Another year older...

Another year has elapsed in the life of me. This is another one of those times when one gives leave to reflect... Fortunately for me, my birthday is not so long after both christmas and the new year, so if there's any thinking to be done, it's probably been done already. I have one resolution for the year... continue the momentum, and themes of the last one!So this birthday my only real thoughts were: 1: Next year i'll be able to have a big party at home with friends (assuming I still have some) and family (which I can probably count on still having). Excellent. 2: Where is somewhere exciting to spend a birthday that we haven't seen and would like to, and that Angie hadn't seen and would like to. The beach above and below is Ellis beach which is a little north of Cairns - about a 20 minute drive away from us. And which we should really visit more often! New Years resolution perhaps? Go to the beach and roast thyself more often!!! Abbey enjoyed the little sojourn though, and managed to cover herself in sand. She then tried to get near the car in such a state. Unluckily for her she was met with Angie and I and a cleverly placed tap (right beside the car). Hmm might have to get used to that one with two kids now! Though in defense of my inability to let a dirty child into the car, i'll cry out that it was preventative maintenance for the car...Naturally we headed for Cape Tribulation, which is a couple of hours drive north of Cairns. It's the only place in the world where two world heritage listed areas meet one another. The Millennia old Daintree rainforest and the (also old) Great Barrier reef which can be accessed right off the beach. (Provided you've come prepared with your stinger suit, snorkel, mask, fins and crocodile proof cage!) Given that we hadn't brought these essential items, we elected not to experience the oneness with nature that such attire would undoubtedly draw us into, and instead opted for a day of exploring the Mossman gorge on the second of jan, a night in Daintree Wild B & B, followed by the Jungle surfing in the Daintree on the morning of the third and another wild swim in Emmagen Creek, just north of the crocodile warning signs. Evidently crocodilians don't venture across the 4wd crossing of the creek, so it's safe to swim immediately above the crossing, while immediately downstream of the crossing signs warn you of your impending journey to the stomach of a crocodile if you choose to swim on the downstream side. Just emmagen (imagine). Ok crap joke. Onwards. I've developed a fascination for clouds recently, and am on the hunt for fabulous clouds to photograph. Not a great hobby if you're prone to neck pain. Just as well I amn't! So here are a few cool shots I managed to get over these couple of days. The one on the left is a rain system out somewhere over the reef. Contrast clearly not that great as i'm still only just learning to use this camera. Pays to read the manual... We bought this camera nearly three years ago and i'm still learning new tricks to do. Ok so maybe not new tricks, maybe just new settings... I may yet be able to get one of those cool waterfall shots though with the water all blurred but everything else in focus... just need to wait for some rain and then head to one of the few dozen waterfalls that are all around Cairns. Pic on the right is of the clouds above the Mossman gorge which is slightly to the left of the centralish hill... This was driving towards the Gorge! I guess what do you expect when you go to visit a rainforest at the start of the wet season? Same shot is on the left, just to show the contrast in the skies... Was quite spectacular. We were in brilliant sunshine most of the way, but drove into the depths of those rainclouds. To the right is another storm out at sea. Right i'll leave it at that, just in case of the unlikely event that you're bored with looking and reading about clouds. Mossman gorge was again pretty cool, we didn't bother with any long walk in the forest due to the three tag alongs (Abbey, John and Lucy) and due to the fact that it was raining tropical rain styles (lots of water falling from the sky... if you've never been in tropical rain, imagine the phrase 'bucketing down' and apply it more or less literally!) and also due to a lack of time. So instead Angie and I elected to take a dip in the cool clear water with the fish and the other tourists! Good option cos we were saturated anyway from the rain, so it was no biggie to jump in the water and get even more wet. Just got rid of the humid stickiness. Not much more to say about that really. I'm sure you get the idea. River. Wet. Swimming. Playing with little falls. Climbing