Cairns Marina

Monday, 30 July 2012

Another typical winter day in the tropics – 26 degrees, clear skies and low humidity.

Yesterday afternoon we enjoyed our first game of Scroungers at the Edge Hill Bowls Club. This was great fun and even though we were playing with others, we were really playing for ourselves. We were amazed at how differently the carpet played during the day, compared to night time – much slower and narrower. Neither or us came home with a bowling prize, but Les did his usual trick and won the lucky door prize - $20.

Today, Carlene, Rex, Denise, Barry and us had the pleasure of eating lunch on the verandah of the Trinity Beach Tavern. This was another farewell to Denise and Barry – the third time they have left Cairns in the last couple of weeks! Following lunch, we all headed in different directions and Les and I travelled back into Cairns for a walk along the boardwalk and a look at the marina. There were a couple of very nice craft moored behind high security fences; one of them was being polished by a crew member. We watched a sea plane land, as well as a helicopter, before returning to the caravan park.

Another surprise at the caravan park – Eraine and Gary from Ulverstone/Devonport (we met them at Silverton many weeks ago) have arrived for a few nights. The world just seems to be getting smaller.

Atherton Tablelands

Saturday, 28 July 2012

The weeks are disappearing fast – we have been in Cairns for four weeks now.

Late Thursday afternoon, Barry and Denise returned from Hobart (four funerals in four days was probably not the best reason for returning home!) and were back on site before 6.00 pm. Carlene and I had organised a barbecue and salad for an evening meal, which gave us a chance to catch up on all the news.

Friday morning, after coffee at our caravan (Barry had been hanging out for one of my coffees ever since he left for Hobart), we decided to finally brave the Telstra shop and replace my mobile telephone. We met a nice young man named Lawrence, who quickly sorted out my replacement phone; it took nearly an hour to complete the paperwork. Of course, the stress really commenced after lunch when I discovered the numbers from my old phone hadn’t been transferred across! After working out how to get the numbers into the new phone, another couple of hours was spent deleting the double-upped numbers, putting in ring tones, etc. After all that, no one has rung me.

We received some worrying news late in the afternoon. Redlynch (where we are staying) is noted for its equestrian areas, with a large number of horses in the surrounding paddocks. Directly across from the entrance to the caravan park is a large centre where a two day event was held the weekend before last, with horses coming from other regions. Unfortunately, one of the visiting horses from Mackay was later found to be suffering from the Hendra virus and two of the local horses died during Friday. The area was immediately quarantined and we were unsure if our movements would be restricted (fortunately not). However, all the horse areas have now been cordoned off and there are official looking people wandering around. Let’s hope they have managed to contain the spread of this dreadful disease.

Today, with the weather forecast continuing good, we made up our minds to visit the Yungaburra Markets on the Atherton Tablelands. This was a great market, with lots of interesting stalls – and people! We had a wander around the village as well, where we spotted a great “Thought For The Day!” We had a short detour on the way to have another look at the Curtain Fig Tree – it has definitely grown since the first time we saw it.

We continued on to Lake Barrine but missed the 11.30 am boat cruise/tour by ten minutes and the next one wasn’t until 1.30 pm, which was a bit too long to wait. We had a lovely lunch in the teahouse overlooking the lake, instead. Then it was on to Millaa Millaa Falls – so picturesque and not many people about, which was a bonus. Our return to Cairns was via the old mining township of Herberton.

Cape York (Continued)

 Even more coral

 An island and coral

 More silica sand

 Flight attendant

 Our Daintree Air "jumbo"

 Corrugations

 Tourist

Another tourist at Frangipani Beach

 York Island (at the Cape)

 Cat came too

The top of Australia

 Keeping an eye on lunch preparations

Our transport

 Relaxing after lunch

DC3 crash

Cape York

 Horn Island

 Lamingtons for afternoon tea

Just helping the pilot

Cape York

 An island

 Cooktown and the Endeavour River

 Silica Sands

 Another island

 Cape Melville

Coral reef

 More coral

And more core



Thursday, 26 July 2012

We have been and we have seen!

Yesterday, Wednesday, the alarm was set for 5.30 am, ready for our very early check-in for our flying tour to the Cape York Peninsula. After a final visit to the bathroom, we boarded our ten seater plane (including pilot) at 7.30 am but didn’t get into the air until just after 8.00 am, owing to the heavy volume of traffic at Cairns Airport. Followed closely by our fellow travellers in an accompanying plane, we quickly turned to the north and followed the coastline past the northern beaches and Port Douglas. The Daintree River and Cape Tribulation were familiar sights as we headed towards Cooktown and the Endeavour River. We left the coast for a short trip inland over Hope Vale before returning to the sea and flying over Cape Flattery before giving the area south of Cape Melville and its bad weather a wide berth. We were able to bank around Cape Melville and get some very good views of the large boulders on the headland.

