Hot Days

Thursday, 28 August 2014

 

Can't have too many helpers

Housing estate next to caravan park

Freshwater Creek

Model jet boat

Jenny, Brian, Us, Maureen and James

The weather this week has been just superb – hot, clear skies and low humidity.  We will be sorry to leave next Monday.

Tuesday morning and someone had to get out of bed very early and take the vehicle for a check-up, needing to be at the service centre before 7.30 am.  Fortunately, no major problems were found and nearly $250 later, we had a washed car and new fuel filter!

Meanwhile, back at the caravan park, major problems were happening!  The small motor home behind us decided to leave shortly after 7.30 am; only problem was that they neglected to disconnect their power cord and snapped off the services pole, which supplies four sites.  Evidently, they stopped a short way along the road, wound up the cord and kept on going, failing to report the damage.  The owner’s son, Phil, was quickly summoned and immediately shut off the water supply (electricity and water is NOT a good combination) and returned later in the morning to replace the structure.  We were without power for some time as the services pole did not want to come apart, despite Phil having the assistance (and advice) of some additional helpers.  For some reason, the motor homers decided to abandon the chair which they had left on their concrete pad and not return that night.  We enjoyed a walk along Freshwater Creek later in the day and came across a man, and his son, playing with a jet boat; the young boy said he didn’t get to play with it very often!

Wednesday was time for a bit of pampering, a major grocery shop to ensure the cupboards are full before leaving next Monday and a visit to Beaurepaires to have the tyres rotated and rebalanced.  While the tyres were being attended to, I took the opportunity to make a few necessary purchases at Cairns Central.  Later in the afternoon, we assembled outside Jenny and Brian’s caravan for a final happy hour with them.

This morning, we farewelled Jenny and Brian as they started to head south for home.  I then had enough time to make a banana and walnut loaf before heading to the hairdressers, and assuring the friendly girls that I would return next year.

There have been a few empty sites in the caravan park the last couple of nights as the southerners are now starting to head home.

Cairns Continued

Monday, 25 August 2014

 

Canefields pathway

Looking back towards the caravan park

Feathery grass

Freshwater Creek

Freshwater Creek

Freshwater Creek

Flowers of the African Tulip Tree

A pretty weed

Ferns along the bank of Freshwater Creek

Can you find our caravan?

Wow, only four months until Christmas!

The weather has continued to be very settled and very warm and very humid in Cairns and with only one week remaining here, we are not really looking forward to the cooler climes of the southern states.

Last Thursday saw the arrival and Brian and Jenny at Crystal Cascades Caravan Park – it has been so nice to catch up with them again.  Needless to say, there have been lots of stories to tell by everyone about our respective travels since we last met in 2013.

When we were driving into Cairns last Friday, the Pajero’s engine suddenly started surging, so we changed course and headed straight to the Mitsubishi dealership (also the dealership for a number of other vehicles).  While the service manager took our vehicle for a test drive, a salesman attempted to sell me a new Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited; very nice, but I was just lacking a few dollars of the $66,000 price tag.  The Pajero has to go to hospital tomorrow morning at 7.30 am(someone is going to have to get up VERY early!!!) and we are hoping it will be a faulty manifold sensor.  At this stage, we are still planning on leaving Cairns next Monday, however …

On Saturday, along with Jenny and Brian, we had lunch at Cazaly’s, where Jenny noticed a friend from her days in Cairns, in the 1980s, sitting at the next table.  Following lunch, we visited Rusty’s Market for the weekly shop and then introduced the couple to Movenpick ice cream.

Sunday was a fairly quiet day, mainly spent relaxing.  Himself made the big decision to borrow Brian’s bike and go for a ride and despite being a little saddle sore on his return, is walking okay now.  I went for a walk during the afternoon along the new bike/walk path along the edge of the canefields next to Freshwater Creek, being very careful to walk in the middle of the path away from the nasties hiding in the sugar cane and the other nasties waiting to drop out of the rainforest trees along the creek’s bank.  A couple of days earlier when feeding the fish, I had met three ladies from Papua New Guinea at the creek.  Two of them were very surprised at the fish which came to be fed, but the third lady was wading along the creek collecting ferns – she then walked back along the bank through the thick, shin high plants.  Obviously wasn’t too worried about all the snakes.  When I asked what the ferns were for, I was told that they tasted very nice with chicken!

Today, Jenny and I had a girls’ day out, leaving the men to fend for themselves.  We started off at DFO, doing our little bit for the economy there before heading into Cairns Central for some lunch and a bit more therapy.  I think we both enjoyed and appreciated the time on our own.

