Reef sandbar
This is the little sandbar on the reef we sailed out to. I think its
official name is Michaelmas Kay, or something like that. Anyway, they
threw anchor a little ways from the beach, but then they had a shuttle
boat you could take out there to swim or snorkle.
Reef fish
We took a ride on a semi-submersible (sort of like a glass-bottom boat)
and I took this picture from there. The fish were fearless.
More Reef fish and corals
Another picture from the semi-submersible.
Giant Clam
I went snorkeling and took this picture with a disposable underwater
camera. Long's Drugs was nice enough to put these pictures on a CD for
our viewing pleasure.
Fearless fish
I took this picture while snorkeling. These fish were swimming in about
3 feet of water and about 1 foot from me.
Big fish
This fish swam right in front of me while I was snorkeling.
That's a funny looking fish
Yup, it's me. The boat we took to the sandbar is in the background.
Train engine
We went to the Reef the first day in Cairns and took this train up to
the rainforest the second day.
Inside train
This train was a historic railway they used to take into the mountains,
and this is what it looks like inside. There was no air conditioning,
and it was probably about 90 degrees and 90% humidity. Luckily the wind
blowing in the windows kept it from getting too hot.
Kuranda
This is the name of the train.
Me
Yup, it's me again, on the train.
Train, bridge, mountains
Historic bridge... kinda cool.
Waterfall?
Here's a waterfall with no water. At this time, Cairns had gotten about
1/5 of it's usual rainfall, so the rainforest was kind of dried up where
we were. To see what this waterfall is supposed to look like, click here.
It was kind of sad.
Koala!
Once we arrived in Kuranda, we had about an hour and a half to explore,
and our tour guide told us that there was a koala park we could go to.
I was going to pass on it because we were going to be going to a koala
park in Sydney, but then she said that you can hold koalas in Kuranda
(or anywhere in Queensland, the state that Kuranda and Cairns are in),
but you can't hold koalas in New South Wales, which is where Sydney is.
Well, the decided it right there... I had to hold a koala! A few other
people and I ran over to the park and got our pictures taken with the
koala. He's so cute!
Fearless kangaroos
Also in the koala park in Kuranda were some kangaroos you could feed.
These guys were hungry (even though I was like the 1000th person through
there that day)!
Another kangaroo
Isn't he cute! Unfortunately they slobber all over your hand to make
sure they get all the food. :)
More kangaroos
You get the idea.
Cairns from gondola
We took a gondola-thing down from Kuranda, and normally it's supposed to
be really beautiful because you go right over the rainforest. But there
was that drought problem, so it was very dry.
Boomerang throwing
At Tjapukai Cultural Center, an Aboriginal culture park, I got to try
boomerang throwing. This picture is courtesy of Jon and Francie Hudson,
a couple of nice people from the trip. This picture is while I was
practicing how to throw it. What you don't see is that I threw it
straight into the ground. I bought Steve a boomerang in Australia, so
I'll have to practice some more. :)
