were. Not that our ride was smooth of course, Dale had us bouncing around in our seats like balls in a pinball machine.


It was early evening when we reached ...