Coral and Rainforests

Here we are along the GBR – along the northern coast of Queensland about 14 degrees south of the Equator (in the Tropics zone). We flew into Cairns but chose to stay in Port Douglas (about 50 kilometers north). Both towns are resort areas along the coast. While the area is very built up it is not as touristy many beach towns in North America. In part it may be because the land that can be used is rather limited. The coast (like most of Queensland) neighbors tropical rainforests (that are also mountains).

We spent our first day on a small boat snorkeling along the outer reef (the reef is huge – from the coast of Australia one has the option of going to the outer reef, reef along the lower isles, or going to an island and exploring the area around the island). Our morning started with one of the guides (actually all of them) making it very clear that there was gravol (or the Aussie equivalent) on board and that even they were taking some … Kevin took one and I took two. We traveled an hour and a half to get to the reef along very very very choppy water (good thing we took the gravol). And then we spent the day exploring three different parts of the reef (the views got better during the day as it was low tide). The coral (and the things growing on the coral) was very diverse and colourful (although not as colourful as we expected) – it was really interesting to see all of the stuff “breathing.” As for fish, we saw lots of colourful fish (including “Nemo”), big and small. We found (with the help of the marine biologist on board) a big (although not hug) turtle and a shark (Kevin did not see it as he was swimming with another group – so I can now say that I went swimming with a shark without having to jump in a tank). All in all, we realized (okay so we are dense) that what makes the GBR a “must do” destination is seeing the reef and the stuff living on the reef, not seeing the fish – while the fish were very pretty and interesting, they were not that hugely different from our snorkeling in other places. It is also clear that in this area one only needs to snorkel to see the reef – diving could be a bit of overkill.

To our pleasant surprise, the guides were very relaxed and informative and seem really interested in helping us to learn about the reef and have an enjoyable experience. Granted we picked a group that limits the number of passengers …

Day 2 of our trip was exploring the tropical rainforests around Northern Queensland and going to Cape Tribulation. So the geography of Queensland is basically this: ocean with a bit of a beach, then rainforests that go into the mountains (that are not that far from the beach) and then on the other side of the mountains is the outback/bushland. Having spent a fair bit of time in the rainforests in Victoria we rather expected the rainforests in Queensland to be the same. Wrong. In Victoria, the rainforests are “non-tropical” which means to us, a relatively manicured (so to speak) forest full of fern trees and gum trees – the trees are straight and shoot straight up. The Queensland tropical rain forests, in contrast, represent utter chaos. Yes, there are ferns but not the lush fern trees we found in Victoria. There are tons of vines (Tarzan would be quite happy here) and it is not uncommon to find one tree/plant wrapped around another tree/plant. The other thing about Queensland – there are more deadly snakes and spiders as well as crocodiles (fresh water and estuary (combination of fresh and salt water) ones) lurking about. So even though you are on a boardwalk or other type of track or you are on the beach next to the rainforest you have to be extremely aware of your surroundings! We saw several signs warning of recent sightings of crocs – fortunately we did not have a close encounter with one. (Even on the golf course there were signs of recent sightings of crocs). We found the tropical rainforests interesting (and still amazing) but not as wonderful as the non-tropical rainforests.

Cape Tribulation received its name as way back when Captain Cook landed there and had a devil of a time while there. There are picture perfect postcards of the beach at the Cape and so we thought it would be a wonderful destination for our drive that day. It was pretty (very white sand set against a backdrop of the tropical rainforest), but not as spectacular as the Great Ocean Road. If you are in the North Queensland area, it is worth exploring the rainforests – but we would not recommend staying in one!

Our last day around the Great Barrier Reef was spent driving over the mountain (through the rainforest) and to an “outback” (still civilization) town called Mareeba. This area is known for its coffee beans. We found a plantation that gave tours (we joined on the part about roasting and brewing) and coffee samples – it was great (also gave us a big buzz before we went to lunch). Along the road (alas we did not stop to take a picture) were tons of huge mounds of earth/dirt – many looked like big boulders that were about 3 feet high and 2 to 3 feet wide. Any guesses what they were? Ant (or Termite) hills – we opted to just look at them from a far in the safety of our car …

We also explore the town of Kuranda, a town set in a rainforest – although touristy we still thought it was quaint and worth the visit. There are several walks/hikes one can take in Kuranda, including one to a set of very tall falls (give it is dry right now, the water was there but not in abundance). We then continued onto the town of Cairns – one of the bigger cities in Queensland. There was little of Cairns that was picturesque – lots of hotels upon hotels and tourist shops – and the ocean there was not particularly beautiful. We were there during low tide which left a lot of the ocean looking muddy and unappealing.

All in all we enjoyed our trip to the Great Barrier Reef and to Northern Queensland – we found both the rainforests and the reef very interesting but probably not as dramatic as we expected. One thing we did notice was more aboriginals. Our understanding of Australia is that the native Aussies are not treated very well, to the extent that in many places they are viewed with disdain – of course not that much different from the situation in the U.S. and Canada. So it was interesting to see (a) more aboriginals in our travels and (b) to see them more integrated in the towns/areas we visited.

This is the last blog we will post from Australia. Our travels are taking us to South Africa, Spain, Greece, and then home – we will post a couple blogs along the way so keep checking back!

a spider we found in the rainforest -- we did not stay around to find out if it was deadly 

lily pads in an area near the golf course at Port Douglas 

Ingrid and Abigail in the Tropical Rainforest around Cape Tribulation -- surprisingly, in the rain 

cape tribulation along the beach 

yes, this became a common sign around Port Douglas and Cape Tribulation