Our flight across Princess Charlotte Bay was highlighted by the muffins and cold drinks served by our very capable flight attendant (aka Leslie) who was seated in the rear of the plane (his wife was seated directly behind the pilot). We continued in a northerly (sort of) direction, flying low over the Great Barrier Reef, with some amazing views of the coral reefs and small islands. Unfortunately, the tinted windows of the plane did really help with the photography.

Our flight path also crossed numerous silica sand dunes – startling white against the dark vegetation. We continued flying over the coral reefs, which just seem to go on forever, as did the flight. The time in the air really brought home just how far the Cape is from Cairns, let alone Hobart! Just after passing the mouth of the Jardine River, with its two large waterfalls easily seen from the plane, we headed inland for a VERY bumpy ride to the airstrip at Bamaga. We may not have driven up the notoriously corrugated rode to the Cape, but we certainly felt the corrugations during the final phase of our flight. Sitting directly behind the pilot, it was very obvious how hard he worked to land the plane safely at 11.00 am.

After landing, and the mad dash to the one toilet (and subsequent queue), we were loaded into a truck/bus, with a few passengers accommodated in a 4WD, for the drive to the Tip. If the 34 kms of corrugations and red dust were indicative of the remainder of the Development Road (Cooktown to the Cape), we were all extremely glad we had flown and weren’t making the 1200 km drive! After passing through the ruins of the Pajinka Resort, we drove onto Frangipani Beach, ready for the final walk to the Tip. As the tide was out, we were able to take the easy route along the beach, keeping a watchful eye out for the 4 metre crocodile which inhabits the area! It was very hot and dry, but as we climbed up onto the headland, we were hit by the full blast of the wind. Fortunately, we were very lucky in that there weren’t many people about at that stage and we are to line up to have our photos taken at the sign.

The return walk to the bus was a little harder, along the ridge of the headland and over rocks until we dropped down to Frangipani Beach and lunch. Our guides quickly set out chairs beneath a lovely shady tree and handed out cold drinks while they set out cold meat and salad for lunch. A hopeful scrub turkey paid us a visit but soon left when no food was forthcoming. We were eventually ushered back onto the bus for the return drive through the rain forest and one water crossing to the souvenir tent at the site of the old Lockerbie Station. Like all the vegetation within twenty metres of the road, everything in the tent was covered with thick, red dust. Apart from the displays, all stock was kept in plastic bags in boxes – no way would anyone buy a t-shirt complete with red dust!

Evidently, the previous day, a carload of tourists had stopped at the souvenir tent and asked the man if he would remove a python which had attached itself to the underside of their car. Having a couple of pet pythons (?????), he was happy to oblige and after pulling about a metre of snake out by its tail, suddenly realised it wasn’t a python but a coastal taipan – caused a bit of a heart flutter, no doubt! Anyway, he told us he still had the taipan in a pillowslip as he was too frightened to let it go.

We continued into Bamaga for a quick tour of this Islander community and we were very impressed as to how clean and tidy the town was. As we were returning to the airstrip, we had a small detour into the jungle to look at a DC3 which had crashed in 1945, a couple of months before the end of the Second World War. It was amazing that the wreckage has survived the elements and jungle for so long. This probably wasn’t what we needed to see before boarding a small plane for a long flight.

A surprise awaited us at the airstrip as the head pilot announced we would be landing on Horn Island in the Torres Strait for refuelling and we would have a chance to fly over Cape York and see some of the Torres Strait Islands from the air. Less than fifteen minutes later, after a look at Thursday Island, we were on the ground at Horn Island and taken into the passenger lounge for another pit stop before the long flight back to Cairns. Take off was about 4.30 pm and we climbed to ten thousand feet (for a much smoother flight) before heading directly to Cairns.

About half an hour after take off, our multi-skilled flight attendant (still in the rear seat) managed to whip up a batch of lamingtons and serve for afternoon tea, along with more drinks (not really needed at the start of a three hour flight!). At one stage, we could see both the east and west coasts of the peninsula and later in the flight the waves could be seen breaking on the outer edge of the Great Barrier Reef. As the sun set, we settled back for just over an hour’s flying in the dark. Apart from an odd light here and there on the ground, Cooktown was really the first sign of a major settlement before we passed over Port Douglas with the lights of Mareeba visible in the distance.

Touch down was at 7.30 pm, the end of a long and very enjoyable day.

(As there are a number of photos to add to the blog, I will have another blog with just photos.)

Botanic Gardens

Tuesday, 24 July 2012

Yesterday, it was back to the airport – again – this time to collect Les on his return from Tasmania. The early rain had cleared by lunch time and the temperature risen. Needless to say, it didn’t take Les very long to discard the “Tassie” woollies and replace them with his “tropical” kit. During the afternoon we went for a walk along the Freshwater Creek and took some bread along this time to feed the fish. The little tiddlers were very appreciative until the big fish arrived and started attacking the bread. It was just like a shark feeding frenzy with the fish jumping right out of the water.