on rocks. Me pointing out to Angie the place least likely to lead to your death when jumping in. Her still being quicker to jump in there than me. Laughing at all the women in Bikini's on the side who are too scared to get into the water. Or perhaps they just don't want to show the world their CNS (it was refreshingly cool!). Laughing at the men on the sides who are inevitably upstaged by their children who hop right in while they're still contemplating the cold factor. Good clean fun. Ooo Mossman afforded more wildlife experiences too. A decent sized snake (looked like the water python from the snake show) who was fossicking around people's bags where we parked our stuff under the shelter of a big tree. And this tree dragon named Jasper who was an exceptionally cool lizard (no pun intended). Scientifically speaking he is from the family of lizards known as 'clingonimanythingimgrabbus' which i thought was kinda appropriate. After making a hasty dive for vehicles, amidst a ridiculous deluge we emerged from the Gorge, and the rainclouds and headed for our accomodation for the night. I will now treat you to a tour of the zoo, which, as guests of the B&B you get 24 hour access to. We elected to have a wander around about 5pm, just after it had shut for the night to day visitors, before it got too dark, before Abbey needed feeding, and while the keeper was doing her rounds for feeding. First on our list of things to do was to pat one of the resident kangaroo's. Abbey was her usual animated self, initially approaching them with couragous sprite, but on getting close enough to realise the animal was as big or bigger than her she retreated back to the safety of an Aunty! We said hello to the kookaburra. And we said hello to the blue winged kookaburra, who perhaps a little unfairly, was situated right next to the normal Kookaburra. Unfair I think because he would always get more people looking at him just because he was rarer than his brown winged cousin. To bring justice to their day, we elected to time our visits and spend an equal amount of time discussing the meaning of life with each bird. Ole blue was a little cagey though (pun realised, though again not intended) and avoided posing for our shots... Opossum was holed up in a tree and excessively difficult to focus on. That's the best I could do. Possums are different in at least two ways in Australia (different from in NZ). 1. In NZ they are grey, usually with red polka dots on their coat, whereas over here they are a uniform light browny colour. This could have something to do with difference number 2. In Australia they are caged so people can look at how 'cute'(?!) they are, whereas in NZ they are shot at (hence red polka dots) so they can be plucked and turned into something cute (like possum booties, socks or a jersey). This is a bluey green parrot. I hesitate to use the word aquamarine as the colour seems a little deep for that. Anyway, he looked nervous. This could be because I told him to sit still so i could shoot him. He may even have shat himself. I must watch how I phrase things... This is a noiseless pair of Cockatoos. Noiseless to you, but I can assure you they were not even nearly noiseless to us. The phrase "loud enough to wake the dead" was made for these prats. I'm lucky not to be permanently disabled in the auricular regions. This is an inquisitive orange parrot. This is a strange looking storky type bird. He was also a little nervous and kept darting off into the foliage where he could hide... What did he think i was gonna do? Shoot him? Actually that's a possibility, as a lot of the birds at this zoo are refuge birds. Which I guess makes them refugees. Which makes me wonder which country they left, whether Tom Petty would be appropriate as background music about now ("Somewhere, somehow, somebody must have kicked you around some... You don't have to live like a refugee"), and whether they miss their former lives in the free (yet clearly dangerous) world. This is a Curlew. Curlews are actually relatively common birds around Cairns. They are ground nesters, and a protected species. Which is especially bad if one darts in front of your car while you're driving. I hear fines for killing them are around $50,000. Lucky for them (and for most drivers) they're scared of almost everything, especially traffic (so are exceedingly unlikely to be anywhere near your grille). On the off chance that one was near a road they are also deceptively quick runners, so would probably make it out of your way with no trouble at all. Abbey discovered this hidden penchant for speed when she tried chasing one at Hartley's a few days ago... Beautiful birds. Beautiful that is, unless