We spent the day today hanging around the boardwalk near our hotel in Cairns. The weather was hot (around 85), humid (must have been 100%), and cloudy all day, but it was still very busy and very nice.
We went to the Cairns Art Museum to absorb a little culture. The museum is housed in the former courthouse in a building that is now part of Australia's National Historical Register. The building has been tastefully updated. We couldn't take any pictures inside the museum, and, frankly, there wasn't much of anything we would have liked to taken a picture of anyway...
We did take a couple shots along the waterfront, including these scows tied up at the marina:
We also saw about half the Australian Navy's fleet return to harbor:
Tomorrow we're headed off to the northwest to the Daintree National Forest for a full day of touring through the rainforest. Should be very interesting, and hopefully not too long a day. Sunday morning, we're headed to Brisbane for several days.
Pat's Paragraph....... when we saw the naval ship I asked our waitress, a mature lady with a fabulous laugh, "Is that an Australian Navy ship or one of the Coast Guard?" She answered, "Well Lovey, I don't think it's the Navy. They don't have a ship with that much flash." And you had to laugh.
Tonight we had dinner in the harbor area, on the open promenade, and as we were watching the sunset, you could see all these large black birds darting around. They were so agile, cutting back and forth. I told Rog, "I think those are bats." He shook his head and said "No they're too big." I continued to watch and tried to convince him but he repeatedly said no. A strolling policeman was there and I stopped him and asked him. They are fruit bats and as big as crows at home. You can hear them in the trees talking to each other.
A little homework for you. Our bus driver yesterday was named Paul and had only his left arm. We discovered that he was the first 'one-armed' person to climb Mt. Everest! He did his first attempt in 2004, got within 900 feet of the summit and ran out of oxygen. He then went back in 2005 and reached the summit. He also has a motorcycle license. Roger googled him and found a really great write up. He certainly handled the huge bus without a problem.
More to follow!
