Monday, June 5th: Time to leave Freo and we do so with mixed emotions. We've had a great time here and would love to come back again. Our shuttle bus to the airport picks us up at 8:10am--right on time--and at A$15, less than a cab to boot!! Everything goes smoothly as we check in automatically with our E-ticket. On our way thru security, Rick asks if he should take off his (Dockers) jacket. The security guard says he can deposit it "in the bin over there" (pointing to the trash can). Rick is a little slow, but finally realizes he's an Eagles supporter--a little security humor there. Our flight to Ayers Rock is also on time and the plane is half full. We get a great view of the big red rock and the Olgas as we approach the Ayers Rock airport. We have to change planes, so we debark, walk all the way to one end of the terminal only to walk all the way back thru the terminal and onto the same plane we just came in on. This is the first time we've seen Aussie logic run amok. Why not just stay on, avoid going thru security again, etc, etc.? And OH, what a hassle going thru security again becomes for Rick. His pack, which has cleared every security check in the US, Korea and Australia up to this point, is thoroughly emptied. The screener has seen something that looks like darts. After three screenings, they turn up two ball point pen refills!!!! Then, THEY GIVE THEM BACK! Rick isn't too happy anyway because he has to repack everything and wonders: if the refills look like darts, couldn't they do just as much damage as darts, and, if so, why did they put him thru this search if they weren't going to confiscate what they found????? He mutters about this until the plane is up and away to Cairns.

We are met at the Cairns airport by Dov and Rebecca. It is great to finally meet them after all the months of emails. We load our stuff into their Honda mini-SUV and we're off to the Southern Cross Atrium Apartments . We are quite happy with what we find: a brand new studio apartment one floor up with full kitchen, a balcony overlooking the pool, and a king sized bed. They recommend we go to a local film about a race across the Kimberlys (in the far north). There'll be Indian food on sale beforehand. The film is a fascinating saga: a 61 year old German, a 35 year old American, and a 72 year old Australian Aboriginal choose different strategies and paths across almost 600 kilometres of outback. They all ultimately make it after more than 26 days. The American has the lead by several hours, but chooses to wait for the others so they can all finish together. Afterwards back at the apartment, we spend a while getting organized and chatting with Dov and Rebecca. They will pick us up at about "10-ish" in the morning.

Tuesday, June 6th: Rick is up early as usual. He checks the weather and finds a sunny, mild morning waiting. It's about 20 degrees (Celcius) warmer here in the NE of Australia than it was in the SW--upside down from the US. He's off to the Coles supermarket in the mall a block away for basic groceries we'll use this week. On the way out, he stops at the reception desk to inquire about internet service and is told that they have wireless to some of the rooms, and ours is one of them. For the low, low price of A$1/hour, we've got 10 hours to start. He's ecstatic--this will be the first time on our trip that we'll be able to access the internet from our own computer in our own room. As soon as he returns from the store, he updates the website and by the time he finishes, it's "10-ish" and Dov and Rebecca are knocking at our door. We'll spend the morning and early afternoon walking around the central business district of Cairns and the Esplanade. We stop for ice cream, witness a ceremony commemorating the 90th anniversary of the RSL (Retired Service League) at the Cairns War Memorial, and have lunch (yes--in that order). We spend a bit of time trying to determine how we're going to get from Cairns to Brisbane (car, train, plane) and when we should leave. We eliminate a caravan rental, and neither of us wants to take a 30 hour train ride. We've got a line on a A$39/day car rental with no drop charge and we book it for pick up on June 16. We'll take a week to drive along the Pacific coast and see the sights that Dov and Rebecca will recommend. Before making the car booking, we take a short (1.2km) hike to a hilltop in the Botanical Gardens for great views of Cairns city and the surrounding area.

We decide to have dinner in, so the four of us hit the market and we return to our apartment for a roast chicken dinner. We've only got dishes and utencils for two, but we manage. Tomorrow Rick and Rory will spend the day in Kuranda. We'll meet Dov and Rebecca again on Thursday and Friday. After they leave, we make our Karanda arrangements: skyrail ride to Kuranda over the treetops of the rainforest, visiting the butterfly sanctuary, bird aviary, and koala park, and scenic railway ride back to Cairns station.

