Sorry, loyal followers, I don't think I'm going to get around to finishing this blog.
It was fun while it lasted!
Friday, July 2, 2010
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Thursday, 18th June: Daintree Forest
Today we're all booked on a day tour of the Daintree with DownUnder Tours. Our tour guide, Bruce, picks us up from the hotel. We have a tour bus all to ourselves because there are so many of us. Bruce is an interesting character who provides non-stop commentary and we learn a lot about him during the day. He used to be a film editor for television, and worked with the ABC Natural History Unit for several years as well as news and current affairs programs. He has strong views on several subjects. Our bus is luxurious, and we all have window seats.
We head north from Port Douglas up the Captain Cook Highway, through the town of Mossman. Our first stop is Mossman Gorge, where we do a walk along the river and through the rainforest. The river's running quite high after rain. Bruce points out the vegetation - lots of figs strangling trees, vines, and palms. Wait a While and Mother in Law's tongue both have barbs and spikes to catch unwary walkers. A new walkway is being constructed that will give wheelchair access. We watch out for cassowaries but don't see any - they're rare. The Daintree tropical rainforest is the oldest in the world - estimates range from 130 to 150 million years old. The soil is shallow, so the trees have roots that spread a long way on the surface and interlace with each other, and they can survive cyclones.
Back on the bus we head for the Daintree River where we take a wildlife cruise. Mick, our skipper, is very good at finding wildlife and birds and we see several pythons draped over branches, as well as several birds. Mick shows us a female crocodile and a couple of babies basking on the bank, and then we head downstream to meet Fat Albert, who is an enormous male crocodile - also basking in the sun. We keep a safe distance and Mick tells us about times when Fat Albert has chased his boat. A toddler was taken by a crocodile from a family's back yard on this stretch of river a few years ago.
Bruce picks us up at the ferry after our cruise and we have a barbeque lunch on someone's farm.
We drive up to Cape Tribulation and stop at several beautiful and isolated beaches. Bruce tells us a hair raising story about toddlers playing at the water's edge and Bruce seeing a crocodile in the water and rescuing the kids and abusing their parents. He shows us where stingrays bask in the shallows (though we don't see any) and explains the ecology of mangroves. Cape Tribulation was named by Captain Cook after the Endeavour ran aground on a reef and had to be repaired.
On the way home we stop at the Daintree Icecream factory for icecream: a scoop each of wattleseed, passionfruit, jackfruit and sapote (which tastes like chocolate custard).
Sue and I have leftovers for dinner, we're too buggered to go out, and we watch MasterChef (which Sue has introduced me to ) and go to bed early.
We head north from Port Douglas up the Captain Cook Highway, through the town of Mossman. Our first stop is Mossman Gorge, where we do a walk along the river and through the rainforest. The river's running quite high after rain. Bruce points out the vegetation - lots of figs strangling trees, vines, and palms. Wait a While and Mother in Law's tongue both have barbs and spikes to catch unwary walkers. A new walkway is being constructed that will give wheelchair access. We watch out for cassowaries but don't see any - they're rare. The Daintree tropical rainforest is the oldest in the world - estimates range from 130 to 150 million years old. The soil is shallow, so the trees have roots that spread a long way on the surface and interlace with each other, and they can survive cyclones.
Back on the bus we head for the Daintree River where we take a wildlife cruise. Mick, our skipper, is very good at finding wildlife and birds and we see several pythons draped over branches, as well as several birds. Mick shows us a female crocodile and a couple of babies basking on the bank, and then we head downstream to meet Fat Albert, who is an enormous male crocodile - also basking in the sun. We keep a safe distance and Mick tells us about times when Fat Albert has chased his boat. A toddler was taken by a crocodile from a family's back yard on this stretch of river a few years ago.
Bruce picks us up at the ferry after our cruise and we have a barbeque lunch on someone's farm.
We drive up to Cape Tribulation and stop at several beautiful and isolated beaches. Bruce tells us a hair raising story about toddlers playing at the water's edge and Bruce seeing a crocodile in the water and rescuing the kids and abusing their parents. He shows us where stingrays bask in the shallows (though we don't see any) and explains the ecology of mangroves. Cape Tribulation was named by Captain Cook after the Endeavour ran aground on a reef and had to be repaired.
On the way home we stop at the Daintree Icecream factory for icecream: a scoop each of wattleseed, passionfruit, jackfruit and sapote (which tastes like chocolate custard).
Sue and I have leftovers for dinner, we're too buggered to go out, and we watch MasterChef (which Sue has introduced me to ) and go to bed early.
