Cairns Tourists

Thursday, 19 July 2018

The Boulders

Josephine Falls

I'm over here!

Centenary Lakes & Botanic Gardens

Hermit crab

Was that a drop bear calling?

Unusual leaf colouration

 Catanna Wetlands

Watch out for that crocodile!

 Mareeba

 Birthday

My candle, his dessert

Pelicans en masse

Barron River

Lake Placid

"Our" frog

Hercules moth on the office door

Sunday, we headed south to The Boulders and Josephine Falls, with the Misty Mountains region certainly living up to its name.  Unfortunately, the sunny, clear blue skies didn’t follow us to Babinda!  Our first stop was at The Boulders and we were suitably impressed with the track improvements – much easier walking and we only had one wettish spot to tiptoe through.  Kathryn was amazed at the difference in the gorge to others she has seen; the smooth rocks are very impressive.

We stopped for lunch at a rather eclectic coffee shop in Babinda before continuing to Josephine Falls (plenty of jungle trekking today!).  Lots of backpackers at Josephine Falls, sliding down the rock faces and swimming in the very cold water.  Unfortunately, this pretty and popular spot has been the scene of tragedies, with the latest drowning only a few months ago.

Monday was spent locally in Cairns, walking from Centenary Lakes, with its Chinese Garden and wonderful, new adventure playground, to the Botanic Gardens, keeping a sharp lookout for crocodiles and snakes, but only see a large hermit crab looking for a new home.  The Botanic Gardens are always beautiful, even if they do contain microscopic bities!  After lunch, we enjoyed a walk around the Cattana Wetlands and while we didn’t see a snake (it was World Snake Day!!!) we were unsure if the “eye” which kept appearing above the water was actually the recently spotted crocodile or the head of a turtle.  No one was willing to wade out for a quick check, though.

On Tuesday, Kathryn and I drove up the winding Kuranda Range road to spend a couple of hours looking in the souvenir shops at Kuranda before continuing to Mareeba and Jacques Coffee Plantation for lunch and the Golden Drop Winery for Kathryn to taste the mango wines.  Our final stop was at the Mareeba Information Centre and Museum – this seems to grow every year.

Wednesday was a very special day – my birthday – and it rained until lunch time!  After Kathryn finalised her shopping, we had lunch at Barnacle Bill’s (very pleasant) and I was surprised with a candle in the middle of Himself’s dessert, together with a passable rendition of the birthday song.  After an ice cream and a bit of bird watching, we drove to the Barren Gorge power station and Lake Placid.  The day concluded with a visit to the Night Market, just for fun.

Today, we farewelled Kathryn shortly before lunch.

We seem to have acquired a couple of “pets” – a frog has taken up residence in my pot plant and insisted on returning after he was evicted; he is now left to his own devices.  We also have a friendly ghekko (perhaps he is mates with the frog?) who likes to curl up in one of the folding chairs or sit on top of our refrigerator.  Question: if midgies cannot get into the caravan, how can a ghekko get in?