Our flight from Yulara took about 2 ½ hours and at
5:30 we walked off the plane into the hot, humid tropics of Queensland. We were again lucky as Cyclone Trevor moved
away from Cairns before going ashore in the northwest part of Northern
Territories. It did however leave behind
some lingering rain, which we encountered on our drive to our hotel. Queensland only has two seasons – wet and
dry, and we are approaching the end of the wet season. The landscape was 180 degrees different from
the outback – lush, verdant green plants and trees. It has a climate very similar to Hawaii. After tourism, sugar cane is a main industry
here and we passed many sugar cane fields.
Tourism is the top industry in Queensland with the Great Barrier Reef
and the Daintree Forest.
We are staying at the Pullman Sea Temple Spa and
Resort in Port Douglas. It was about a
40 minute drive from the airport. To say
it is a big resort is an understatement – it is huge. And according to Ben, it has the largest
outdoor swimming pool in the southern hemisphere! The rooms are in units of 4-6 apartments
spread out over the resort. Walking to
our unit was like walking through the jungle –birds singing in the trees and
beautiful flowers and plants lined the walkways. And our room has a jacuzzi – I know where I
am spending this evening. We had a
delicious dinner of grilled barramundi waiting for us when we arrived.
Today we are spending the day on the Great Barrier
Reef. To the Australians, the Great
Barrier Reef is “the eighth wonder of the world,” and is the only living
organism on earth that is visible from space.
It is also the world’s largest living organism. It is actually not one reef but a composite
of nearly 3,000 separate reefs and more than 900 tropical islands. It stretches for more than 1200 miles (the
distance between Boston and Miami) and is located between 20 and 50 miles off
Queensland’s coast. There are over 500
species of colorful coral, 1500 species of fish, and 4,000 species of mollusks.
We left the hotel about 9 AM for a quick drive to the
pier where we boarded the large catamaran called the Quicksilver 8 for a 1 ½
hour ride out to the Agincourt Reef located at the very outer edge of the Great
Barrier Reef. Here special reefs known
as the “ribbons” run parallel to the Continental Shelf. These reefs are considered the most pristine
eco-systems in the Great Barrier Reef.
Our destination is a large anchored pontoon that provides all the
services and activities for a fun day of snorkeling, diving, or boating in a
semi-submerged submarine.
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| Leaving the Harbor at Port Douglas |
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| Pontoon at the Reef |
We did it – we snorkeled on the Great Barrier
Reef! However, because of Cyclone Trevor
several days ago, the water was quite murky and the only fish around the
pontoon were some big fish and a few zebra fish. The current was quite strong, so we decided to
stay within the yellow safety area so although we saw some coral, it was not as
spectacular as the reefs further away from the pontoon. However when we went on the semi-submergible
boat, we saw quite a few beautiful fish, a sea turtle, a giant clam, and lots
of coral. Among the fish we saw were
pairs of rabbit fish, a beautiful pastel rainbow fish, clown fish, Angel fish
and Damsefish (a school of these beautiful blue fish). The Rabbit fish are very interesting – they
are bright yellow and they mate for life.
When together, one fish will act as a lookout while the other feeds, and
then they reverse the roles. Sadly, if
one of the pair is killed, the other will soon follow – either by starvation or
being eaten by a predator because it has no lookout.
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| Coral |
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| Coral |
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| Coral |
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| Zebra Fish |
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| Unknown Fish |
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| Looking out at the Reef |
Returning from the trip, we shared a dinner at the
hotel and had an early night.
We awoke early on Wednesday for a trip to the
Daintree Rainforest. Daintree is located
at Cape Tribulation. Cape Tribulation
was given this name by Capt James Cook “because here began all my troubles,”
when his ship struck a coral reef.
Daintree is the oldest rainforest in the world. This area is believed to be the evolutionary
beginning of many of Australia’s unique wildlife and flora. Many of the trees are over 3,000 years old,
and while the dinosaurs may have disappeared, not much else has changed in this
jungle-type rainforest. In fact one of
the trees we saw has been determined by botanists to be the oldest living plant
in the world.
Talk about entering a jungle environment. The rainforest is lush and green, although it
is very hot and humid. Our day began
with a river cruise down the Daintree River with the Bruce Belcheer’s Daintree
River Cruises. This river is home to
many birds and “salties” – saltwater crocodiles, the largest and most dangerous
of this species. We were very lucky on
this cruise. Although it did start to
rain, it did not last long and we saw 3 crocodiles. We also saw a sacred kingfisher and a little
kingfisher, a beautiful little blue bird.
The sides of the river are lined with mangrove trees.
Following our cruise we drove to a little resort for
tea and scones – “how very British of the Aussies!” As we were driving into the resort, I saw a
small blackish animal quickly run across the dirt road. It was so fast I could not get a picture, but
the owner of the resort said it was a Musky Rat Kangaroo, the smallest of the
Kangaroo species. Then it was off for a
walk through the rainforest.
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| Crocodile on the sand |
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| Beautiful Blue Butterfly (will need to enlarge) |
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| Pretty flower at our tea stop |
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| Pretty flower at our tea stop |
What a
beautiful location – green ferns and vines on the rainforest floor and a lush
green canopy over our heads. Our guide
was a former mathematician named Kyle.
He was very knowledgeable about the plants and the uses of the plants
and trees. Although we were hoping to
see a cassowary (a large bird unique to this area), that was not to be. He showed us the oldest tree in the world and
some of its seeds that are now producing a new generation of the species. He also told us about the fan palm, a tree
whose palm leaves feel like plastic and when the tree grows up, the fan leaves
shield the sunlight from the rainforest ground and there is very little vegetation
that grows because of the limited sunlight.