they're nesting in your garden or over your fence, which is likely to mean you waking to their moaning cries at about 5am. There were some in a reserve not too far from our back fence when we first moved in. I swear I was ready to buy a gun. I've since learned that A: the fines are really big (see above). and B: It is nigh on impossible to buy a gun in Queensland anyway due to licensing and selling restrictions. This includes BB guns. Strange for a state where the local past-time is cane toad golf... You get the idea. This is a red parrot. This is an owl. Owls look like their cartoons. Owls also look wise. Yet vaguely sinister. This is an emu. Emu's also look like their cartoons. Emu's don't look wise. Or sinister. They look like they'd have a character similar to Phoebe from 'Friends'. These are Dingo's. These Dingo's are sizing Abbey up for dinner. Abbey doesn't realise this of course, nor did she as she approached their cage and stood staring at the alpha male dog from about a foot away who howled at her for about five minutes while she sucked her thumb and twiddled her hair. Interesting that these little dogs didn't provoke nearly the kind of excited reaction that most other dogs promote too, even when they're behind a fence. Perhaps she knew they were wild? Yet another lace monitor, which I debated about putting on here. He gets on because A: Lace Monitors are cool. and B: He had his tongue flicking out not to mention the big fend with his leg. Oh and C: Lace Monitors are cool. The spotted quoll was also sizing Abbey up for dinner. Abbey of course didn't realise this and thought he'd be cute to pat. But there's a reason for that cage. The Quoll nearly got a finger for dinner though... This magnificent animal is a wedge tailed eagle called Harris. If you're going to be a tough eagle you've got to have a tough name. I think Harris is fitting. We saw one of these guys in the wild, except the one we saw was about half as big again. His name was probably Boris. Boris the Behemoth. Evidently this guy was hit by a car, (hmm Harrised by the car?) apparrently only the small young ones get hit. Either that or when the big ones get hit, its the cars that bounce off and need to go to a refugee centre. Abbey was sizing up this green and orange parrot, and wanting to get a little closer. Again, Abbey's fingers were nearly dinner for another animal, which was a recurring theme of the wander around the zoo. I guess it was dinner time. Another recurring theme was parrots. I kid you not they have upwards of forty different types of parrot at this place (and I just checked that cos they have them all listed on their website - along with all the other animals!). I was running out of colours to name them, which is why I stopped taking photos! Abbey was pretty find of this freshwater crocodile, as he was of her... But just after taking this photo another croc jumped out of the water and nibbled on his tail and he shot off in hot pursuit to the opposite end of the enclosure. Moved damn fast too - even faster than the salties at the show! Was amazing. Crocodile tag I guess. What else are you gonna do in an enclosure with only a few crocs? There were saltwater crocs there too, but there's already plenty of great pics of those posted. This is an Amythestine Python who is over 5m long. I called him Charlie Brown. For obvious reasons. When I poked him in the rib he felt exceedingly strong and silky and he flexed his muscles just enough to bring his side out of my reach. And with Charlie your visit to the zoo is concluded. We had a nice swim in their fairly big pool then some nice dinner, cooked over a lighter by the master chef John. Then headed off to catch some zzzzzz's. Next morning was up and off to Cape tribulation. To get up there, you have to cross the Daintree river, which there is a ferry for which takes all of about 5 - 10 minutes with a bit of waiting time if it is just leaving to cross when you get there. Actually it's probably more of a barge than a ferry as i don't think the ferry had any motors on it. Though it did 'ferry' people from one side to the other. So maybe it is more ferry than barge. At any rate, the job is done via two great big cables which sit down in the water on either side of the boat/barge/ferry and is rolled through these big wheels by what sounded like an electric motor, or winding mechanism at least. I guess this is probably quickest and safest for docking straight when you're perpendicular to the current on a river that has to drain a tropical rainforest. Cool system though I thought. I've been on little vehicle ferries like it before but none on such a cable system. not so cool were the life rafts. Big floating