Great Barrier Reef, take 2

Today was our last day in Australia on this trip before we are flying to Singapore tomorrow.

So, we thought, we'd finish with another snorkelling trip out to the Great Barrier Reef, given how amazed we were by it the first time.

To ensure that we wouldn't be disappointed, we chose a different type of trip this time. Whereas we went to a diving pontoon on the outer reef last time, we chose an island this time.



This island, Green Island, is also built on a coral stock - but it's just above water all the time, whereas most of the other places on the Great Barrier Reef are obviously underwater. In fact, Green Island is the only island on the Great Barrier Reef which also has a mini rainforest on it.



It takes about 45 minutes to walk around the island. And what sold it (especially to Fiona) - it's closer to Cairns Harbour than the previous rough trip to the outer reef.

So, this time, we all got safely across (with people's breakfast still in its proper place).



The whole island is surrounded by a sandy beach, which is great in one way, but not so good when it comes to the underwater visibility for snorkeling or diving. The corals were not as impressive as on the outer reef, but - again - the quantity and quality of different fish was incredible. I even saw "Nemo" - i.e. a little clownfish.

It was a great day to conclude our stay in Queensland with.

Tomorrow we are off to Asia...

Christmas in July - why not?!

Yesterday we drove inland from Cairns through the Atherton Tablelands. This area is where a lot of the local produce comes from, e.g. we drove through plantations for sugar, banana, tea and coffee.



One interesting stop was at the so-called "Curtain Fig Tree" where lots of other trees and roots have literally overgrown the original tree and created an enormous monster of a tree.



For lunch we wanted to eat at a Swiss restaurant (with its own yodeler bar!) in the small town of Yungaburra. However, when we got there we arrived too late because they need to get ready for a big event that evening...Christmas!!! Yup, that's right. Why only have one Christmas a year when you can have two?! (A concept, which surprisingly Lucy and Fiona thought was just brilliant.)

We did end up at the Vienna Inn just up the road in Yungaburra for lunch instead. Apart from tha,t things in Yungaburra were just fine (especially at the senior citizen bowling club, where all the excitement of the game was well contained)...



In the afternoon we stopped at a crater lake named Lake Barrine. All very quiet and relaxing...



...until we were "woken up" (just before Cairns) by a huge noise approaching our car from the rear.



Literally a few hundered "Hells Angels" on their motorbikes were coming into view in the rear mirror... And a few seconds later surrounded us, which made for quite a grand arrival as they kind of "shepherded" us back into Cairns.

In the Daintree Rainforest and at Cape Tribulation

Driving North from Cairns (and taking the ferry across the Daintree River) gets you into the Daintree Rainforest, the oldest rainforest in the world.

It does look like one is in the middle of the movie "Jurassic Park" - just without the dinosaurs. A really lush tropical rainforest.



At the Daintree Discovery Center we climbed up onto the 25 m high observation deck which gave us a great 360 degree view of the different levels of vegetation of the tropical rainforest.



Further on we passed beaches with barely a soul on them.



Until we reached Cape Tribulation, which is where the paved road terminates. Most names of the significant natural landmarks along this coast have been named by Captain Cook and his men. Somehow, one gets a sense that they did not really enjoy this part of their trip in 1770. Close by, for example, they named Mount Sorrow and Mount Misery.

As mentioned, the paved road ends at Cape Tribulation. If one wants to drive further North, up the Cape York peninsula, then it's highly advisable to have a 4 wheel-drive vehicle, because the road looks like this (and probably much worse further North):



The few vehicles that we saw that did seem to have come through this track looked liked it:



Well, we therefore saved this trip up for next time...

Instead, we drove back down the coast, including another trip with the ferry across the Daintree River:



..and finally got back to Clifton Beach, near Cairns, when it was dark.

At the Great Barrier Reef

Yesterday we saw undoubtedly one of the highlights of our trip - the Great Barrier Reef.

The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest coral reef system, stretching over 2,600 kilometers. It's up there with the Grand Canyon and the pyramids of Gizeh as a UNESCO World Heritage site.



The day started with a 2 hour boat journey (from Cairns) through rather choppy waters. No suprise that anti-seasickness pills were handed out as we boarded and that the white sickness bags became treasured items for quite a few people on board, including poor little Fiona.

Morale on board was somewhat low, as also the weather in the morning did its bit to dampen spirits.

However, things changed when we finally arrived out on the reef...



When we got to the pontoon at first things seemed pretty normal: Just sea everywhere. Only the water colouration indicated that we were in an area with rather shallow water.



The "fireworks" started as soon as we had our snorkels and fins on and looked UNDER water. An amazing world presented itself: Lots of different corals and a multitude of fish and other sea creatures. I even came across a huge sea turtle under water - which was quite an encounter (for both of us, I guess). The fishes were of extraordinary colour and variety. And despite the fact that there were quite a few of us snorkeling and diving, we got incredibly close to everything.



It really was an out-of-this world experience, which we'll never forget. Unfortunately, we didn't have an underwater camera, but in addition to the snorkeling they also gave people a chance to see underwater through a semi-submarine and through a glass-bottom boat (so that we could at least take some photos).