Wednesday, 17th June: Wildlife Habitat
Just out of town near the Captain Cook Highway is the Wildlife Habitat, and on Wednesday we all go there for Breakfast with the Birds. They have several large aviaries with different types of habitat. The Cafe is in the Wetland habitat, and there are wooden tables in a paved area where we can eat. The buffet is set up in an adjacent area where the birds can't get in, but there are plenty of birds around our table. Rainbow Lorikeets are really cheeky and put their heads in our juice glasses to drink the juice. There's a Stone Curlew walking around the tables, and lots of spoonbills roosting in the morning sunshine on the cover overhead.
Pete and Sue and I go on all the tours and presentations. I buy a checklist from the Cafe so I can mark birds off as I see them. The tours of the Rainforest and Wetlands are led by one of the staff, who is pushing a trolley full of different types of food. I'm really interested to see what they feed the different types of birds. There's chopped fruit, moistened dog kibble, kangaroo meat, different types of grain, nectar power and liquid nectar. Our guide says the first feed is done at 6 am and this is just a top up. She points out birds for us and identifies them as she does her rounds and answers questions. She's very knowledgeable. The birds are remarkably tame and she says most of them are either rescued wild birds that can't be released, or they have been reared in captivity. They have some beautiful eclectus parrots and lots of other birds -- too many to list here. They have the only pair of breeding jabirus in captivity and we see them do a greeting dance as the male returns to the nest.
Then it's time for the koala presentation, and a different staff member talks about koalas and there's a photo opportunity (for a price). Then he does a reptile presentation with a python and a small saltwater crocodile (with sellotape around it's nose). More photo opportunities. The next tour is the Grasslands and we see a dozen newly hatched Magpie Geese goslings - very cute. Our guide on this tour is also topping up the food trays. They have emus and kangaroos and wallabies and koalas and a tree kangaroo. I have kangaroo food to give away but all the animals are so well fed they're not interested.
I'm having so much fun I 'decide to stay for a 1:30 pm Behind the Scenes talk, and I persuade Sue to stay too. Pete goes back to town with the others. We have lunch at the Cafe and Vo Vo the Magpie Goose wants to sit on our table and won't take no for an answer. We sit and watch the kangaroos until it's time for our tour. It's just me and Sue. Our guide takes us out the back. We see the weaning pens where a couple of wallabies are resting. One has been hand reared and is now out of the pouch and living in the pen until he's old enough to join the mob. Another is a female who's lost some fur because she's been harassed by males wanting to mate. We see the tree kangaroo breeding pen. Then we visit a container with rescued animals in hospital cages. There's a very cute kangaroo joey in a tote bag lined with towels; and a striped ringtail possum who's been hand reared and is very tame.
We also visit the food preparation area where all the feed is made up, and see their eucalpyt plantation. They go through a huge amount of gum tree branches, feeding the koalas, who only eat the tips and are quite fussy.
Our guide has a Masters degree in biology and did her thesis on wallabies in New Zealand. She says most of the staff have degrees or have done TAFE courses in vet nursing or wildlife rehab.
It's all really interesting and I'm glad we stayed for the extra tour. We catch the local tourist shuttle bus back to our hotel. It's State of Origin football tonight so the boys are at the pub. Again.
Pete and Sue and I go on all the tours and presentations. I buy a checklist from the Cafe so I can mark birds off as I see them. The tours of the Rainforest and Wetlands are led by one of the staff, who is pushing a trolley full of different types of food. I'm really interested to see what they feed the different types of birds. There's chopped fruit, moistened dog kibble, kangaroo meat, different types of grain, nectar power and liquid nectar. Our guide says the first feed is done at 6 am and this is just a top up. She points out birds for us and identifies them as she does her rounds and answers questions. She's very knowledgeable. The birds are remarkably tame and she says most of them are either rescued wild birds that can't be released, or they have been reared in captivity. They have some beautiful eclectus parrots and lots of other birds -- too many to list here. They have the only pair of breeding jabirus in captivity and we see them do a greeting dance as the male returns to the nest.
Then it's time for the koala presentation, and a different staff member talks about koalas and there's a photo opportunity (for a price). Then he does a reptile presentation with a python and a small saltwater crocodile (with sellotape around it's nose). More photo opportunities. The next tour is the Grasslands and we see a dozen newly hatched Magpie Geese goslings - very cute. Our guide on this tour is also topping up the food trays. They have emus and kangaroos and wallabies and koalas and a tree kangaroo. I have kangaroo food to give away but all the animals are so well fed they're not interested.