Wednesday, June 7th: Looks like a great day for our excursion to Kuranda. We walk over to the railway station and find the pickup point for our ride to the skyrail. The bus is right on time and, after picking up four others, our driver deposits us at the entrance to the skyrail. We pick up our tickets and climb into our gondola. It's got seats for 6, but we've got it all to ourselves--one of the advantages of visiting Cairns before the tourist season begins. The cableway was completed in 1995 (so it's new since Rick was here last). The car quickly climbs over the tree tops as much as 40 meters (130+ feet) above ground. The view is spectacular; we can see the road that snakes up the mountain. The first stop is Red Peak Station--the highest point on the cableway at 545 meters (1788 feet) above sea level. We have to get off here, or we'll wind up returning to where we got on. There's a walk through the rain forest and we're lucky to catch the beginning of the ranger-guided walk. He's quite informative and points out many different trees, vines, and other flora. We learn quite a lot that will come in handy over the next several days as we have the opportunity to do some hiking and visit the rainforest in the Daintree. We get back on the cableway, in another private car, for the next stop at the Barron Falls Station. We don't have to get off here, but we do, so we can get a good look at Barron Falls--very impressive, but even more so when we see photos of the falls during one of the rainstorms. There's also a Rainforest Interpretive Center at this stop and we spend a few minutes here as well. Then it's on to Kuranda.

When we arrive, Rick is feeling ill, probably an altitude thing (from looking down for so long on our ride up).. It's a short walk from the station to the main part of the town, where all the shops and sights are located. Rick sits down with a coke to try to settle his stomach, while Rory window shops. The rest doesn't help much, but Rick wants to make sure we see the main sights, so we start with the butterfly sanctuary. He had visited this in 1991, and it is much the same as he remembers it, except that there seem to be a lot fewer butterflies. Perhaps they are recovering from the cyclones that tore through this part of Australia a few months ago. It isn't long before a couple of butterflies land on Rick's hat and we are both able to get them onto our fingers. We see the feeding stations and an exhibit of larvae and pupae. Rick still isn't feeling any better, but Rory is hungry, so while she has lunch, Rick tries to take a quick nap. It doesn't help--he's still feeling queasy and still has the headache--but he's looking forward to the Birdworld experience. Right off the bat, Rory has the opportunity to hold a red-tailed black cockatoo, a species found only in Australia. We've seen them before on this trip, but they've always been in cages. We enter the aviary and immediately interact with two beautiful macaws who are looking to be fed. There are hundreds of birds of all types from all over the world and many of them are people-friendly. We'll have fun with 7 sun conures who are more than happy to relieve us of our stash of sunflower seeds. We'll have fun with a female eclectus (beautiful red and blue bird), a tawny frogmouth (that Rory at first thought was stuffed), and honey eaters. We also see two casowarys, hundreds of parrots of all kinds, mandarin ducks, black swans, and rainbow lorikeets to name a few. We spend over an hour here. We were enjoying ourselves so much that Rick is able to forget how bad he feels for a while. Finally it's time to head back to the Kuranda Scenic Railway Station for our return trip to the city. We are eventually able to find seating that will allow Rick to lie down, and he misses the entire 90 minute trip back by taking a nap. This is the boy who loves to ride trains, and he feels too badly to enjoy the trip.

Once back in the apartment, Rick crashes. About 7:30, Dov calls with the plans for tomorrow. Rick is feeling much better by this time, but he doesn't feel like eating much, let alone going out for dinner, so we make do with what's in the fridge.