This morning was another beautiful tropical day – clear blue skies and no wind. After doing some laundry (all the Tassie clothes somehow ended up in the dirty laundry bag!), we set out for the Cairns Botanic Gardens. These really were a haven from the sun, with the lush tropical growth providing plenty of shade. There were quite a few plants in flower and the brilliant colours really stood out. The powder puff trees were quite unusual, with their soft, balls of fluff. We were surprised to find a new visitors’ centre had been erected since out last visit. Cat was a bit taken aback to see a scrub python (in a glass cage, fortunately) and learn that there were a number of these snakes in the gardens; he certainly executed a massive jump after falling off a large leaf into the thick undergrowth! There were also a number of orchids and carnivorous plants on display in the shade houses. Due to the large number of bities and our lack of insect repellent, we decided to leave the remainder of the gardens for another day.

We have learnt this afternoon that our flight to Cape York will go ahead tomorrow as planned – the weather forecast is looking good.

Sunday

Sunday, 22 July 2012

Saturday was a near perfect, tropical day – clear skies and a gentle breeze, with little humidity.

Unfortunately, being in Hobart, Les was unable to join us for lunch at the Trinity Beach Tavern. James and Maureen asked Red, Carlene and myself to join them for lunch before they set out for their adventure to Cape York. The tavern sit situated right on Trinity Beach and the restaurant tables were set out on the upstairs balcony – a perfect spot to sit and watch the boats go by. The men seemed to find the scenery on the edge of the beach far more interesting, for some reason! As we were leaving, we spotted a helicopter hovering over the sea off Palm Cove and watched as someone was winched into the helicopter from the sea. A flare had been activated at sea level, so we were left wondering if this was a real rescue or just a drill.

This morning was overcast until about lunch time, when the breeze cleared the skies and the temperature quickly rose from 22 to 27 degrees.

We farewelled James and Maureen early this morning and wondered if their nice, brand new, white Mitsubishi Challenger would look as white when they return!

This afternoon, Rex, Carlene and I headed for the bowls club to take part in the Sunday Scroungers game. When we arrived well before the closing time, we were told that the game had been cancelled because only a couple of people had rung up and put their names down. As we were feeling rather “down” after this disappointment, we decided to head for the Esplanade, a gentle walk around the lagoon (just to keep Rex happy and Carlene to try out her new pedometer) and some comfort food (ie ice cream).

Then it was back to the caravan to listen, tensely, to the Swans defeat St Kilda and retain their position on top of the ladder. Cheer, cheer, the red and the white …

There is a cannonball tree near the entrance to the caravan park. This large tree has enormous seed pods circling the trunk – they are the size and shape of cannonballs. Not a tree one would want to relax underneath.

Mareeba

Friday, 20 July 2012

Back to the night of my birthday: we had a superb meal at Barnacle Bill’s. The food was wonderful, the service was great and the weather was just lovely for sitting outside under a canopy. We even had the Federal Treasurer, Wayne Swan, arrive at the restaurant with a few guests and they sat only a couple of tables from us. We did debate as to whether we should approach him and ask for a rise in our pensions!

Yesterday (Thursday) we headed for Mareeba, with Rex and Carlene for company. The weather was just one of those blissful days – not a cloud in the sky or a breath of wind and the temperature about 28 degrees. (Our vitamin D levels are starting to rise.) Our first stop was at Termite Fruit and Vegetables, where Carlene made the owners very happy and we had a large cardboard box of sauces in the back of the vehicle.
Our next stop was at the Heritage Centre and Cat immediately made friends with one of the volunteer ladies – I was starting to think she would want to come with us! Anyway, Cat had great fun playing in the school room and looking through the stereoscope; he didn’t think very much of the sign in the butcher’s shop; and completely embarrassed us all with his antics out the back where the “facilities” were!

We did a couple of circuits of the main street of Mareeba before finding a coffee shop suitable for a light lunch. Then it was off to North Queensland Gold Coffee Plantation for some new coffee supplies. We met the new owners and heard how coffee was grown, picked and processed. Remembering back to our previous visits, the number of cats was much reduced but the roosters were very abundant. We introduced Carlene to Maria and Bruno and chatted for another hour before being able to head to the Mareeba Wetlands. It was extremely hot at the visitors’ centre and not many birds around in the middle of the afternoon. Therefore, we sat on the verandah and had an ice cream instead of a boat cruise. After leaving the centre, we stopped to say hello to a Brahman bull who had his head over the fence – he didn’t want to have his photo taken and became a little upset. We thought it best to say goodbye instead.

Our next stop was at the Golden Drop Winery (Carlene’s request), where Carlene again helped out the Mareeba economy and we added to the boxes in the back of the Pajero. We were back at the caravan park in time for the free sausage sizzle and entertainment. The sausages were very nice; unfortunately the entertainer was extremely loud and positioned right behind our caravan. We have decided that next time there is entertainment provided, we may go out somewhere for the evening.

Today is a public holiday for the Cairns Show and another lovely day. Fortunately, Cairns Central Shopping Centre was open, so we were able to make a quick trip to the toy shop and make Jack happy. Then it was off to the airport so that Les could catch his flight home to Hobart. I am becoming quite familiar with the route to the airport by now.