The Daintree...

We left Port Douglas feeling exhilirated. Our next destination was the Daintree. This is part of the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area and extends from the Daintree River north to Cape Tribualation. We stopped first in the small quiet town, Daintree Village. This was a logging town established around 1880 to transport Red Cedar trees down the Daintree River. They were logged for their strength, size, and versitality as a timber. The town now has has several small shops and a few cafes. Later in the day we took an awesome trip down the river and got to see amazing wildlife, including crocodiles.



The Daintree River forks at this point around Snapper Island.



Trees along side the riverbank form webb like roots and branches. This helps them adapt to floods during the wet season.



Saltwater Crocodiles are protected in this area and seen regularly. We got a chance to see one up close along the river banks sunning itself. These are very prehistoric looking creatures and very dangerous. There have been numerous documented reports in the Daintree River from crocodile attacks, many resulting in death, so we decided to pass on the afternoon swim in the river!



A snake neck swan resting on a tree branch.



A baby crocodile. It was about two feet long. Adult crocs can grow to be over 20 feet in length!

The Great Barrier Reef...

The Great Barrier Reef is truly the gem of Australia. We had a chance to spend two days out in the reef and see it up close. The first day we snorkled off the coast of Fitzroy Island while we were in Carins. The second time we took an all day cruise from Port Douglas with the tour group Haba out to the outer Reef, and we snorkled at two different sights. Kim took two half hour dives and got a chance to see a giant sea cucumber. Here are a few in depth websites about the ecology and marine wildlife of the Great Barrier Reef.

http://www.reefteach.com.au

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/earthpulse/reef/

http://www.gbrmpa.gov.au/

Some underwater photos we took of the reef. We saw several types of fish, and some amazing colorful coral. We also had a really interesting marine biologist on board who was a wealth of information.

Port Douglas...

We made our way up to the ritzy holiday resort Port Douglas. It is a beautiful town that sits out on Trinity Bay. It has nice beaches lined with non native palm trees. Port Douglas is a great place to head out to the Great Barrier Reef and we booked a tour to the outer Reef with the guide company Haba.



We caught a great sunset overlooking Dickson Inlet towards the rainforest mountains. It looks like someone is winking through the clouds.



The pier on the tip of Island Point.



Boats docked along Wharf Street in Dickson Inlet.



Palm trees line the streets and beaches. Four mile beach had long stretches of them along shore.

Mossman Gorge and the Rainforest...

The rainforests in north Queensland are magnificent. We went to Mossman Gorge and hiked through some superb lowland tropical forests with huge fig trees and lush ferns.



Mossman river has some crystal clear swimming holes and a giant swingbridge to take you accross to the other side.



Kim trekking through the rainforest.



Kim beside a giant Fig Tree.



This is one tall Curtain Fig Tree.




The roots from this fig tree reminded me of the tentacles from Davey Jones face in the movie the Pirates of the Caribbean.

Mareeba Wetlands...

The Mareeba Wetlands is a wonderful nature preserve. With over six thousand acres of savannah woodland, it is a haven for mammals, reptiles, and birds. This area is home to over 180 species of birds. We took a small boat out on the marsh and had a very informative overview of the local ecology and history from a knowledgable guide.



The tour boat docked out in the pond area of the huge wetlands.



The pond was covered in water lillies. These plants are super resistant to water saturation and really flourish in this type of enviornment. Here you can see the water beading up on top of the lilly.



A purple drangon lilly.



One of the many types of birds found in the area. This is an intermiadete Egret and has a harsh croak to its voice and thrives in the shallow wetlands and intertidal mud flats.



Giant termite mounds rising from the ground. These are really fascinating structures and are basically homes built by termite colonies. They can be twice as tall as this one, and some are even 15 feet high!

Rockhopping at Granite Rocks...

From Karunda we headed up north to the town of Mareeba. This is where the rainforest meets the outback on the plateau called the Atherton Tabelands. The drive up was stunning and we went through some scenic countryside with miles and miles of sugarcane plantations. We decided to camp for the night at Granite Rocks campground and go bouldering and rockhopping the next morning.



We woke up to a strange hissing sound coming from outside our tent. When we looked outside we saw it was a hot air ballon floating by. It landed within a few hunderd yards from our campsite.



Weird rock formations around the Granite Rocks area. It was a neat place to go hiking and scrambling around surrounded by these mysterious boulders.



We spotted several small wallaroos running around while hiking.



Patrick taking some time out to stretch out on the rock and soak up the sun.



After a fun morning of hiking we left Granite Rocks and stopped at the Coffee Works factory. They have all kinds of gourmet coffee and chocolate you can sample and taste, and a factory tour of the production processs. We left feeling caffinated and ready to go for the day!

Karunda Highland...

After two days in Cairns, we hired a rental car and set out exploring the area and driving north from the city. Our first stop for the day was the Tjapukai Cultural Park. This is an Aboriginal owned and run cultural center giving a wealth of information, history, tours, and song and dance about the local Aboriginal culture and customs. It was really informative, enjoyable, and well run. They had exhibits on the Aboriginal creation legend, boomerang and spearthrowing workshops, movies about colonization clashes with European settlers, and theater performances with song and dance describing the local customs and religious ritauls. We also got to hear presentations on Aboriginal bush tucker and what they eat in the wild. Aboriginies are very tied to the land and it is reflected in their culture and beliefs.



Tjupukai performance and dance with clapsticks, boomerang, spears, and the digeridoo. This ceremony is performed for preperation and anticipation for a successuful hunting journey.