Thursday, June 8th: Dov and Rebecca pick us up a little after 10am. We're going to the Tablelands, about 70km south of Cairns and 1000 meters in elevation. It's a steep winding road to the top and Rebecca navigates it well. We'll stop first to see the Cathedral Tree--a huge strangler fig tree. These trees begin from a seed the size of a sesame seed, that lands on the host tree. Over hundreds of years the seed grows downward and attaches itself to the tree, gradually strangling it while throwing off roots. Eventually the host tree dies and disintegrates leaving only the hundreds of vines of the fig tree. These trees literally grow from the top down! There are lots of birds for Rory and Rebecca to identify, but we are in constant awe of this tree.

Next stop is Lake Barrine, a crater lake, formed from volcanic eruption. It's a beautiful place and we start with lunch at the Tearoom restaurant. Afterwards we start a short hike through the rainforest and decide to do the enitere 4.6km walk around the lake. On the way we see the effects of the cylcones and marvel at the rainforest all around us. We spot several musky rat kangaroos and two snakes, one of which is an Amethystine Python (Australia's largest snake). We estimate that it's at least 8 feet long, and like the "big fish that got away", its length grows each time we talk about what we saw. It was BIG, though, and Rick, who does not like snakes, marvels that he was able to stand still and take a couple of photos. We continue our walk and see some incredibly big trees that have been overcome by strangler fig trees. Dov and Rebecca had never walked the circuit and were seeing some of these sights for the first time. It will take us almost 3 hours to complete the walk. We'll make one more stop: at the Curtain Fig tree. This one had roots hanging down that made the tree look like it was behind a curtain--another very impressive sight. This and the Cathedral Tree are so huge that it's impossible to get reasonable photos, but Rick takes a few shots anyway.

After we drive back to Cairns, we stop for dinner at a Greek restaurant. They've got a swordfish special that catches Rick's attention. We're back at the apartment by 8:30. We have had a great time today and a lot of laughs. We really enjoy being with Dov and Rebecca.

Friday, June 9th: Dov picks us up at 8:30 to meet Rebecca and Kay at the Swiss Cake & Coffee Shop for brekky (breakfast). Dov & Rebecca are staying with Kay, who had her trip to Europe cancelled at the last minute. This is the reason why we are not staying with Dov and Rebecca..... The chocolate croissants are excellent, as is everything else we eat there. Next stop is Rusty's weekend produce market. The fruits and vegetables are beautiful and very inexpensive, fresh picked, with samples for us to try. There are many varieties that we don't get in the states, and we sample several of these. There are also vendors selling beads, leather, coffee, and shoes. This market is open on Firday, Saturday, and Sunday. As the produce vendors sell out, their places will be taken by more non-food vendors, so most people buy their produce on Friday for the best selection.

Dov and Rebecca have errands to do and we want to check out opportunities to visit the Daintree rain forest and a diving trip to the Great Barrier Reef for Rory. Before that, we stop at the Reef Teach office to sign up for the Great Barrier Reef lecture at 6:30 tonight. Walking down the streets of Cairns, all we see is dive shops, jewelry and souvenir stores, and restaurants. We get information from several tour offices and finally settle on a Daintree tour for tomorrow (but don't book it yet) and a dive trip. We won't book the latter until we get a better handle on the weather. It's begun to drizzle (more of a mist actually), so we stop for lunch at a small cafe for a sandwich, salad, and a couple of cold beers (Tooheys Old--we've become quite particular about what beers we'll drink). We have been trying to find someone who knows where the beach with the "bouncing rocks" is. No one seems to know or has even heard of it. Rick visited it when he was here last time. You can actually bounce these rocks off each other like rubber balls. When we ask at the Tourist Information Office (the "i", remember?), one of the ladies who works there says she's heard of it and points out on a map where it's located. We're ecstatic and can't wait to share this news with Dov and Rebecca who have spent a lot more time than we have trying to find out where it is!

After a short stop at the grocery store, we return to our apartment. We are unable to book our Daintree tour for tomorrow--it's fully booked and there are only 3 slots left on Sunday (but we have plans with Dov and Rebecca). We'll wait to see what the weather forecast looks like. We've got a couple of hours before the Reef Teach lecture, so we decide to do the Night Market first. We need not have wasted our time!! This place is definitely the worst market we've seen ANYWHERE: largest collection of junk at the most outrageous prices. We're through the place in 20 minutes!!