I'm having so much fun I 'decide to stay for a 1:30 pm Behind the Scenes talk, and I persuade Sue to stay too. Pete goes back to town with the others. We have lunch at the Cafe and Vo Vo the Magpie Goose wants to sit on our table and won't take no for an answer. We sit and watch the kangaroos until it's time for our tour. It's just me and Sue. Our guide takes us out the back. We see the weaning pens where a couple of wallabies are resting. One has been hand reared and is now out of the pouch and living in the pen until he's old enough to join the mob. Another is a female who's lost some fur because she's been harassed by males wanting to mate. We see the tree kangaroo breeding pen. Then we visit a container with rescued animals in hospital cages. There's a very cute kangaroo joey in a tote bag lined with towels; and a striped ringtail possum who's been hand reared and is very tame.
We also visit the food preparation area where all the feed is made up, and see their eucalpyt plantation. They go through a huge amount of gum tree branches, feeding the koalas, who only eat the tips and are quite fussy.
Our guide has a Masters degree in biology and did her thesis on wallabies in New Zealand. She says most of the staff have degrees or have done TAFE courses in vet nursing or wildlife rehab.
It's all really interesting and I'm glad we stayed for the extra tour. We catch the local tourist shuttle bus back to our hotel. It's State of Origin football tonight so the boys are at the pub. Again.
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Tuesday, 16th: Low Isles
Today we're booked on a tour out to the Low Isles to go snorkelling. We've decided to cancel Wednesday's tour as it was too similar to the Daintree Tour we're doing on Thursday. The Low Isles are two low islands that we can see from Port Douglas. One has a lighthouse on it.
A bus picks us up at 7:45 am to take us to the Marina (it's only a couple of blocks, we could have walked) and we go on board the Sailaway IV, a catamaran with two tall sails. Our shoes are taken from us as we go on board, and we assemble up the front of the boat (is it a bow if it's square, not pointed?) for our safety briefing. The forecast is for 25-30 knot winds, so the water outside the marina may be a bit rough. It's about an hour's journey to the Low Isles.
The crew start handing out flippers, masks and snorkels. Pete tries on flippers but they give him cramps, so he decides not to swim, and the crew help him move up to sit next to the boat's captain, which is more comfortable than sitting on the deck. I get a pair of optical goggles so that I can see fish when I'm not wearing glasses. It's interesting sitting next to our captain. We find out that the catamaran was built in France and sailed out by a retired couple who deliver one boat each year around the world. The trip took them 8 months.
As we get closer to Low Isles the scenery becomes clearer and we can see the lighthouse which is on the smaller island. It's encircled by a beach. The other island is bigger and covered with mangroves. A glass bottomed boat ferries us ashore. Some people are snorkelling, others are doing a boat tour of the reef, and some people are just swimming and lying on the beach.
Sue and I are snorkelling. Our guide explains how to demist our goggles and put on our snorkelling gear. We follow her into the water and head for the first marker. Not far out from shore we start to see coral, and then fish. Because the sky is overcast and the waves have stirred up the sand the colours are duller than I expected, compared with Hawaii, but it's still beautiful. Our guide stops frequently to talk about features of the reef and point out fish and coral. I see two green turtles, and our guide says there's another one that's almost a metre across that hangs around here. They feed on the seagrass near the other island. There are lots of different tropical fish, and large clams. Our guide leaves us to explore on our own. It's so beautiful and varied that I stay in much longer than I'd expected, but eventually I return to shore for a rest and to see what the others are doing. Sue is still out there. I walk to the Lighthouse and around the island, which takes about 10 minutes, and then go back to snorkelling.
At 12:30 we re-assemble to return to the boat for lunch, which is cold meats, prawns, salads and fresh fruit. Those who don't want to snorkel after lunch can have alcohol, and Sue and I decide champagne wins out over getting back in the water. It's very pleasant sitting on the boat watching the scenery after lunch. We throw our prawn shells overboard to feed sucker fish and a bat fish. Sometimes they also get small sharks coming up for a feed - they didn't tell us that before we got in the water!
On the way home the water's a bit rougher and the people sitting on the bow (most of our lot) get thoroughly soaked. There's one girl sitting at the stern with us who is seasick, and her husband hands her a brown paper bag. which gets tossed overboard when she's finished.
I'm writing this several days later and I can't remember what we did about dinner. No doubt the boys went to the pub; I think we might have had pizza again.
A bus picks us up at 7:45 am to take us to the Marina (it's only a couple of blocks, we could have walked) and we go on board the Sailaway IV, a catamaran with two tall sails. Our shoes are taken from us as we go on board, and we assemble up the front of the boat (is it a bow if it's square, not pointed?) for our safety briefing. The forecast is for 25-30 knot winds, so the water outside the marina may be a bit rough. It's about an hour's journey to the Low Isles.
