Back in the USA: Coral Sea

My sister Becky sent out a "Captain's Log" over e-mail to family and friends. I've copied it below and added photos.

The trip started off in Cairns, jumping off point to the Great Barrier Reef, and a great reef it is. The underwater views, even on an overcast, choppy day are simply amazing.

Linds and Becky on Green Island

The water itself is gorgeous, but what lives beneath it is astonishing. The colors, the vibrant dancing of anchored animals, the darting fish, the meandering fish, the giant clams, the supposed sharks and man-fish (no photographic corroboration available to substantiate the latter two) are all seemingly within arm's reach when viewed through the attractive snorkel masks which leave wonderful suction imprints upon exit from the water.

Giant Clam

Can you see the three clownfish?

We saw at least half the cast of Finding Nemo, including Nemo himself, as well as many other interesting, brilliantly bright creatures that live just 45 minutes off the coast across open ocean water. A jump off the boat and you're in relatively calm seas and the ocean floor is just a few meters below. Beware of the steep drop off at the reef's edge, and man is it a drop off.

The open water was not the selling point for some of us. Joined by Cory, Nate and Roxy for our adventure to the outer reef, "we" (Cory and Nate) had some issues with the rocky seas which unfortunately limited enjoyment of the reef. However, at least now they know that boat trips, particularly on the open ocean, should be avoided at pretty much all costs. Roxy, to her credit, was whoosy to start, but finished in fine form for the day. As much cannot be said for her decidedly green and by then emptied-out parents.

Happier times. Before the boat left the dock.

Rox and me about ten minutes out to sea.

After two days of water fun, including one snorkeling off of Green Island and the other cruising around the outer reef, it was off to Cape Tribulation and The Daintree, the world's oldest Rain Forest in our own Sonic Spaceship. The party grew in size to include friends Eddie and Lisa who traveled over from Papua New Guinea. [ed. note. There is a street in Cairns that has trees full of flying foxes. They are really loud all day and night and a lot of fun to watch.]

Only a few of the hundreds of the bats in the trees.

[more ed. note. Before we drove up to The Daintree, we stopped at the Cairns market to get fill up on tropical fruit.]

We bought a bag of longans and enjoyed them while camping at Cape Trib.

Rusty's Markets was full of delicious tropical fruit and also ordinary fruits and veggies. It was fantastic!

Amazing flowers!

There were also booths selling hot treats. Here's Andrew enjoying sticky rice wrapped in a banana leaf. We're pretty sure that wasn't meat in there.

Quick stopover at Mossman Gorge before going off the grid in the Daintree Rainforest. The bridge over the gorge is closed for structural repairs, so we dipped our toes in the cool water.

Eliza on the drive up the coast. She missed...

lots of sugarcane fields...

and beautiful coastline that reminded everyone of California's Highway 1.

We got to the Daintree Ferry, crossing the croc-infested Daintree River into a new and wonderful land. Or rather, old.

The man in charge of the Daintree River Ferry. Do not get out of your car or else this guy will embarass you in front of everyone!

The Daintree was quite dry and surprisingly bug-free which made the visit a complete success. We stopped for our first boardwalk through the ancient forest shortly after getting off the ferry. While reading a sign about the dangers both faced and posed by the giant flightless cassowary, one happened along my backside and elicited a slight gasp of fear. The juvenile meandered his way back into the forest without incident, but not before I could get photographic proof (check).

Fake cassowary on display at the Daintree River crossing.

Real cassowary at the Jindalba Boardwalk! We gave him a wide berth.

We stopped for some delicious homemade tropical fruit ice-cream, featuring wattle seed, black sapote, and sugar banana among others...

Yummy treats from the Daintree Ice-cream Company

We reached our campsite pretty much right on the beach at Cape Tribulation Campground where we would be docked for the next two days.

We had a moonlit pagan gathering on the beach where some of our group enjoyed betelnut picked up at Rusty's.

Becky and Lindsay's campervan and our tent cabins in the background. I highly recommend this campsite. It was great!

We try out Becky and Lindsay's campervan.

Sunrise at Cape Tribulation.

Little sand balls rolled by little crabs on the beach. They were all over the place and reminded me a bit of contemporary aboriginal art with the dot motif.

Fan palms

A couple of crocs (check), a lace monitor (check) and rain forest boardwalks later, we parted ways and set a course mostly south for the long trek down to Brisbane.

This is Cory again. After we split up with Bek and Linds, we had to get back to Cairns to fly home. On the way, we took a crocodile cruise of the Daintree River. We booked the noon cruise and got a free meat pie and soda included in the price of the ticket. Score!