The Reef Teach lecture is quite informative. The lecturer is quite entertaining to say the least--a one-man theater company. He spokeveryveryfast, but the two hours went by quickly and we learned quite a lot about the marine life of the Great Barrier Reef. We would recommend that anyone taking a trip out to the reef listen to this lecture before going. On the way to Reef Teach, the aroma of freshly baking pizza at a small cafe caught our attention, so we return there for a light dinner. Since we're not going to the Daintree in the morning, we're looking forward to sleeping in for a change.

Saturday, June 10th: We're down to our last three weeks.....It's been raining all night, and we awake to a dreary day. At least we get to sleep in and we don't get down to the Esplanade for the Saturday market until almost 11:30. Because of the rain, and the Sportsfest Bicycle Races due to start at 1:30, there are only about a dozen vendors set up. We stroll along the Esplanade watching the little crabs scurry around in the mud. We also stop at one of the dive shops to see what the weather report is for the next three days so Rory can decide when she wants to go. Rick finds a place right at the starting line of the bike race while Rory goes off looking for a coke with ice. We'll spend most of the afternoon down here including a late lunch, but generally it's a not very exciting day. Dov and Rebecca check in around 7:30. They'll pick us up at 10:00 in the morning and we'll take in the Sunday Market in Port Douglas, reportedly the largest market in Queensland with 150+ vendors and then we'll try to find the bouncing rocks.

Sunday, June 11th: It's cloudy again this morning, but at least it's not raining. Rick does a quick trip to the grocery store. Dov calls to say they'll pick us up at 9:30 because the market supposedly closes at noon. (Turns out it's really 2:00, but no matter.) It's about 65km to Port Douglas and it's a beautiful ride along the coast (on our right) with the mountains on the left. Port Douglas has grown quite a bit in 15 years and is now a fairly extensive tourist and vacation town. The main street looks a lot like any street in Cairns, except the buildings and shops look newer. The market is extensive and we encounter a couple of vendors we talked with in Cairns yesterday. We also make an attempt to verify the location of the bouncing rocks. Again, no one seems to know for sure....

After lunch we stop at Four Mile Beach, which is exactly what it's name says it is: a four mile stretch of clean, hard packed sandy beach. The weather has clouded up and there's a misty drizzle, so there aren't many people on the beach. As we walk along we notice an extensive, almost aboriginal, abstract pattern of tiny sand balls made by the little sand crabs. We watch several of them scurry from little hole to little hole which vary slightly in circumference to accomodate the size of the crab. The beach is almost totally covered by these patterns for dozens of square meters.

Next it's off on our quest to find the bouncing rocks. Alas, we never do; ultimately deciding that they must be north of Port Douglas in the tropical rainforest near Daintree. Rick will ask our tour guide tomorrow if he knows where the site is. We visit Palm Cove ( a very upscale beach town) and have dinner at a Thai restaurant at Trinity Beach. Each of these beach towns north of Cairns has its own personality and style. After Dov and Rebecca drop us at the apartment, Rory calls and makes arrangements to dive on Wednesday. Rebecca gives Rick the assignment of going to the "i" and getting all the brochures he can about things to do and see between Cairns and Brisbane, so we can plan out our 7 day drive. We've got to get up early (5:30) tomorrow for our Daintree tour, so we'll try to find the Dockers game on the telly and go to sleep early.