The crew start handing out flippers, masks and snorkels. Pete tries on flippers but they give him cramps, so he decides not to swim, and the crew help him move up to sit next to the boat's captain, which is more comfortable than sitting on the deck. I get a pair of optical goggles so that I can see fish when I'm not wearing glasses. It's interesting sitting next to our captain. We find out that the catamaran was built in France and sailed out by a retired couple who deliver one boat each year around the world. The trip took them 8 months.
As we get closer to Low Isles the scenery becomes clearer and we can see the lighthouse which is on the smaller island. It's encircled by a beach. The other island is bigger and covered with mangroves. A glass bottomed boat ferries us ashore. Some people are snorkelling, others are doing a boat tour of the reef, and some people are just swimming and lying on the beach.
Sue and I are snorkelling. Our guide explains how to demist our goggles and put on our snorkelling gear. We follow her into the water and head for the first marker. Not far out from shore we start to see coral, and then fish. Because the sky is overcast and the waves have stirred up the sand the colours are duller than I expected, compared with Hawaii, but it's still beautiful. Our guide stops frequently to talk about features of the reef and point out fish and coral. I see two green turtles, and our guide says there's another one that's almost a metre across that hangs around here. They feed on the seagrass near the other island. There are lots of different tropical fish, and large clams. Our guide leaves us to explore on our own. It's so beautiful and varied that I stay in much longer than I'd expected, but eventually I return to shore for a rest and to see what the others are doing. Sue is still out there. I walk to the Lighthouse and around the island, which takes about 10 minutes, and then go back to snorkelling.
At 12:30 we re-assemble to return to the boat for lunch, which is cold meats, prawns, salads and fresh fruit. Those who don't want to snorkel after lunch can have alcohol, and Sue and I decide champagne wins out over getting back in the water. It's very pleasant sitting on the boat watching the scenery after lunch. We throw our prawn shells overboard to feed sucker fish and a bat fish. Sometimes they also get small sharks coming up for a feed - they didn't tell us that before we got in the water!
On the way home the water's a bit rougher and the people sitting on the bow (most of our lot) get thoroughly soaked. There's one girl sitting at the stern with us who is seasick, and her husband hands her a brown paper bag. which gets tossed overboard when she's finished.
I'm writing this several days later and I can't remember what we did about dinner. No doubt the boys went to the pub; I think we might have had pizza again.
Monday, June 14, 2010
Monday 14th: Kuranda
Pete wakes me up at 6:30 am with a cup of tea: we have to get up early to be picked up by our tour at 8 am. Breakfast by the pool again, and this time there's also custard apple among the tropical fruits, which is delicious.
Today we catch the tour bus to the Freshwater train station north of Cairns, ride the train up the mountain to Kuranda, have lunch there, and then catch the SkyRail (cable car) down again.
Our bus driver is cheerful and amusing, and very good at promoting tourist spots around Port Douglas. There are several other couples on the bus, mostly Australian. We travel back down the coast, the same road we arrived by on Friday. At Freshwater we pay for our tickets and then get on the train, which has about a dozen carriages and two brightly painted engines. The guy sitting next to me and Pete is from Neutral Bay, Sydney and is a keen scuba diver and photographer: most of the trip he's standing outside the carriage on the balcony to get the best shots. At first the rail track is flat and runs through houses, and then it starts climbing through the rainforest. There are spectacular views back out over the ocean and south to Cairns, and Sue and I take lots of photos (until my camera battery runs out, which it shouldn't have done). The train trip takes an hour and a half, with one stop at Barron Falls. This is the train line where they had a land slide earlier this year because of heavy rain, and the line was closed for a week. We go through lots of tunnels and over lots of bridges. The line was built in the 1880s, I think, and pretty much done with pick and shovel and a bit of dynamite.
Anyway, we get to Kuranda at 11:30 am. Everything's well sign posted. It's ironic, in what I think of as a hippie town, that everything's catering to tourism, but I guess they have to make a living. I leave Pete with Jim, and Sue and I work our way up one side of the main street exploring the shops. In one dress shop I buy a blue sarong to wear with my new bathers. There are three markets in Kuranda and we visit two of them. There are some local crafts but a lot of it is imported clothes and jewellery. We find a street stall that sells local home made icecream (made by the vendor's wife) and I have ginger and pineapple. He says business has been down for the last year and a half, but he's just bought his wife a $60,000 icecream machine so she has more time for other things. In this market I find a blue dress and get a pendant thrown in for free. Lots of stalls are closed but maybe they open on weekends.
Near the Rainforest Markets there's an old airplane that looks as if it crashed there, but it was actually used in a movie and transported here later. We skip the Bird Display and go to the Butterfly Display. It's a large glasshouse structure with tropical plants and boardwalks and there are butterflies everywhere. The Ulysses butterflies are big butterflies with brilliant blue on the top side of their wings, and we've seen them near the swimming pool at our hotel, so they're local and not rare, but they're really hard to photograph because when they alight their wings meet and the blue is hidden.