Although it was an interesting 1 ½ walk, the rainforest was very muddy
and very, very hot and humid. The air-conditioning
of the bus never felt so good!
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| Looking out at Daintree Rainforest |
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| Small cane toad |
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| Oldest tree in the world |
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| Palm Fan Tree |
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| Palm Fan Tree Canopy |
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| Edible fruit from the Rainforest |
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| Buttress Tree |
On the way home, the bus driver stopped at the local
supermarket and liquor store so we could all buy some wine for a male-shift happy
hour party in the apartment of the one of our travelers. They lucked out and got a 2-bedroom, full
kitchen apartment with a little wading pool.
We all met at 4:30 for some snacks wine before our next big adventure –
dinner and cane toad racing at the Ironman Pub in downtown Port Douglas.
The food, typical of Australian pubs, was good and
plentiful. I had the fish and chips
(could only eat half) and Bill had a burger.
Then the fun began. We each
bought a ticket for $5 that allowed us entry into the race room. There the emcee, a very funny Aussie,
explained how the cane toad race worked and the rules we had to abide by. There were 6 cane toads. Cane toads are not indigenous to Australia;
they were imported into the country from South America to try and kill the cane
beetle. They had worked well in the
Hawaiian cane fields so the Australian government thought they would be the
answer to their problem. However, the
cane beetles in Hawaii are different – they stay on the ground where it is easy
for the cane toads to eat them. The cane
beetles in Australia, however, climb up the canes where the toads cannot reach
as they cannot climb up the canes. And
they are prolific breeders.
So back to the race.
Each toad was assigned a color (with a name attached). Since it would be very difficult to put a
colored suit on the toad, the emcee used colored hair bands. Each person’s ticket had a number and a
raffle was used to select the six jockeys.
One of our group, Diane, was selected.
Each jockey then had to pick up their cane toad from a bucket on a large
table, kiss it, and place it in another bottomless bucket on the table. Each jockey was given a paper whistle (like
used at birthday parties) to be used as a “whip” to move their toad – you could
not use your hands, you just blew out the paper whistle so it hit the toad to
move it. To start the race, the emcee
lifted the bottomless bucket revealing the six toads in the middle of the
table. To win the race, your toad had to
move to the edge of the table, jump into the waiting hands of its jockey, who
would then run to the finish line (another bucket) and deposit the toad. Sounds easy, but the toads had a mind of
their own. One jumped off the table
before its jockey could catch it, jumped down from the stage and into the
cheering crowd and finally hopped under a table. Needless to say that jockey came last. During the second race (people bid on the
chance to be a jockey) one of our tour member’s toad jumped up on her chest and
tried to climb down her back. It was a
fun time for all, except maybe the toads.
Another one of OAT’s unplanned activities!
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| Names of the Toads |
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| Diane and her cane toad |
Our last day in Port Douglas took us to Mossman, a
little town at the foot of the Great Dividing Mountain Range and nestled among
the sugar cane fields. Here we went to
Cooya Beach where we were met by members of the Kuku Yalanji indigenous tribe,
the area’s traditional Aboriginal landowners who strive to protect their natural
heritage as they share its unique qualities with visitors. Linc was our guide and he first welcomed us
to his land with the smoking ceremony.
He then told us how his people lived off the land. They get much of their food from the ocean –
fish, prawns, stingrays, crabs, mussels, and turtles. Although some of the turtles are on the
endangered list, the Kuku Yalanji are allowed to hunt them for food. While that may seem at odds with our current
environmental protection laws, these people also respect the land and its
resources, and use it only for their daily food. Linc had two younger men from the tribe who
showed us how they net fish. They went
out about 10 feet into the water with a large net and just walked back toward
the shore. In the net were small fish
(they were thrown back) and about a dozen prawns (they were kept for tonight’s
dinner). Then one of the men went out
into the water with a spear and spiked a stingray from 20’. Linc showed us some of the weapons and items
that the Kuku Yalanji make from the wood, shells, and bones of the animals they
kill. Finally we got a lesson in spear
throwing. We all got a chance to throw
it. Bill did pretty good, but we would
all starve if it was up to my ability to throw the spear. On a path, Linc showed us a nest of green
ants in the leaves. The ants emit a
sweet substance on their backs that the Kuku Yalanji will lick off. Bill was one in our group who tried it, but
could not really taste the sweetness. At
least it wasn’t the tarantula like in Cambodia.
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| Linc our Guide |
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| Net fishing |
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| Prawn caught in the net |
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| Small box jellyfish caught in the net |
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| Playing the didgeridoo |
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| Sting ray caught with a spear |
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| Spear throwing |
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| Spear throwing |
After lunch in Mossman, we then walked to the Janbul
Gallery where we met Binna, a deaf Aborigine artist. He told us how the aborigines used dot
painting to tell their stories. He then
showed us some of his truly amazing work.
He showed us how to make a Cassowary foot print and turned us loose to
create our own design on either a small canvas or a small boomerang. Bill and I chose to do the boomerangs. After I finished painting mine, I realized
that I had painted the footprint up-side-down.
Oh well, we are in the up-side-down continent so why should my artwork
be any different. Bianna was born deaf,
and not only did he learn how to talk (and with an Aussie accent according to
our guide), but he paints beautifully and plays a mean didgeridoo.
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| Our indigenous art work |
It was a wonderful day and we all learned a lot
about the indigenous peoples’ customs and life style. But tonight we must say goodbye to Port
Douglas and this hot, humid weather.
Tomorrow we travel to Sydney and our last few days in Australia.
