37-Cairns

5th November 2008.

What an amazing change of scenery as we headed into Queensland and north to Cairns. Leaving the desolute outback behind and into the lush green pastures of sugar cane and fruit plantations was a welcomed change. Seeing all the clouds resting on the mountain tops and greenery wherever you looked was absolutely awesome.

Cairns:

We fell in love with Cairns on the first day. It's so clean and very well layed out and the background of the lush green Great Dividing Range, makes it picture perfect. Fortunately the temperature had dropped to 32 degrees, we were in a 5 star caravan park with the best ammenities we've come across so far, so life was bliss.

Skyrail and Kuranda:

The Skyrail (cable car) was amazing, skimming 40 metres up across the top of the rain forest for 7.4kms and arriving in the quaint little town of Kuranda. You can spend the whole day in this sleepy layed back town with all it's speciality and food stalls. The Butterfly Sanctuary, Bird Park and Venom Park are definitely worth a visit. Returned on the Historic Scenic Train with amazing views of Barron Gorge and the Falls. Barren Gorge has to be the longest and deepest gorge we've ever seen and completely covered by the rain forest, a sight to behold.

.

Daintree Rain Forest:

Next day headed north to The Daintree Rain Forest. Ferry crossing is reasonable at $18.00 return per vehicle, but wow, they've really done a good job at The Daintree Discovery Centre. The Boardwalks allow you to walk through all the dense undergrowth, whilst the Tower gives a bird's eye view across all the tree tops and valleys. Next headed on to Cape Tribulation and another WOW factor. Unfortunately, the presence of crocodiles and jellyfish stingers  meant no swimming, but what a location where the rain forest meets the sea. A slow trip back due to all the traffic and road works, but an awesome day.

. 

Atherton Tablelands: 

Another day, and time to head inland to the Atherton Tablelands in search of the tree climbing kangaroos and flourescent mushrooms. I kid you not, they do exist but being very rare, we couldn't find any. Saw the huge Curtain Fig Tree, numerous waterfalls and the Cathedral Fig Tree.

Another fun day full of surprises and some spectacular scenery. It was slow going due to the very windy, twisty and steep ascents and descents of the Great Dividing Range with the caravan in tow, but definitely worth the effort. It was raining when we arrived at The Boulders so couldn't do all the walks and only did a quick brief tour.

Paronella Park:

Continuing south, we head for Paronella Park which looks good in the brochure and it's offering free camping for the night:) WOW, what an unexpected experience this place is. It's not just another tourist attraction that you walk through and move on, it really is a mind boggling experience that will stay in your minds forever. It all started out as one man's dream to build a theme park and the story of Jose Paronella is now etched in the history of Queensland forever. Here's a link to the full story of Jose and Paronella Park. You cannot miss out on the experience and the enthusiasm of the current owners, who when travelling around Oz, found the place falling to pieces, saw the potential and resurrected Jose's dream. Since then, it's survived fires and cyclones and The Dream Lives On. 

.  

Life On The Road:

Avril (my younger sister) arrived from South Africa to spend a few weeks with us and it's been really great seeing her again. Marlene's enjoying the female company and I've sent them shopping for some time out and retail therapy while I catch up on some work.

Can't believe how much the price of diesel has dropped over the past month. Only a few weeks ago we were paying as much as $2.30 and now were down to $1.40 a litre.

Had just been watching Channel 7's Sunrise program featuring Monte'Dywer when we saw his Winnebago pull up a few sites away, so just had to pop over and say hi. What a nice guy and even allowed me to take some footage. He then gave me a signed copy of his book and CD, both titled "Red In The Centre". The CD is really good and we'll be featuring some of it on our DVD and as for the book, I couldn't put it down till the last page, awesome. His web site is www.monte.com.au to find out more. Went shopping a few days later and bumped into Monte again, this time doing book signings at one of the shopping centres.
 
Back to the top