We're also able to visit the laboratory, and here we can see the caterpillars feeding and pupae hatching. Some of the caterpillars are huge, the size of my forefinger, and beautifully coloured and marked.
We stop at a cafe across the street for lunch. I have a huge piece of apple pie and a glass of wine, which I could well have done without. We decide to take a bushwalk rather than walk back down the main street, but we're running out of time. The 3 km walk usually takes an hour, and we are supposed to meet Pete at the SkyRail station at 2 pm (and I have his ticket, so he can't go without us). Just as we set off I see a house where they do bat rescue, and would like to visit, but discover it's not open on Mondays. Sue and I set a good pace on the bushwalk and managed to do it in 25 minutes.
We meet Pete at SkyRail just after 2 pm. The others are at the head of a long queue, and we are a long way behind, so we wait for quite a while before we get a car. They leave some cars empty, and we wonder why; it turns out this is so people at the other stations will be able to get a seat. The views are stunning: we're far above the canopy of the rainforest, and can see the mountains around us. We arrive at the Barron Falls station just as the others are departing. There's a tame cassowary near the footpath. We take a quick look at the interpretative centre and the lookout, which gives us a view of Barron Falls from the opposite side to the train. At the Red Peak station we have to change cars and queue again because the cars are on a different loop. Sue does the boardwalk, but we don't have time for the guided tour so it's back on the SkyRail. It takes us up over the peak and we see the ocean and Cairns below us.
As we come into the base SkyRail station there's a lake below us where water skiers are practising going over jumps: but instead of being towed by boats they're being pulled around by cables.
We have to wait a while to be picked up by our bus. On the way home our driver points out two crocodiles sunning themselves by the river, and even turns around and goes past again so we can all get a look.
Back home, the others head for the Central Hotel to watch the football and Sue and I wrestle with a cryptic crossword while we have a cuppa. When we join them for dinner the lamb shanks are still sold out but I'm happy to just have soup. We leave them to it and come back to watch MasterChef and update the blog. I haven't watched MasterChef before but I can see the fascination: the audience barracks for the contestants and the judges play the bad guys.
Tomorrow we're going snorkelling, so I'm planning an early night tonight.
Today we catch the tour bus to the Freshwater train station north of Cairns, ride the train up the mountain to Kuranda, have lunch there, and then catch the SkyRail (cable car) down again.
Our bus driver is cheerful and amusing, and very good at promoting tourist spots around Port Douglas. There are several other couples on the bus, mostly Australian. We travel back down the coast, the same road we arrived by on Friday. At Freshwater we pay for our tickets and then get on the train, which has about a dozen carriages and two brightly painted engines. The guy sitting next to me and Pete is from Neutral Bay, Sydney and is a keen scuba diver and photographer: most of the trip he's standing outside the carriage on the balcony to get the best shots. At first the rail track is flat and runs through houses, and then it starts climbing through the rainforest. There are spectacular views back out over the ocean and south to Cairns, and Sue and I take lots of photos (until my camera battery runs out, which it shouldn't have done). The train trip takes an hour and a half, with one stop at Barron Falls. This is the train line where they had a land slide earlier this year because of heavy rain, and the line was closed for a week. We go through lots of tunnels and over lots of bridges. The line was built in the 1880s, I think, and pretty much done with pick and shovel and a bit of dynamite.
Anyway, we get to Kuranda at 11:30 am. Everything's well sign posted. It's ironic, in what I think of as a hippie town, that everything's catering to tourism, but I guess they have to make a living. I leave Pete with Jim, and Sue and I work our way up one side of the main street exploring the shops. In one dress shop I buy a blue sarong to wear with my new bathers. There are three markets in Kuranda and we visit two of them. There are some local crafts but a lot of it is imported clothes and jewellery. We find a street stall that sells local home made icecream (made by the vendor's wife) and I have ginger and pineapple. He says business has been down for the last year and a half, but he's just bought his wife a $60,000 icecream machine so she has more time for other things. In this market I find a blue dress and get a pendant thrown in for free. Lots of stalls are closed but maybe they open on weekends.
Near the Rainforest Markets there's an old airplane that looks as if it crashed there, but it was actually used in a movie and transported here later. We skip the Bird Display and go to the Butterfly Display. It's a large glasshouse structure with tropical plants and boardwalks and there are butterflies everywhere. The Ulysses butterflies are big butterflies with brilliant blue on the top side of their wings, and we've seen them near the swimming pool at our hotel, so they're local and not rare, but they're really hard to photograph because when they alight their wings meet and the blue is hidden.