things with 25 rope handles around the edges for you to hold onto while you're in the water. I guess you just have to wait for a few of the people who kick madly to get taken by the big crocs and then you can climb up on top to relative safety. Not terribly well thought out in my humble opinion. Anyway, once across the river you drive through some of the most beautiful forest driving i've ever done. It's a reasonably narrow windy road, but just stunning for cruising. In a tree induced tunnel for kilometre after glorious kilometre. Really really beautiful. The photo above is in front of a lookout the view from which is in panoramic below! And incase the panoramic lacks definition... Next on the hit list was a brief stop at a Rainforest walk and interactive learning centre which we didn't have time to wander around, but which we (Mez and I) will certainly attempt to get back to on another day! Another beautiful (but not so beautiful as before) drive, and we made it to Cape trib in time to organise chiddlers and await our pickup to go jungle surfing. Mikaela and John were kind enough to offer to baby-sit for us while we went and did that which was pretty cool, so we had about an hour and a half of childless frivoloty in the trees. This is the 'pre' shot, with a little nerves showing! But not too long afterwards we were up in the trees swinging around like tarzan. Well, tarzan with a big (sweaty goat smelling) harness on and a complete inability to fall anywhere. Hmm and we didn't swing, more dangle and glide. Anyway, you get the idea. Good fun.Essentially jungle surfing was a series of high wire flying foxes that we were shuttled around by a couple of operators. One a circus highwire expert who didn't seem overly amsued to be up there ferrying riff-raff from tree to tree, and the other, a more personable young English ex-pat chap who kept us entertained with jokes such as: Did you hear a guy drowned in his cereal bowl the other day? Apparrently he was dragged in by the currant. Do you see that tree over there? It's called the dog tree. You can tell it by its bark. Did you hear about the constipated mathematician? He had to work it out with a pencil. Drum roll please! Cymbals! They give a bit of a running commentary on the forest too, though it wasn't that memorable to me to be honest. The best part of the jungle surfing was the last ride where you got to go upside down. Which we all enjoyed, but which I only have photo's of Mez and I. This is because the person who travels down after you gets to take your picture, hence I was second, so I took Mez's photo, Angie took mine, and then hers was taken by the person after her on her camera. Pretty cool. Actually I do recall one piece of trivia. This humble looking fern is from a group of ferns called cycads which are among the oldest surviving plant species.They have been around since the dinosaurs apparrently. This one would have been many hundreds of years old as they don't grow more than about 1cm per year! Apparrently their leaves are so toxic that no bugs or animals will go anywhere near them, so Aborigines used the leaves to wrap food in, to prevent bugs from getting at it. Clever stuff. Assuming the toxins don't get into the food! So that was pretty much it. The photo of Mez is just cos I think she looks cute. Hmm and this one because she looks cheeky, and Angie is oblivious to her sweet older sisters intentions... The board shows the rough map of what we did. On the off chance that you want to fly here one day and do it yourself! Lunch followed in a nearby cafe, then we went in search of the swimming hole I mentioned at the start of the blog (which is a long way up when you're dragging photos into position. Nearly done though!) Shots of us swimming, and me (at the beginning of construction), Angie (not that you can tell it is Angie) and Mez in the sunlounger I built in the middle of the creek. Was really nice and comfy to sit in too! Sister shots... The Angelic version. And the scenery version. Followed by the scenery! In Black and White for a change... After our swim, we pretty much just headed back to Cairns, stopping along the way to have a closer look at one of the beaches. I've got to say it was a bit of a harrowing drive back with Abbey not too happy about being in her car seat, and Mez and I not too happy about being in a car with her not happy! Such is life. We made it home in one piece and I still managed to make a birthday dinner for us all (after a short quiet time!) which was thoroughly enjoyable. An EPIC couple of days (as delineated by the length of this Blog...) Very very keen for a second look at Cape Trib. We'll see how 2009 treats us. Happy New Year to you!