Monday, July 20, 2009

We flew into Cairns (pronounced "Cans") today and arrived at 2:00 PM. It was beautiful seeing the tropical Great Barrier Reef from the sky and all the lush tropical rain forests below. The entire coast line was submerged in a surreal turquoise glow unlike any body of water I had ever seen. We were a short drive to The Lakes Resort and Spa which is a five minute taxi from the town of Cairns. The Lakes had breathtaking verandas surrounded with all kinds of beautiful tropical plants. Our pool, which is one of many has an actual sand beach in addition to the concrete pool with lots of fountains and statuary. Our room is also located in the same building as the restaurant making it especially convenient. We did not want for anything at the Lakes!

One of the coolest places in Cairns is the harbor where you can take out a boat to the Great Barrier Reef to dive or snorkel. Unfortunately because of the timing of our arrival and departure, the tide was too low and the reef exposed so no snorkeling for us! The harbor is beautiful with a gigantic man made lagoon and views of the immense tidal changes that occur here. The tide went out forever revealing a vast expanse of mud and fishy creatures.

B

My favorite spot in town was The Universal Joint, and we are not talking car parts here. This was about as authentic a didge shop as they come. The local owner let me play every instrument and showed me the differences in each one. They ranged in price from $150.00 to the thousands of dollars. I found a great one after several hours of playing and discussing the attributes of each.

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

We went to Kuranda and rode the train, the sky rail and visited Tjapukai Aboriginal Cultural Park which was so big an experience, I made a separate web site just for that.

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Explored the shops in Cairns today and watched the people at the Lagoon and admired all the ships. Headed for the Daintree today at noon, which is also on a separate web site.

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Returned from the Daintree area today continued to hang out with Danny at the Universal Joint didgeridoo shop. I finally settled on a nice Iron Bark Didgeridoo that was mostly all wood and burnt with some carved art on it. The burn patterns were very detailed and intricate. Danny was quite the salesman, laying out about 12 of the ones I tested and helping me pick out the one that sounded the best according to my skill level.

Today we leave for Alice Springs!