We're also able to visit the laboratory, and here we can see the caterpillars feeding and pupae hatching. Some of the caterpillars are huge, the size of my forefinger, and beautifully coloured and marked.
We stop at a cafe across the street for lunch. I have a huge piece of apple pie and a glass of wine, which I could well have done without. We decide to take a bushwalk rather than walk back down the main street, but we're running out of time. The 3 km walk usually takes an hour, and we are supposed to meet Pete at the SkyRail station at 2 pm (and I have his ticket, so he can't go without us). Just as we set off I see a house where they do bat rescue, and would like to visit, but discover it's not open on Mondays. Sue and I set a good pace on the bushwalk and managed to do it in 25 minutes.
We meet Pete at SkyRail just after 2 pm. The others are at the head of a long queue, and we are a long way behind, so we wait for quite a while before we get a car. They leave some cars empty, and we wonder why; it turns out this is so people at the other stations will be able to get a seat. The views are stunning: we're far above the canopy of the rainforest, and can see the mountains around us. We arrive at the Barron Falls station just as the others are departing. There's a tame cassowary near the footpath. We take a quick look at the interpretative centre and the lookout, which gives us a view of Barron Falls from the opposite side to the train. At the Red Peak station we have to change cars and queue again because the cars are on a different loop. Sue does the boardwalk, but we don't have time for the guided tour so it's back on the SkyRail. It takes us up over the peak and we see the ocean and Cairns below us.
As we come into the base SkyRail station there's a lake below us where water skiers are practising going over jumps: but instead of being towed by boats they're being pulled around by cables.
We have to wait a while to be picked up by our bus. On the way home our driver points out two crocodiles sunning themselves by the river, and even turns around and goes past again so we can all get a look.
Back home, the others head for the Central Hotel to watch the football and Sue and I wrestle with a cryptic crossword while we have a cuppa. When we join them for dinner the lamb shanks are still sold out but I'm happy to just have soup. We leave them to it and come back to watch MasterChef and update the blog. I haven't watched MasterChef before but I can see the fascination: the audience barracks for the contestants and the judges play the bad guys.
Tomorrow we're going snorkelling, so I'm planning an early night tonight.
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Sunday, 13th: Markets and Trains
Breakfast again around the pool, and we almost have the place to ourselves.
After breakfast we head down to the Sunday markets. They're surprisingly big, with a good variety of stalls: clothing, jewellery, fruit and veg, coconut juice, fortune telling, paintings, hats, bags, pineapple juice, jams and chutneys, sugar cane juice. I buy bookmarks for the rest of my quartet and a mango sorbet. We all get separated but Pete finds me and trails after me as I make sure I've seen every stall. We find our way back to the Marina and there's time for the boys to have a beer before we catch the steam train to St Crispin. It used to be a sugar cane train and is now run as a tourist attraction by volunteers. I don't think I've been on a steam train ride before. It's only 20 minutes there, and 20 minutes back again, but it's fun, and very popular with families.
Then it's back to the Tin Shed for lunch. Pete and Sue and I score a great table on the edge of the deck (too bad that it's in the Members Only section) and I have a bucket of prawns - they come with lemon and seafood sauce and a finger bowl and there are too many to count. Champagne, prawns, good company, great view - what more could I want? Our friends Bob and Sandy have just texted Pete to ask him if he's been to the Tin Shed yet, as they recommended it to us, so he's happy to reply that he's there having lunch.
After lunch the others are heading for the pub to watch football. Sue and I have plans to go canoeing but we stop for coconut and orange cake on the way back and decide to lie around the pool instead; after champagne and prawns and cake, canoeing sounds just too energetic. We see a poster for a film festival event that's on tonight that sounds interesting.
Reading by the pool is pleasant but it gets a bit cool as the sky is overcast. I come inside and google the film festival. It's in the park where the market was, costs $2, and they're showing Bran Nue Dae, a Chips Rafferty movie called King of the Coral Sea, and a short movie called Sharpeye. Sue and I are going to go.
We borrow a blanket and insect repellant from the nice man at Reception and walk down the main street. While we're waiting for our cranberry and brie pizza we see Pete and Jim heading home from the pub. We walk across the darkened park and see lights in the distance. There's a lady handing out programs, a popcorn stand, and a man who takes our $2. In a wide space surrounded by palms there are shadowy figures of people sitting on chairs and lying on rugs. A woman from Australian Film and Sound Archives introduces the show and says it's in Port Douglas for the first time and they qualify as remote because they don't have a cinema. She introduces an old bloke who was a pearl lugger captain around Thursday Island, and whose lugger appeared in the Chips Rafferty movie we're going to see. He talks about what a great time it was.
