Cairns, Australia

Our final stop in Australia (wow, its flown by) is Cairns, which is where we originally flew into from Sydney, but immediately headed north for our first two destinations. We drove back here on Tuesday and through a series of circumstances sort of wasted the day as we could not get our desired plans to come together. One thing we couldn't find and another was too late to work so we ended up getting back to Cairns fairly early and then had to wait for our accommodations to finish getting cleaned. Not the end of the world by any means but it had everyone a bit annoyed.

Our accommodations for this week were an apartment across the street from Trinity Beach, which is about ten minutes outside of Cairns. It's fairly spacious, has internet (though it didn't work when we arrived and Dad has to install a new modem) and has a pool. The weather is hot and humid and certainly doesn't feel like December to us. It is also really windy and that combined with the jellyfish don't provide for an ideal beach type atmosphere.  Our time here included several school days, along with some sightseeing.

Our first outing around Cairns was to Kuranda Park, a full day journey that started with an hour and a half train ride on a historic early 1900s train. The scenery alone was exquisite but trying to fathom how they made these tracks back in the day was a mystery. Ultimately the train arrived at Kuranda, which is a small indigenous town of sorts with shops, restaurants and various attractions. We visited a butterfly tent, bird house and animal park where the kids were able to hold koalas - a real treat. We also popped into a didgeridoo store where we learned a lot about this fascinating Aboriginal instrument.

Historic Train

A cassowary!  Unique bird found in Australia

Holding a cuddly koala!

Petting a kangaroo!

Playing a didgeridoo

One evening we attended an aboriginal event which included a show and information about this local indigenous tribe. We were a bit disappointed in this as it was more show and less education than what we had hoped for. It was a rare experience in that the reviews we read really didn't match what we felt we experienced.  Nevertheless, the kids enjoyed participating in something out of the ordinary.

Our oldest participating in a aboriginal dance

G dancing after fire was made

SJ with aboriginal dancer

We took a full day and headed into the countryside and drove through small towns and a vastly changing landscape. We stopped at a small roadside market where they sell fresh nuts and fruits, so we purchased a few things for our day. Within about two hours outside of Cairns, we went from humid rainforest to a more desert like climate with rich red soil, filled with orchards of all kinds - orange, apple, pineapple, vineyards, nut farms and everything in between. One of our first stops on this adventure was a large curtain fig tree which is over 200 years old. The sheer size of the tree is amazing as it's bigger than our camera could capture. Curtain fig trees are interesting because they actually grow from the top down as opposed to the bottom up.  They can cause significant damage if a seed is dropped in one's chimney by a bird flying overhead, which occasionally happens here in Australia.

View from side of the road as we drove

Famous Curtain Fig Tree

Fig Tree explanation

Next we headed to the small town of Atherton and visited a place called The Crystal Cave where a man has gathered rare gems, rocks and amazing crystals literally from all over the globe. The proprietor designed a fake cave to walk through and placed the various stones inside with numbers and information about each one. It was a fascinating learning experience. This final picture is the largest Amethyst Geode ever discovered in the world known as the 'Empress of Uruguay.'  It's hard to tell in this picture but it is over 11 feet tall and weighs two and half tons!

Boys in front of Empress of Uruguay

Next we ventured on to a waterfall in a picturesque setting to devour our 1,413th delicious PB&Js and rest for a short while before heading way out to the country to a highly recommended ice cream and cheese shop. While this was literally in the middle of farms on gravel roads, we were not disappointed.

Apparently the most photographed waterfall in Australia

Our final stop of the day was Paronella Park. A trip to Paronella Park is a surreal experience. This is a castle, built by hand in the 1930s, by a man named Jose Paronella who knew nothing about construction. He was a baker by trade and left Spain at the age of 19 on a one way ticket to Australia with nothing but a suitcase. Starting out as a farm-hand, he eventually saved and earned enough to buy his own farm and from there began buying and selling farms, ultimately minting himself a small fortune. He then used this money to build Paronella Park which operated as an entertainment club of sorts in its day. He used a waterfall to power a generator and had the only electricity in the area (decades before anyone else) which allowed him to make and sell ice cream, a true novelty back then. There is a small lake for swimming, tennis courts, changing rooms, and a ballroom which also doubled as a movie theater back in the day. A truly unique place, worth the time to briefly poke around their website and realize that some dreams do come true. We arrived at dusk so took a brief tour while it was light out and then stuck around for the evening tour where they light up the park!  It was beautiful and definitely got our creative juices flowing!

Paronella Park

Smaller Castle at Paronella Park lit for night

In front of the lake and waterfall at Paronella Park

We spent a day running errands including some blood tests for Dad's feet that are still causing him pain and a foot massage.  We gathered a few last souvenirs and postcards as well as a few supplies while we had access to them, and got a haircut and our daughter's hair braided.  We walked along the Esplanade and saw the pool on the waterfront as well as the marina where the yachts are.

Dad finding a bit of relief

From Cairns we flew to the Gold Coast for a night as we'd originally booked our flight to Asia out of there.  We enjoyed an afternoon on the beach as it was shallow really far into the water and the kids had a blast being far out and jumping the waves.

Some of our favorite aspects of Australia include staying in the Daintree Rainforest, getting to see and pet kangaroos and hold koalas, snorkeling the Great Barrier Reef, seeing our grandparents, and touring the Sydney Opera House.  We were surprised by the number of cockroaches everywhere in Australia, as we hadn't expected this. We were also surprised by how quickly the rainforests faded into dry red soil in the country.  Dad was an incredible driver once again and really did great at driving on the left hand side of the road.

Cattle and sheep may cross the road

Be alert for kangaroos jumping across the road

Cassowary crossing

Stinger warning

Always good to know if "Crocs inhabit an area"

This concludes our Australian adventure and we fly next to Bangkok to begin a two month stay in SE Asia - we are anticipating a real culture shock! We are grateful for our roughly two months in New Zealand and Australia but ready to begin a new adventure. Chiefly we are ready to do some serving as the last two months have felt more vacation-like given the comforts, high quality food, easy communication and laid-back atmosphere.