By mid-day the sun had come out, too, and the ordeal of the journey out to the reef was quickly forgotten.



After a long day out at sea we made our way back home late afternoon and were exhausted, but very happy!

Crocodiles, Kangaroos, Koalas and German cake

We are settling well into our temporary life up here in Northern Queensland.



Yesterday we visited a local crocodile park. Crocodiles were litterally everywhere, even on the restaurant menu.



We did a boat ride through "crocodile infested" water (NB: the little bit in the water in the front left corner of the photo above is one), saw a lot of grown-up ones from a safe distance, petted a little baby croc and enjoyed a rather daring show which was properly called "crocodile attack" show, ...well, these Aussies they really know how to catch your interest...



Our favourite moment was at the end of the show when the audience was invited to ask questions. A local guy a few rows ahead of us asked (...and I am not making this up) "whether it is true that crocodiles prefer to eat Germans?!". Lots of laughter (including some rather nervous laughter from us). The crocodile expert who was slightly baffled by this question confirmed that crocodiles don't really differentiate between different nationalities. Well, thank God for that then!!!



After all the excitement of the crocodile park we needed something to calm our nerves. Relief came when we surprisingly discovered a German cafe on the way home. Their home-made apple pie really hit the spot...

There is so much to see up here in Northern Queensland that we decided to make a change to our initially planned route. Rather than driving down to Brisbane (which would have meant many, many hours in the car) we decided to spend another week up here around Cairns and fly down to Brisbane in a week's time. Well, travelling is all about being flexible...

Today we relocated and moved to another place, where we are now staying for the next 7 days. Based on a tip from locals, we literally moved two beaches on to a place called Clifton Beach - here is the view down one side:



(NB: If you go the the German blog entry from today, you'll see the corresponding view towards the other side.) It's very quiet and residential here. Our place has a view straight onto the beach from the front of the building and in the backgarden of the house are kangaroos and wallabies (something like kangaroos, just smaller).

Today we spent the morning on our new local beach, where Lucy and I perfected our surfing skills. (Ok, on a boogie board.) In the afternoon we drove up into the mountains. Only about 30 minutes from the coast and you are up in a tropical rainforest. Quite incredible to see how lush the vegetation is up here. The secret of it all? Well, as the name suggests (and as we learned this afternoon): Rain!



We went to a place call Kuranda, which has positioned itself as "the village in the rainforest" and seems to be quite a big hit with tourists. It has an old railway station which is about a 100 years old and looks like straight out of an old Hemingway novel.



Also close by is the impressive Barron River Gorge and a lovely elevated walkway through the rainforest.



Though what Lucy and Fiona will especially remember about this village is that this was the place where they got to - finally - cuddle a koala and where they got close to some kangaroos, too.



Tomorrow we are planning - weather permitting - to take a trip out to the Great Barrier Reef for some serious snorkelling...

On the beach in Queensland

After travelling for 5 weeks or so we finally had our first proper beach day today.

We are staying a few miles north of Cairns in a little village called Trinity Beach (which, in fact, made it into today's regional newspaper because the local villagers found and killed a python snake here the day before). The immediate question that I had (and which the article did not answer): Do python snakes travel in groups - or just by themselves?! Just wondering...

We got here late last night. And didn't really see much. So it was a pleasant surprise to have the following view this morning from our room when we pulled the curtains back:



Right across the street is a lovely sandy beach, with palm trees and few people. After a walk along the beach in the morning we spent pretty much the whole day here today.



Pleased to report that everyone survived the day despite the python story in the newspaper and some rather worrying signs all along the beach:

More sightseeing in Sydney

We enjoyed another somewhat cold and partly rainy day in Sydney, which we filled with some more sightseeing.



We went on top of the Sydney Tower to enjoy the view of this large city. Though its main attractions (i.e. Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge) are certainly better seen from the water. (For the "eagle-eyed" amongst you, you can just about see the opera house between the tall buildings on the photo above.)



We visited the charming Queen Victoria Shopping Center, which was just perfect for the rainy weather outside. Nice floor tiles, too.



Also we enjoyed a rather educational visit the Hyde Park Barracks, an building from the 1820s, which has served (pretty much in that order) as a house for shipped-over convicts from England, an orphanage for Irish girls, a soldiers barracks, a mental asylum, a government office and - nowadays - a museum.

Some rather interesting personal anecdotes from former inmates were on display, e.g. that back in the 19th century someone from the UK was sentenced to 14 years for stealing a pig and shipped abroad to Australia to serve this sentence. Well, it might seem harsh, but given that the
previous form of sentencing was mainly in the form of executions, the trip to Australia was actually considered a step forward in terms of humanity. As long as you didn't mind a somewhat tight accomodation (and some other hardships, no doubt)...



Today was another early morning start for me at 4.30 am (to watch how Germany lost against Spain - argh!!!).

We are now at Sydney Airport ready to fly up the Eastern coast of Australia to Cairns in Queensland. It's a domestic flight, but still a 3 hour flight, which gives some idea of the size of
this big country. We are hoping for warmer weather up North...