The first film is a short called Sharpeye about an Aboriginal Army Reserve group who beat Australian Army professionals in a simulated exercise - based on a real exercise. It was directed by a local Cairns guy.
The second movie is Bran Nue Dae. I saw the original musical years ago, and the movie is a bit different. There are some lip synch issues when they're singing but the acting is good. Geoffrey Rush plays Brother Benedictus.
After interval the last movie is King of the Coral Sea, starring and produced by Chips Rafferty. It's set in and filmed in Thursday Island and the Islanders play supporting roles (including doing a welcoming dance which looks a bit like a haka and involves bows and arrows - I'm sure that can't be right). There's a romance and a murder and Chips almost dies (diving with a helmet and hose) but the hero saves him (with newfangled scuba gear) and gets the girl.
Home again, and Pete's asleep in bed. We have fresh pineapple and go to bed too.
After breakfast we head down to the Sunday markets. They're surprisingly big, with a good variety of stalls: clothing, jewellery, fruit and veg, coconut juice, fortune telling, paintings, hats, bags, pineapple juice, jams and chutneys, sugar cane juice. I buy bookmarks for the rest of my quartet and a mango sorbet. We all get separated but Pete finds me and trails after me as I make sure I've seen every stall. We find our way back to the Marina and there's time for the boys to have a beer before we catch the steam train to St Crispin. It used to be a sugar cane train and is now run as a tourist attraction by volunteers. I don't think I've been on a steam train ride before. It's only 20 minutes there, and 20 minutes back again, but it's fun, and very popular with families.
Then it's back to the Tin Shed for lunch. Pete and Sue and I score a great table on the edge of the deck (too bad that it's in the Members Only section) and I have a bucket of prawns - they come with lemon and seafood sauce and a finger bowl and there are too many to count. Champagne, prawns, good company, great view - what more could I want? Our friends Bob and Sandy have just texted Pete to ask him if he's been to the Tin Shed yet, as they recommended it to us, so he's happy to reply that he's there having lunch.
After lunch the others are heading for the pub to watch football. Sue and I have plans to go canoeing but we stop for coconut and orange cake on the way back and decide to lie around the pool instead; after champagne and prawns and cake, canoeing sounds just too energetic. We see a poster for a film festival event that's on tonight that sounds interesting.
Reading by the pool is pleasant but it gets a bit cool as the sky is overcast. I come inside and google the film festival. It's in the park where the market was, costs $2, and they're showing Bran Nue Dae, a Chips Rafferty movie called King of the Coral Sea, and a short movie called Sharpeye. Sue and I are going to go.
We borrow a blanket and insect repellant from the nice man at Reception and walk down the main street. While we're waiting for our cranberry and brie pizza we see Pete and Jim heading home from the pub. We walk across the darkened park and see lights in the distance. There's a lady handing out programs, a popcorn stand, and a man who takes our $2. In a wide space surrounded by palms there are shadowy figures of people sitting on chairs and lying on rugs. A woman from Australian Film and Sound Archives introduces the show and says it's in Port Douglas for the first time and they qualify as remote because they don't have a cinema. She introduces an old bloke who was a pearl lugger captain around Thursday Island, and whose lugger appeared in the Chips Rafferty movie we're going to see. He talks about what a great time it was.
The first film is a short called Sharpeye about an Aboriginal Army Reserve group who beat Australian Army professionals in a simulated exercise - based on a real exercise. It was directed by a local Cairns guy.
The second movie is Bran Nue Dae. I saw the original musical years ago, and the movie is a bit different. There are some lip synch issues when they're singing but the acting is good. Geoffrey Rush plays Brother Benedictus.
After interval the last movie is King of the Coral Sea, starring and produced by Chips Rafferty. It's set in and filmed in Thursday Island and the Islanders play supporting roles (including doing a welcoming dance which looks a bit like a haka and involves bows and arrows - I'm sure that can't be right). There's a romance and a murder and Chips almost dies (diving with a helmet and hose) but the hero saves him (with newfangled scuba gear) and gets the girl.
Home again, and Pete's asleep in bed. We have fresh pineapple and go to bed too.
Saturday, 12th: Port Douglas and crocodiles
We all have breakfast by the pool. There's fresh tropical fruit: paw paw, mangosteen and dragonfruit. Sue and I decided the mangosteen is a winner but the paw paw and dragonfruit are bland.
Pete and Sue and I check out a couple of car hire places, as we want an 8 seater van for Friday and Saturday. Then we walk down Mowbray Street to the beach. It's a beautiful stretch of sand backed by vegetation. There are lots of people walking up and down the beach, but only a few actually swimming. They have a lifeguard and flags to swim between and the risk of stingers today is low.
