BoomerGirl Diary

Here we go with that first impression thing again! As we are looking through the welcome to our hotel notebook provided by our beachfront Palm Cove hotel outside of Cairns, Australia, we notice that it says to stay out of the ocean.

It is still “stinger season.”

“Stingers” is the cute name Australians have given the box jellyfish and other varieties of poisonous sea life. We call the desk to see just how dangerous these stingers are. I have stepped on jellyfish tentacles while at the Gulf of Mexico, and it was not pleasant, but not enough reason to stay in the hotel. Our hostess tells us that the jellyfish stings here cause hospital stays and can be fatal. She also mentions that even though there is a part of the beach that has a “stinger net” up to reduce the chance of jellyfish in that area, a saltwater crocodile was sighted there just a few days ago. She reminds us that the hotel has a nice pool and says that she, personally, would not risk the ocean. So, we have five days on a beach that is too dangerous to use.

Once again, a new day dawns and we are on a bus to visit the Daintree Rainforest. Our tour first takes us to The Rainforest Habitat Wildlife Sanctuary. There are a lot of birds there, as well as kangaroos and wallabies that can be fed and a koala that can be petted.

We then head out into the rainforest west of the coast. I cannot remember anything particularly remarkable about these forests, having spent time in western Australia’s “Land of the Giants” forest, and the Tree Fern filled forests of New Zealand. But then we take a stroll along Cape Tribulation Beach and are surprised to hear that cassowaries still live in the forests that meet the sea here.

Cassowaries are large flightless birds that are bigger and more dangerous than emus. They have black bodies and red and blue heads that are topped with a very dinosaur-like bone crest. We do not see any, even though one tour guide said he had been chased off the beach by one recently.

We did enjoy a boat ride up the Daintree River with an entertaining guide. Several crocodiles were pointed out to us along the river, but they were a bit on the small size, not the 25-foot monsters we have been warned about. Our guide tells us that crocodiles do not change in appearance, as they get older and larger, so we can take pictures of these little guys and tell the folks back home that they were enormous.

My favorite part of the boat ride was seeing indigo kingfishers. This is one of the smallest kingfisher birds, but also one of the most brightly colored. They are blue and orange with black and white highlights-very stunning! Back to our hotel on the beach, it is lights out early as tomorrow is our big trip to the Great Barrier Reef.

Our planned swim over the Great Barrier Reef had been something I was both looking forward to and dreading. I’m not much of a swimmer, more of a wader and water treader. I like to be able to touch the bottom of the pool with my feet. The thought of jumping into the ocean 20 miles from shore was a little scary.

But we put on our “stinger-proof” suits and fins and snorkels and did just that. It was fabulous! So many varieties of coral, and so many brightly colored fish. We swam for a while and then took a glass bottomed boat ride out across the small section of the reef that was part of this enormous ocean wonderland. We were told that the astronauts can see the Great Barrier Reef from space. The best part of the swim for me was when one of the guides swimming with us brought over a giant Maori Wrasse fish to pose with me for an underwater picture. His name was Wally, he was covered in the most beautiful blue and green patterns I have seen. This fish may not look very bright, but he seemed to understand his purpose and posed on demand.

On our third day, we headed out early to have Breakfast with the Birds at The Rainforest Habitat that we had visited on the first day. Most of the bird life in this aviary has access to the cafeteria area and occasionally fly in to check things out. Feeding the birds is not permitted, although they sometimes manage to steal a snack from an unwatched plate. We enjoyed watching the various birds focus in on the children present, as the kids were the most likely to drop something delicious or lose track of their plate. After breakfast, we took a stroll around Port Douglas, a resort village that seemed to be growing at a gold rush pace.

On our final day we did brave the ocean, but just the part inside the “stinger net.” The water was crocodile-free and warm, but the surf was rough. Get just a little too far out and it would knock you over and fill your swimsuit with sand. We survive, though, and pack up for a quick visit to Sydney.

Our stay in Sydney is too short for us to have any but the most superficial impressions. We took a quick harbor boat tour to get a view of the city from the water, and then jumped on a Sydney in a Day bus ride around the center of the city.

Even though it is Sunday, the city is busy and crowded with residents and tourists. The Sydney Opera House is as impressive as we had expected, and we can see adventurous tourists making the climb along the very top of the Sydney Harbor Bridge. We visit The Rocks, which is the oldest part of the original city, now preserved and turned into cafes and gift shops. On the weekends there is an open-air craft market that we wander through and pick out a couple of items. It rains both nights that we are in Sydney, which is fine with us. We are in the most comfortable hotel room I have ever stayed in, and I enjoy looking at the city lights through rain-streaked windows. This high-up room has been a struggle to leave during the day to sightsee.

We bid Australia goodbye and return to the quiet and calm of Christchurch’s university neighborhood, where everything seems so much less dangerous. After a few days, we will have to say goodbye to New Zealand, too. It has been a very good home away from home, and we hope to return someday. There are so many things we have not done and so many more places to see. Well, there is no choice but to head off into the sunrise.

If only we could click our heels together and wake up back at home!