Farewell to Cairns

Friday, 31 August 2018

Stand of small paperbarks

Waiting for a bird

Egret

Paperbarks and lake

Large cane toad in residence

Large cane toad in plastic bag

Library photos

Les and Det

The time has finally come for us to pack up in preparation for our departure from Cairns!

We used our time this week to revisit some of our favourite spots, with a walk along Palm Cove beach and a stroll around the Cattana Wetlands (keeping very keen eyes out for snakes!), enjoying not only the scenery but the balmy weather as well.  It has also been time for not only the final piece of car maintenance (air conditioner belt), final visit to the doctor, haircuts and ice creams, not to mention saying goodbye to the fish in Freshwater Creek and the butterflies.  We also played our final games of bowls and said goodbye to the many people we have come to know at Edge Hill.

Yesterday, Himself decided to pack up what he could and after folding up the storage cupboard outside, he lifted the piece of wooden floor it has been standing on.  Whilst underneath the floor was a good hidey hole for snakes, it was actually a very large cane toad which had taken up residence!  After we had all had a good look and taken photos, the rubber gloves were brought out, along with a garbage bag and the cane toad then spent the day tied up in a plastic bag in the garbage skip.

Carol and Det asked to have lunch with us at Barnacle Bill’s – the barramundi is still as good as ever – and then we returned to the Night Market later in the evening for some last minute souvenir shopping.  We finished the night with the visit to the Cairns City Library to view the Cairns Festival light show, which highlighted this year’s theme – Kaleidoscope!

Today was spent with last minute shopping (the refrigerator and freezer are now full), clearing the awning early while it was still cool, a visit to Rusty’s after lunch, followed by a foot massage – and another ice cream!

Cairns Continues

Sunday, 26 August 2018

Ornamental pineapple

Chocolate in waiting

Big ants!

Inspecting a depression chest

With Carol and Det, waiting for lunch

Bruno's coffee roaster

Bushwalking duo

Rugged landscape, just right for snakes

Dry grass, just right for snakes

Returning from the "waterfall"

Going, going ...

Emerald Creek

On the beach!

Forgot about the ants!

School marching band in colourful attire

Enjoying the parade (and coffee)

Two cute South Koreans

Local mermaids

Local constabulary getting into the action

Brightly lit dancer

Heart attack about to happen!!!

Full moon over Trinity Inlet

Fireworks

The weather has continued to be hot, sunny and dry, although the nights are cool which makes sleeping more comfortable.

This week, after ten years, we finally managed to do the guided tour of the Botanic Gardens and were amazed at the number of plants we have looked at but never really seen or known what they were for.  Apart from ornamental pineapples, cacao pods (chocolate) and many spices, we were also introduced to the lipstick plant and shown how the seeds will stain the skin bright red.  We were also fortunate to spot some of the Cairns Birdwing butterflies.

Last Monday, Carol and Det joined us for a trip to Mareeba in order to replenish our coffee supplies.  After a stop at the Termite shop for the obligatory chilli chutney purchase, we called into the Mareeba Museum – a new experience for Carol and Det, who seemed to enjoy the many displays.  Lunch was on the verandah of Skybury Coffee while we waited for my coffee order to be packaged.  Skybury have taken over NQ Gold Coffee but also bought Bruno’s old roaster and have lovingly restored it to its former glory.  On our return to Cairns, we diverted to the Emerald Creek Falls and tested out the new tyres on the eight kilometres of corrugated gravel road.  After walking along a rough track through the scrub, I gave up when the slope/steps became too steep for my legs and waited for the other three to find the pool at the base of the falls.  Evidently, the actually falls are not visible from the end of the track.  We returned to the car and discovered a lovely sandy beach right behind us and enjoyed the cool water and shade for a time.

The Cairns Festival commenced on Friday and yesterday afternoon/evening was the annual parade.  We took our chairs and a picnic and joined the many thousands lining the Esplanade for this annual ritual.  It actually took two hours for the parade to pass us; there were many local schools, clubs and businesses participating and one of the showgirls nearly gave Himself a heart attack when she came up close and personal!!!  Following the parade, we were treated to a spectacular fireworks display over Trinity Inlet.

The caravan park is starting to thin out, with many of the regulars leaving for the journey south.

Cairns Twitchers

Sunday, 19 August 2018

Grey heron and Freshwater Creek

Ginger flower

Early morning serenity

Two Papuan frogmouths

Curtain fig tree

Papuan frogmouth

Black butcher bird

Spot the goanna at the top of the tree!

Is it a bird, is it a plane, is it a …?

Water lilies

Chinese pavilion

Legless!

In remembrance

Eternal flame

Palm Cove

Looking tropical

We had an early start to Tuesday (someone actually saw the sun rise over the hills!) as we planned to join the birdwatching tour at the Botanic Gardens and needed to be there before 8.30am.  Our small group of about eight was led by two members of the local birding community.  After being shown a large mound made by the scrub fowls, we were quickly led through the gardens to the street behind to look at the rainbow bee eaters and two Papuan frogmouths.  After being suitably impressed, it was down to The Tanks for a much closer look at another frogmouth before crossing into the Centenary Lakes section.  Here there were many more birds: sunbirds, curlews, drongos, black butcher birds, fig birds, fig parrots and a first for us, banded cuckoo shrikes and yellow honeyeaters.  We were also lucky enough to have a lady point out a large goanna high up in a tree, hoping for an inattentive bird to land nearby.  After looking at the waterbirds on Freshwater Lake, the Chinese Garden and the new children’s playground, we returned to the Botanic Gardens via the pandanus swamp.  Two and a half hours disappeared very quickly.

Tuesday night saw us back at Edge Hill for our usual game of bowls and Himself came home with some money after his team won the second prize.  With the temperature dropping below 18 degrees during the evening, it didn’t take long for the jackets to come out of the bag!

We did have a bit of drizzle one morning, which threw all the new arrivals into a panic – it had been six weeks since we had rain (apart from a little mizzle on the morning of the ballet).  Fortunately, it didn’t last very long and we were soon enjoying clear, blue skies and a rising temperature.  It has been much hotter this week.

The vehicle had a service on Thursday, which took up most of Thursday.  After being advised that the very noisy tyres were in urgent need of replacing and a few telephone calls for quotes, it was booked in for Friday at 1.00pm.   Being assured that Bridgstone was “just round the corner from Cazaly’s,” we decided to walk back to the club for lunch while the tyres were changed.  However, just round the corner was nearly 1.5 kms away and with the temperature on 29 degrees in the shade – and there was no shade – we were able to walk off some of the kilojoules!  Unfortunately, the tyre replacement took longer than anticipated, so we were able to enjoy watching 7Mate in the waiting room for an hour.  Observing the wheel alignment was interesting though and after being told that one of the back wheels was nearly going sideways, it was easy to understand why the tyres needed replacing.  The new ones are very, very quiet.

Saturday was Vietnam Veterans’ Day and we planned to attend the Cairns service which has always been held at 5.00pm.  Himself decided perhaps he should just check the time (about 2.00 pm) and was told it had been held at 11.00am this year!  Oh well, to make up for the disappointment we went into the Cenotaph anyway and then treated ourselves to an ice cream.

This morning we appreciated a stroll along the beach at Palm Cove – it was truly delightful walking along the water’s edge with a light breeze keeping us cool.  Once again, the stinger warning flag was flying – and being totally ignored by a number of people!  Not to mention the crocodiles …

Very hot this afternoon; we even turned the air conditioner on for a short period.