There's a path up the headland and we admire the view. Pete turns back at Murphy Street and Sue and I continue on to the Lookout and the old Lighthouse. On the way back we visit the Historial Museum at the old Courthouse. They have a display about the only woman hanged in Queensland. She was accused, along with her alleged lover, of shooting her husband, a local farmer. There's a video reenactment which is quite well done.
We came home and went for a swim in the pool again. The others headed off to the pub for lunch and betting on horses and watching the football. Sue and I decided to take the Lady Douglas cruise up the inlet. We made it to the marina with enough time to grab a sandwich for lunch before the boat left. There were about 30 people on board. Ian drove the boat and gave us commentary, and Nikki served us our complimentary drink and put out the nibbles. The main attraction of the cruise is crocodile spotting and Ian said this was a good time for them because when the weather gets colder they spend more time on the banks sunning themselves, and at low tide they're more visible. We sighted three crocodiles, plus mud skippers, catfish and a welcome swallow. My camera ran out of battery (again) so I missed some photo opportunities.
After the cruise we explored the marina (lots of shops, many of them closed on Saturday afternoon) and then walked along the shoreline. We found the combined service club (deck overlooking the water, reasonably priced food). There's a little church, St Marys, which is very popular for weddings. When we met up with Pete and Jim at the pub Jim said he'd been watching, and there was about one wedding an hour. Now we're back home. Sue finished the crossword I'd been stuck on. The boys are upstairs drinking beer and eating cheese.
The others aren't going out for dinner but Pete wants to go to the beer garden at the Central to watch football on the big screen. It's noisy and crowded and there's a long queue to order meals. When I get to the head of the queue I find out that there's a 45 minute wait and anyway they're out of lamb shanks ("I don't believe it" says Pete) so Pete abandons the football and we retreat to the Tin Shed. Luckily the Tin Shed has XXXX bitter on tap so Pete's appeased, and Sue and I have champagne cocktails which are on special fo $5.50. The food's great, and we're sitting on the deck, but it's too dark to see the view over the water except for occasional boats sailing into the marina.
We come home, and Pete goes downstairs to watch the end of the football with boys, and Sue and I have a quiet evening reading and an early night.
Pete and Sue and I check out a couple of car hire places, as we want an 8 seater van for Friday and Saturday. Then we walk down Mowbray Street to the beach. It's a beautiful stretch of sand backed by vegetation. There are lots of people walking up and down the beach, but only a few actually swimming. They have a lifeguard and flags to swim between and the risk of stingers today is low.
There's a path up the headland and we admire the view. Pete turns back at Murphy Street and Sue and I continue on to the Lookout and the old Lighthouse. On the way back we visit the Historial Museum at the old Courthouse. They have a display about the only woman hanged in Queensland. She was accused, along with her alleged lover, of shooting her husband, a local farmer. There's a video reenactment which is quite well done.
We came home and went for a swim in the pool again. The others headed off to the pub for lunch and betting on horses and watching the football. Sue and I decided to take the Lady Douglas cruise up the inlet. We made it to the marina with enough time to grab a sandwich for lunch before the boat left. There were about 30 people on board. Ian drove the boat and gave us commentary, and Nikki served us our complimentary drink and put out the nibbles. The main attraction of the cruise is crocodile spotting and Ian said this was a good time for them because when the weather gets colder they spend more time on the banks sunning themselves, and at low tide they're more visible. We sighted three crocodiles, plus mud skippers, catfish and a welcome swallow. My camera ran out of battery (again) so I missed some photo opportunities.
After the cruise we explored the marina (lots of shops, many of them closed on Saturday afternoon) and then walked along the shoreline. We found the combined service club (deck overlooking the water, reasonably priced food). There's a little church, St Marys, which is very popular for weddings. When we met up with Pete and Jim at the pub Jim said he'd been watching, and there was about one wedding an hour. Now we're back home. Sue finished the crossword I'd been stuck on. The boys are upstairs drinking beer and eating cheese.
The others aren't going out for dinner but Pete wants to go to the beer garden at the Central to watch football on the big screen. It's noisy and crowded and there's a long queue to order meals. When I get to the head of the queue I find out that there's a 45 minute wait and anyway they're out of lamb shanks ("I don't believe it" says Pete) so Pete abandons the football and we retreat to the Tin Shed. Luckily the Tin Shed has XXXX bitter on tap so Pete's appeased, and Sue and I have champagne cocktails which are on special fo $5.50. The food's great, and we're sitting on the deck, but it's too dark to see the view over the water except for occasional boats sailing into the marina.
We come home, and Pete goes downstairs to watch the end of the football with boys, and Sue and I have a quiet evening reading and an early night.
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