okay so we left margery's in Peregian via Col's airport shuttle direct pickup at the house. well after a short walk around suburbia...ticky tacky houses on the corner.....total suburban living here.
Brisbane Airport easy peasy...did not even show any form of ID getting on plane..how crazy is that? quck flight on Jetstar Airlines about 2 hours to Cairns. Picked up first car hire, a hyundai ..pretty good car but getting used to right side driving and driving on the left on crazy roads and lots of roundabouts. But worth the drive up to Pt Douglas rather than staying in Cairns...nothing exciting here but pt D the place happening. much smaller and more compact. Our hotel part of the Mantra chain was Mantra on the Inlet was in ground zero right at Macrossan and Wharf St. HOwever, gps does NOT find it driving around trying to find this hotel is crazy. Thankfully another mantra attached around the corner and found out that our key was in a dropbox awaiing us. pretty cool hotel with a great pool area but room on 3rd floor...a little schlep. But right outside are a ton of restaurants and shops and a 2 blk walk to the wharf where I would pick up the calypso to the gbR diving.
On Tuesday went to wharf to find vessel and realized there that I had booked for wednesday..oops...plan b..go to Daintree Rainforest instead... instead of a packaged tour we drove up and again crazy windy roads but right along the Pacific ocean and every view incredible! felt like i was driving in circles...the ocean again? and its still absolutely beautiful!!
about a 20 min or so ride up the coast to Daintree ferry an old wire rope pull ferry. Drove into rainforest and took several boardwalk hikes through the rainforest. If you havent done it you must. It is breathtaking 00 the bajillion varieties of wild life and vegetation, the wide buttress roots on the immense trees and the epiphets growing fromt hthe trees. Wait til you see pics of this place it is truly awe inspiring. Plus the "baskets of life"? what is that? immense ferns and other growths that grow out of the trees part way up. They are incredible. Have I said incredible and awesome enough in this diatribe? well I can't possibly express the awesome ness of this place.
in terms of wild life have seen Roos and wallabies on the sides of the road, a few snakes...no crocs...thank god don't want to see them except on the telly!!
made it all the way up to cape tribulation and the "rainforest beach". It is strange to walk through a rainforest and then pop out at the pacific ocean and a beautifully pristine beach. and this we have found happens throughout oz.
Lunch at Thornton beach a little kiosk on the beach and had a little wine and seafood sampler.. Took a walk to the beach dipped in the water but the "Danger Jellyfish" signs got us a feared and we only waded.. plus the water felt like a hot tub which is way too hot for my taste.
Back in Pt Douglas had cocktails and then dinner at Salsa -- fantastic restaurant where I had the Kangaroo special little fillets of Roo.
oh cocktails by the way were at the pool and pic to follow but was total redneck oz--no glass allowed so we brought our ceramic coffee cups and put the wine in a "Icebreak" plastic carton. We had purchased a kilo of prawns from a seafood purveyor earlier and brought all down to the pool. It was high class living and were serenaded but the 100s of Lorrikeets in the palm trees above. These birds are everywhere and gets to be a little hitchcocky after a bit --- but they are pretty birds (green, red and yellow) and pretty wild to see them hanging about instead of our city pigeons.
Oh and I mentioned ICEBREAK--the BEST EVER coffee drink!! In the world! it is a canned iced coffee drink that is he most refreshing drink you will ever have---well martinis the exception of course! Or an ICE COLD VB "victoria bitters" beer. Which is the budweiser of Oz. When I say Bud I mean it is the most popular everyday beer but a much much much much higher caliber quality.
anyway I digress. day 2 in PD -- scuba diving day . booked with Tropical Journeys the vessel Calypso and was a 90 minute ride to the reef which was Opal Reef (SNO-south north opal). Got 3 spots and the first was a snorkel which was magical to swim through the corals and fish and have absolute perfect 15-20 meter visibility (minmum).
2nd and 3rd spots were dives which I had not done in ages. Prettty incredible really
Im getting bored of writing so will sign off and pick up later. too much to do here to keep this blog. but will try and update more frequently.
but dinner that night at TIN SHED a club. was told a locals favorite and th ecoldest beer in town. It actually was good -- another order of prawns of course and a great fish dish (barramundi) a local fave.
took off the next day back to cairns and found a rat a tat backpacker place in cairns for $50. it was the smallest room ever seen -- and AC was an additional $3 and had a key to activate AC. The room was the size of my bathroom in JC! No shit! but was comfy sort of and easy to the airport at 4am the next morning.
Did have a great lunch on the river though at Dundees -- an octopus salad to die for!
later that night ate dinner at a Balinese restaurant Bayleaf and had fish cooked in banana leaf. The only downside if there is to oz is that you have to expect the worst service ever at restaurants! don't come expecting to be waited on hand and foot - it ain't happening mostly because they are not paid on tips but by salary. so, it could be ages to get a waiter/waitress. but No worries mate!
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