Twitching in Cairns

Wednesday, 20 August 2014

 

Vietnam Veterans' Day

Rainbow flycatcher

Papuan frogmouth

Scrub turkey

Impressive Visitors' Centre

White orchids

Remarkable cobweb

Bird with a yellow tummy

A kingfisher

Green ants

Part of a lake

Looking for birds

Water lilies

More lake

Ducklings

Bridge over a lake

Swamp walkway

Fern frond

Us with John and Brenda

Blue wing kookaburra waiting for lunch

A few small boats

Late Monday afternoon we travelled into Cairns for the Vietnam Veterans’ Day Memorial Service.  This year, there seemed to be many more veterans at the service at the War Memorial on the Esplanade – the most perfect setting, looking out over the Coral Sea.  Silly us thought we would have dinner at the RSL afterwards (do the right thing), but no way would we have been able to get a table before 9.00 pm probably, so ended up just having dessert at Movenpick.

Tuesday morning we were BOTH out of bed early and back at the Botanic Gardens, hoping that the birdwatching tour would operate.  Yes, it did and we ended up with about a dozen people tagging along with binoculars and questions.  It most just superb weather, which made the walk through the Gardens and Centennial Lakes even more enjoyable.  Our guides seemed to spend a large amount of time telling us what the different bird calls were, with us looking skywards and wondering what we should be looking at.  However, it wasn’t long before we started spotting some of the many different birds in the gardens – the Papuan frogmouth was very accommodating and spends all day pretending to be part of a tree.  We locals tend to forget how interesting our common birds are to visitors – the Asians and Europeans in the group became very excited when they saw a white cockatoo and a willie wagtail.  We saw many new species on this walk, even a Wampoo dove, which even had our guides excited.  The tour finished with a quick walk through the paper bark swamps, with my Bushman’s handling the many insects without any problems.  With so many birds about, the usual hour and a half to two hour tour extended to well over two and a half hours.

We played our usual game of bowls on Tuesday evening.

Today we were joined by John and Brenda for a very enjoyable lunch at the Yorky’s Knob Boat Club.  Not having seen then for six years, there was plenty of catching up and talking undertaken.  The restaurant is on an outside deck and a blue wing kookaburra decided to check out the menu while we were there.  After perusing the food on offer, he suddenly took off, parted my hair and removed a large piece of hamburger from a plate at the next table.  For some reason, the young man who lost his lunch couldn’t understand why all the other diners laughed!

Lake Placid & Barron Gorge

Monday, 18 August 2014

 

Lake Placid

Lake Placid

Danger, but swimming recommended!

Small stream entering lake

Ducks (three)

Kuranda Train

Barron Gorge

Barron Gorge

Bridge to the power station

Interesting rock formations

Surprise Creek Falls

Lower falls

Protection from falling rocks

Early Friday morning, the rain stopped (hopefully for some time!) and the humidity rose, and rose.  Although we had cloud cover all day, the temperature was high and the humidity in the 90s; nothing seemed to dry out, including us.  We enjoyed a nice lunch at Cazaly’s with Maureen and James; we all made a donation to the club via the poker machines.  Hard to understand how much money some people must put through them when they just sit all day playing the things.

The sun shone on Saturday and although the humidity was still in the high 80s all day, the ground did start to dry out and our vitamin D levels began to rise.  Apart from a walk to feed the fish, the day was spent relaxing.

Sunday saw more brilliant sunshine, with some power on the sun.  Someone finally agreed that we needed a new coffee maker, so most of the morning was spent visiting K-Marts and appliance stores.  Unfortunately, K-Mart no longer stock their $12 coffee maker and we ended up ordering a more expensive piece of equipment over eBay.  It should arrive next week before we leave here (fingers and toes are definitely crossed).  We were treated to another sausage sizzle, complete with all the trimmings, at dinner time, with the evening’s entertainment being provided by an old rock n roll singer – obviously much enjoyed by the audience.

Today, the weather was even better, if possible, with the humidity starting to drop and making life much more enjoyable.  We decided to check out Lake Placid and the Barron Gorge this morning – two beautiful sites very close to Cairns.  Lake Placid is part of the Barron River and the usual sign warned of the dangers of crocodiles.  However, the notice board next to the warning listed suggestions for activities at the lake – swimming and kayaking were just two!!!  We followed the short path along the lake and spent some time sitting on a rock in the shade (well back the water) watching the ducks, some fish and an eel.  The Kuranda train went past on the opposite hill while we were enjoying the tranquillity.  We then drove on to the Barron Gorge and the power station; how impressive this area must be in the wet season.  There was plenty of water coming down the Surprise Creek waterfalls and the sandy beach was a bit of a surprise.

We have a sneaking suspicion that the parent curlews may be going to nest behind our caravan, as they have been hanging about the same little area for a number of days now.  Will be a bit of a pest if they do …

I had been told by one of the park residents that the owners were finding snakes in the rubbish tins each morning, even finding four snakes in one bin on one occasion.  Needless to say, he who empties the caravan bin each morning was approaching the large bins with some degree of caution.  After talking to the owner this morning about the snake population in the park, it turns out that the snakes are at his house - and under the wheelie bin.  Despite being relocated, the scrub python insists on returning to live under the bin.  One of the joys of living in the wet tropics!