Monday, June 12th: It's another cloudy day--people are saying that all the cyclone activity in February and March has wreaked havoc with the weather. Thankfully, it's fairly warm, reaching 25C (almost 80F). We manage to get up and out before 7am so we can meet our bus at the railway station (a 5 minute walk from our apartment). The "Down Under Eco Tours" orange bus is right on time. Our driver is Mick. The bus itself is really a 4WD all terrain vehicle and even looks amphibious (but it's not). We pick up several passengers in Cairns city, some in Palm Cove, and a couple in Port Douglas. By 9am, we're well on our way to the Daintree Interpretive Center in the Daintree rainforest. We'll be traveling over 100km to reach the farthest point on our tour (Cape Tribulation). First we cross the Daintree River on a cable ferry. On the other side of the river our trip continues through dense rain forest. There are many signs to "take care" of cassowarys, large birds that look a little like ostriches or emus. They are very rare, found natively only in this small area. We are unlikely to see one, but Rory holds out hope we may be lucky. At the Interpretive Center, we are greeted by our guide, Jayne, and enjoy coffee/tea and anzac biscuits (very good, Rick has three). We are told by our guide that the Daintree is the most primitive rainforest in the world; the Amazon, for example, is relatively young. We get a short presentation about the various seeds, plants and insects that are found here. We climb a tower, from the top of which we get a good view of the rainforest canopy. There's also an elevated walkway through the forest (similar to the Tree Top Walkway in Walpole, but not nearly as high). We really don't have as much time here as we'd like--the disadvantage to a tour. Since Jayne appears to be very familiar with the area, Rick inquires about the locale of the Bouncing Rocks and finally gets a definitive answer. The rocks were designated an aboriginal sacred sight about 10 years ago. It is also a "women's" sight, a place where women went to enhance their ability to become pregnant. Because tourists were taking the rocks as souvenirs, the Kuku Yalanji aboriginal tribe insisted that access to the beach be revegetated and no one really knows anymore where it is. As we drive along the Cape Tribulation coast, Rick senses he is nearby the sight, but there is no way to tell.

We leave the Interpretive Center for a short drive to Cape Tribulation. The beach here is very wide and almost totally deserted; there are a couple of sail boats off the coast. A boardwalk path through the rainforest leads to a point overlooking the Cape and everyone stops here to take the obligatory picutures of each other. It's a pleasant walk and an opportunity to stretch our legs. We've got lunch ahead of us, so we're back on the bus. Within a couple of kilometers, Rory shouts out: "There's a cassowary!". She's sure she's spotted one of these birds walking in a grassy clearing in the opposite direction to the way we're traveling. Mick, just as anxious as we all are to see a cassowary in the wild, finds a place to turn the vehicle around. Of course, there's no sign of the bird at the point Rory saw it, but Mick keeps going very slowly. At the next little clearing we stop to wait. Sure enough, out pops the cassowary, and two babies!!!! The babies appear to be about half fully grown. The large cassowary is the father, since the mother abandons the eggs after she lays them. We have not seen young cassowarys anywhere--not even in conservation parks. This is a real bonus to our tour; and Rory beams about it for the rest of the day. She is also dubbed the official wildlife spotter for the rest of the day by the others in our group.

We continue on and turn into a private driveway. Mick lets us off to take the short walk through the rainforest to our lunch spot. We're in for quite a feed: grilled steak, beef sausage, and sea bass; salads, fruit for dessert and both red and white wine. The food is excellent, prepared to our taste by Jody; and the setting makes it that much more enjoyable. While we're eating, Rory spots a bird she's been hoping to see: an emerald dove, that just wanders across the path behind where we are sitting. A narrow river flows nearby, filled with perch, who make a big fuss over the bread we throw into the water for them. From here, we proceed back to the Daintree River for a short "cruise" in a flat-bottom boat to look for crocodiles. Our guide, Rick, has been working the river for over 20 years, as have several others who offer cruises. He claims that the crocs know them by both smell and the sound of their voices. He says he knows where there's at least one croc, and along the way we encounter another one. It's just a young one, probably about 5-7 years old by the length of it (a couple of meters, 6-7 feet). We can coast in pretty close to it. As we proceed to where Rick's seen the other croc, Rory spots an Azure Kingfisher--another rare bird she has been hoping to see. She's now "hit a trifecta" of birds for the day and can't wait to talk with Rebecca when we get back to our apartment. We're on the river for about half an hour and then back on the bus.

