Cairns 2
Trip Start
Jan 17, 2008
1
9
29
Trip End
Sep 02, 2008
Cairns,
Australia
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Last thursday I went for a really nice drive up to Port Douglas with Libby along the Captain Cook highway - supposed to be one of the most beautiful costal drives in the world (and it was). Port Douglas is just a small town with a huge marina where quite a lot of the dive trips go from. After lunch we had a quick drive up to Mossman Gorge which is a beautiful area which is perfect for swimming (but a little cold!)
Friday was the hottest day they have had in Cairns for ages (37 degrees) and it felt it too as it was so humid. Fortunately I spent most of the day indoors at Tjapukai, the Aboriginal Culture Park, which was really interesting. There was a short film about the first people to inhabit FNQ and about how white settelers had caused them all problems. Then there was another film about their superstitions and their beliefs. The best part of the afternoon though were the dances that were performed in the traditional way (see video clip). We also got to have a go at throwing a boomerang and a couple of spears which was quite good fun - unfortunately my boomerang didn't come back :(.
The weekend was fairly uneventful with sunday being a complete washout. We had 15cm of rain in just a couple of hours.
Yesterday it was still quite grey so I thought that a trip on the Skyrail might be a good idea. The skyrail is a 7.5 km long gondola above the rainforest up to Kuranda. There are 2 stops along the way; one is at Barron Falls which were spectacular due to the rain from Sunday (see photos). Kuranda was very pretty off of the main roads and down by the river but it is very touristy and there is nothing much there apart from shops and restaurants. The trip back to Cairns was beautiful too by the Kuranda Scenic Railway - an old train that takes almost 2 hours to wind its way back down the mountains and through the rainforest.
Hopefully I will book my trip up to Cape Tribulation in about 5 minutes and also my dive on the Great Barrier Reef to keep me occupied for the next few days.
I think that I will start heading south towards Sydney at the begining of next week and if i have time I will hopefully make to Melbourne too.
Will put photos up soon
Lots of love
x x x x