Here they show how to quickly and successfully start a fire with friction from sticks in the bush.



After a workshop on spearthrowing, Kim quickly learned how to go about hunting a kangaroo!


We later made our way up the small mountain town of Karunda. Karunda is a small mountain town set in a beautiful rainforest. We walked around the town and went to the Arts Co-op and Barron Falls.



Barron Falls and Gorge. The falls drops more than 300 feet.



Spider web reflecting through the light on a hike in the rainforest.



View from Karunda looking back down towards Cairns.

Fitzroy Island...

Kim and I took a day trip out to Fitzroy Island off the coast from Carins. The island is about 5km wide and sits 40km off the coast of Cairns past Cape Grafton. The boat ride out to the island was on a small jet boat called the "Thunderbolt". This boat went extremly fast and the water was choppy making for a fun, bumpy ride. We traveled the 35km out to the island in just under thirty minutes. We got to the island and relaxed on the beach and snorkeled for the afternoon basking in the sunshine. The island has coral littered beaches everywhere, and has some nice hiking trails. On the far side of the island there is a great beach called "Nudey Beach".



Kim relaxing on the beach.



Kayakers towing a few boats just off the coast of the beach.




Washed up coral covers the beach all around the island.

Cairns...

The desert part of our two week trip was over and we were looking forward to the next stage of our adventures in tropical north Queensland. Cairns seemed like the perfect starting point. It has easy acess to the Great Barrier Reef, great beaches, restraunts, and weather. It is very close to the Daintree and Cape Tribulation, which are areas of lush tropical rainforests that we wanted to see. The are really only two seasons - the wet and the dry. The dry season is during the winter- it is the busiest time for tourism and the weather is warm but not to humid or hot. We had two days to check out the city. There is a great esplanade downtown and the city has some great beaches.



View of Carins from the air as we make our landing approach.




One of the many nice beaches we went to just north of Cairns near Yorkies Knob. We liked the surf rescue sign on the waveboard.



The beach front esplanade with fancy hotels, nice places to eat, and pubs. You definetly won't die of thirst in Cairns. There are pubs and bars on every street corner. The pubs also stay open until 5AM in the morning! Although Cairns is considered by many to be a wild party town, we had a nice quiet relaxing stay there.



Here is the foreshore downtown promendade. It is a fairly new 4000 square meter saltwater swimming lagoon that sits on the beach- the was so relaxing after spending a week in the dry dusty outback! We went to a great market and arts fair right alongside the esplanade. Interestingly upon opening of the lagoon, there was local and media intrest regarding the issue of topless bathing (apparently the unoffical rule seems to now allow it, but discourages running while topless).



Boats lined up at the downtown pier ready to head out to the reef and tropical islands. We took a day trip out to Fitzroy Island.

Alice Springs...

We finally made it all the way to Alice Springs. After three days of camping and 2000km of driving we arrived in good spirits ane were looking forward to a nice hot shower, relaxing, and a break from being in the car for so long. The distances between places in the Northern Territory in Australia are huge.

We found Alice Springs to be a nice small town. It is smack dab in the middle of the country of Australia and the only town that can claim it is the closest to every beach and coastline in Australia! The town started out as an outback outpost for the Overland Telegraph Line and over the next 125 years slowly grew into a small town. It has a permanent watersource by the bed of the normally dry Todd River, and thus it has major services and conviences of any small town. The Macdonnell mountain range runs westword alongside the town making for nice scenery and hiking around the area. There are very strong ties with the local Aboriginal tribes and communites. Kim and I really enjoyed learning about their culture, heritage, and spent time appreciating their artwork and music.

Alice Springs is also home to an interesting service called the Royal Flying Doctor. This operates airflights and services to remote isolated communites in the outback. It also has The School of the Air, which is an educational system that is unique to Australia and brodcasts lessons to children who are living on remote villages and stations.

We visited the Alice Springs Reptile Center which has a huge colleciton of snakes, lizards, and even a salt water crocodille. They have over a 100 types of reptiles and 40 different species and a fossil cave room, providing a comprehensive and educational overview of the reptiles within the Northern Territory.



Two Australian thorny devils. This is a remarkable, though small, lizard. The Thorny Devil's colouration can adapt to its surroundings and camoflauge itself quite well, thus making it hard to see. Despite their fierce appearance and razor sharp thorns, these are slow-moving and harmless lizards. Their diet consits of the many species of ants which occur in the arid desert.



The Australian Frilled Lizard. When frightened or to scare off predators, this lizard rears on its hind legs, spreads an enormous frill out on each side of its neck, opens its mouth, and hisses. I didn't get to see this unfourtanety but it is still one cool looking creature.



We went to an awesome digeridoo performance called the Sounds of Starlight. It was owned and operated by the digerdoo performer Andrew Langford. It was a spellbinding visual journey through the ancient land forms, history and space of Australia's outback with amazing images and photos. The musical journey takes you from the heart of the desert to beyond the stars with dynamic rhythms as the didgeridoo creates the pulse for the visual images. After the show, people were invited to come onstage and jam. Here Caroline is playing the didj with Andrew, and Mike and Patrick are on the djembe playing percussion.



Local Aboriginal paintings from Alice Springs artists.



After two relaxing days at Alice Springs, we boarded a plane and headed off to Cairns for our next Australian adventure- Tropical North Queensland and the Great Barrier Reef. Here you can see the vast arid land below from our flight!