Next we're on the way to Mossman Gorge, but first we stop on the way for a snack of tea and muffins. There's a pet cockatiel here for Rory to hold and feed, and a little skye terrier/chihuahua female named Honey, who rolls over for Rick to rub her tummy. At Mossman Gorge, we follow the path up to the Rex suspension bridge that crosses the gorge. The view is spectacular with the white water rushing over the gorge boulders. The bridge supports only about 20 people at a time, and it sways and "bonces" quite a bit, so we're glad that only about 6 others are on it with us. By about 5pm we're on our way back to Cairns. By the time Mick drops us at our apartment it's almost 7pm. We are more than satisfied with the value we received, especially considering the cost was A$30 per person less than any other we considered. After the huge lunch we've had we're not much interested in dinner and satisfy ourselves with the few noshes we've got in the fridge. Dov calls about 8:30 and we agree to meet at the Tourist Office in the morning at 11am. We'll be picking up all the brochures we can find relating to sights we'll encounter on the way to Brisbane.

Tuesday, June 13th: We awake this morning to the news that Australia's soccer team, the Socceroos, has won it's intial World Cup match against Japan 3-1. This is Australia's first win ever in the World Cup and the first goals they've ever scored. It's their first WC appearance in 32 years and the whole country is celebrating the victory. We're not in much of a hurry, especially after Dov calls and moves the meeting time to 11:30. We get to the "i" in time to amass a pile of brochures and a couple of maps. Dov and Rebecca pick us up as scheduled and we're off to a cafe for a snack and a review of the brochures. Instead we spend the time talking about retirment, investing, perpetual traveling, and other related topics. After a couple of hours we move on to the ice cream place we visited last week where we finally review the many options we'll have on our trip from Cairns to Brisbane. Rebecca makes copious notes with very neat handwriting that we all admire. This takes another couple of hours, and, after a stop at the store for a beach towel and a few grocery items, we're back at the apartment. We'll be seeing Dov and Rebecca tomorrow evening for dinner at their place.

Wednesday, June 14th: We're up just after 6:00 to get Rory ready for her dive trip. She's packed the towel, a fleece, sea sick pills, sunblock, a hat and a few dollars for incidentals. She's supposed to be at the pick up point by the pier by 7:30. It's not a nice day: windy, cloudy, and a little rain. Rick walks Rory to the check-in point in the mall by the marina pier and then to the boat. The divers for the Reef Quest and Sea Quest boats have been combined, which indicates to Rick that 1) there have been several cancellations and 2) the weather out at the reef isn't going to be very good. He doesn't say anything to Rory because it would be too bad for her to be this close to the Great Barrier Reef and not give it a shot. He returns to the apartment where he does the laundry, spends time catching up on his Fantasy Baseball Team, and generally taking it easy. The one bit of bad news: the photos from our Daintree trip on Monday have been accidentally deleted. He goes out for lunch and does a little planning for our drive down to Brisbane starting on Friday.

A little after 4:00, Rick hikes down to the marina pier to meet Rory's boat scheduled in at 4:30. He arrives just in time to see it pull into the marina and dock. Rory is sitting by the window and gives him a big smile. Looks like she's had a successful day. WRONG!!!! It was miserable: choppy, high seas, bad weather, her equipment wasn't the best, she had only a short wetsuit and the water temperature was 73 degrees not the 81 she had been told. She didn't even dive, just stayed on the boat while almost everyone was sick!! It was a total disaster and Rick is as disappointed for her as she is about the whole experience. On the walk back to the apartment we stop for a beer and a chance for Rory to unwind.

Dov picks us up at 6:45 for dinner at Kay's where they are staying. Rebecca has prepared a great dinner and slowly Rory's bad day wears off. We spend some time listening to Dov and Rebecca's embryonic plans to spend a couple of years living on a boat and touring the canals of Europe. We will be following their plans closely and may get the chance to visit them on the boat one day. We're both tired so Dov drives us back to the apartment. Tomorrow we'll finally get to the Flecker Botanical Gardens--we're looking forward to it.