Heron island/cairns

Trip Start Dec 26, 2007

Trip End Aug 01, 2008

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heron island resort and sebel reef in palm cove

Flag of Australia Heron island, cairns, Australia
Wednesday, February 13, 2008

After an aborted helicopter ride due to weather and an unexpected overnight in Gladstone we finally made it out to Heron Island (by ferry). Both of the kids were sick from the choppy waters so we were glad to rest for a few days with nothing to do. The Heron Island resort is right on the Barrier Reef so the access to the coral and marine life was easy. We did some snorkeling and Steve some diving but hit another patch of rainy weather so the visibility wasn't great except at low tide. At night we would walk around the island and see stingrays, sharks, and turtles right at the waters edge. There wasn't much to do for the kids so we played lots of games, read books and listened to Hannah perfect her "Aussie" accent.
I have to say it wasn't our favorite place so far...the abundance of birds (Black Noddies, Mutton Birds and Reef Herons) while all beautiful were so loud at night we couldn't sleep. We left a day early to ensure our safe helicopter passage to the mainland and headed to Cairns. We stayed on the beach there but again couldn't swim because of the toxic blue box jellyfish. We headed to Daintree and Cape Tribulation and hiked in the rainforest (in the pouring down rain...there was no danger involved so Steve and Jack opted out of the hike and Hannah and I got soaked!!) and took a boat down the Daintree river and saw crocodiles in their natural habitat. Very cool. Could just picture Steve Irwin in this environment wrestling with these huge creatures...

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hannah	excited about the heli ride	geared up and ready to go	2nd heli ride 1st was at 4 months in israel
ooportunity to do a comedy show for the pilot	heron island	low tide	view from our room
jack's "quiet time" with his nintendo	hannah at heron island	happy family	rays off the beach
large stingray	palm cove beach outside cairns	just another buffet breakfast	touching the boa
1st wallaby sighting	1st kangaroo	jack...where are you going??	largest pelicans we've ever seen
one of many crocs	curious kangaroo	the endangered cassowary	cape tribulation...our raniest day
1st croc sighting in the wild	large one on the daintree river	flying foxes...like bats.