Centenary Lakes in Cairns

Thursday, 6 August 2015

 

Relaxation plus!

On the boardwalk

Large paperbark (melaleuca)

Spaghetti tree???

Paperbark swamp

Pandanus swamp

Freshwater Lake

Radjah Shelduck

Magpie geese

Egret

Beloved by the fig parrot

The days come, and the days go.  Monday morning we were lucky enough to be invited to our next door neighbours , John and Faye, for morning tea.  As they have only recently returned to the park, and we haven’t seen them since last year, it was a good chance to catch up on news.  We also had a surprise that evening when my cousin, Milton, rang to say he and Margaret were in Cairns for a week.  We promptly invited them to play bowls with us the following night!

Tuesday was another day for socialising, with Graeme slaving over a hot stove (well, turbo oven actually) all morning to produce his famous scones for afternoon tea.  Luckily we had been for a walk during the morning!  More talking (and eating) before Milton and Margaret arrived.  More talking (and eating) before we played bowls at Edgehill, with Margaret ending up on my team.  Unfortunately, none of us came home with prize money.

With the weather remaining hot and clear, our walk was a bit earlier this morning and after feeding the fish, we headed through the patch of rainforest towards the sugar cane.  We hadn’t gone very far when He Who Has Sharp Eyes spotted a small snake on the path – it was all of 8 inches long and a little bit dead (probably didn’t see the bike rider coming).  After lunch, we decided to head into Cairns for a wander and an ice cream (the place was shut!!!!), so ended up having a foot/leg massage instead.  A very pleasant way to spend an hour.

Today, the skies are still brilliant and this morning we headed up the creek to another bridge to feed a different lot of fish.  As we were walking along the path next to the forest, there was a sudden, loud noise in the vegetation and in half a second flat I had someone (who can’t be named for privacy reasons) on my back.  Whatever happened to chivalry???  After feeding the fish and while we were standing on the bridge just looking at the water, we noticed a much larger snake come out of the vegetation along the bank and slide into the water.  The weather was far too nice to just sit at home (about 28 degrees), so after lunch we headed to the Centenary Lakes, which are opposite the Botanic Gardens, and enjoyed a walk through the paperbark swamp and around the lakes.  Very pleasant way to spend an afternoon.