Australia
Far North Queensland & New South Wales
April 1996 In April 1996 we returned to
Australia, this time to venture up to Far North Queensland. From
Sydney we flew up to Cairns, then drove north to Kuranda to stay at the
Cassowary House (an increasingly well-known birding destination) -
where we did indeed see a cassowary. :-) We enjoyed a day
trip out to Michaelmas Cay before heading up to Cape Tribulation in a
fun Mitsubishi Pajero 4WD (complete with "roo guard" on the front),
crossing the Daintree River by ferry. (Only a couple of months
earlier, serious flooding had closed the 4WD road completely and the
Daintree was 4km across and 30 ft higher!) We spent several days at the beautiful Coconut Beach Rainforest Resort at Cape Tribulation, attempting to 4WD drive further north on the road to Cooktown one day (no go), birding, eating...ever had a hamburger with egg and beets on it? We did. Liza also had the enjoyable :-) experience of having a spectacled flying fox crawl onto her head (think really big bat) and lick the perspiration off her forehead. (And she couldn't even get Robert's attention to take a photo, either...) From Cape Tribulation we went on to Mossman, and the next day had the pleasure of birding with Chris Dahlberg on the Daintree River. (Notable bird was the Great Heron, whose call sounded frankly like a very large person throwing up.) We also enjoyed a day trip into the interior at the Chillagoe Caves, limestone caverns with bats, not to mention many bugs hitting the windshield on the drive "home". From Mossman it was back to Cairns - where a spectacle of flying foxes in the early evening made us think of Batman as the silhouettes crossed in front of the full moon - then on to Sydney for a few more days. It was in Sydney that we broke down and bought ourselves a Drizabone short coat that has since seen much use from the both of us. We enjoyed day trips out to the Hunter Valley for wine, and Royal National Park, before flying home to Los Angeles. Below are a few photographs from the trip...again older camera, not the greatest...and click here for Liza's trip journal. |
| Click photos to enlarge |
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 Leaving the Cairns airport |
 Looking for Cassowary House, our B&B in Kuranda |
 Liza outside Cassowary House |
 A road sign you will never see in the US |
 Australian Brush-turkey |
 The Curtain Fig tree |
 Michaelmas Cay on the Great Barrier Reef - is a bird sanctuary with a small portion of beach open to day visitors |
 Black Noddy |
 Robert birding and getting a very bad top-of-foot sunburn (we both did) |
 Looking down on Cairns |
 Crossing the Daintree River by ferry |
 Across the river and on the Cape York Peninsula - helpful sign illustrating the 4WD road ahead |
 Entering Cape Tribulation National Park; the cape was named by Capt James Cook when his ship Endeavour was damaged on the reef off the cape |
 Robert outside our cabin at Coconut Beach Rainforest Resort |
 Coconut Beach - with box jellyfish in the water October through April, and estaurine crocodiles at the fringes, for the most part people stay out of the water |
 Crossing Emmagen Creek on the Bloomfield Track heading towards Cooktown |
 The Copper River |
 Liza on our 4WD with roo guard |
 One of the pools at the Coconut Beach Rainforest Resort |
 Coconut Beach, one more time - still mostly deserted |
 A lace monitor ~3 ft in length |
 Another forest reptile |
 Approaching the Chillagoe Caves, ancient limestone caverns in the drier interior |
 Another view of Chillagoe |
 Sulphur-crested Cockatoos at Lane Cove Park, Sydney |
 Crossing the famous Harbour Bridge into Sydney - talk about an e-ticket ride... |
 View of the Harbour Bridge from Circular Quay, Sydney |
 Liza at Circular Quay with the Opera House in the background |
 Robert at Circular Quay |
 Last shot of the Harbor Bridge |
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