In the rainforest! Cairns Landing

We landed in Cairns (actually Yorkey's Knob...what does that mean exactly?) and took a great side trip to historic Kuranda.

Kuranda is the ancestral home of the Djabugay people.  Unusual, but the Djabugay people still own these lands which is rather rare.  Very unfortunately, indigenous peoples generally lose their land when the Europeans come....it's been true everywhere.  Despite concerted efforts in Australia, the land repatriation effort begun in the 1970's has still not been ratified.  As a practical matter, this generally does not work and will possibly fail here as well.

Anyway, we hopped off the ship and took a quick coach ride to the rail head of the Kuranda Scenic Railway.  This is quite a treat and should you find yourself here, don't miss the trip.  Authentic older carriages take you on a 90 minute ride to Kuranda with terrific rain forest and waterfall views.

The Scenic railway was built between the years 1887 - 1891 with the goal of linking the rich gold mining regions to the Ocean port.  Torrential rains made most trails impassible and more permanent solution was required.  Many workers lost their lives building this railway and certainly should be considered an impressive engineering achievement.

Again, views are outstanding and well worth the effort.

Kuranda Village is a very cool town that has a "alternative" feel to it. This makes sense as it was considered a haven for hippies back in teh 1970's.  Lots of arts and crafts and good places to eat and drink.  Pat and I had a great BBQ chicken pizza and a couple of VB's (Vistoria Bitters) for lunch there.

The way back down to Smithfield was by Skyrail which is a suspended cable car that takes you on a 7 KM ride over and through the canopy.  This also worth doing but not inexpensive ($55 AUD per person) but still worth the fare.  Built in just one year (after a 13 year environmental impact study) the Skyrail was built with supplies flown in by helicopter.  This minimized the damage to the rainforest.  According to our guide, the protesters of the project actually created more damage when they hiked in each day to voice their opinion  :)

Back on the ship and next stop is Brisbane.  Our plans there are to visit a Koala preserve that allows close contact with the animals....this is something that Pat cannot miss!

That's all for now!

Needs no explanation

Lunch in Kuranda Village

Another view of the falls from the Skyrail

View of the Harbor - Yorkey's Knob

Darwin Heat......wear sunscreen

We landed in Darwin Saturday night right in the middle of a violent thunderstorm.  I discovered later that Darwin records more lighting strikes in a given period than all other locations in Australia.....just another bit of useless trivia that is bound to pay off somewhere down the line. :)

So...like the headline, it's hot.  We were informed by my personal assistant, Google, that it would be 9 degrees warmer on Sunday than it was on Saturday.  Wow!  What an oppressive heat!  We live in South Florida and should be able to handle this but this was absolutely stifling.......

Despite that, we had a great time during our short visit.  As a Pre-requisite to some photos, the obligatory history lesson.

Background

The Aborigines had been in the region for thousands of years and the Dutch had been through the area in the 1600's.  The British first landed in 1839 aboard the HMS Beagle (what a name for a ship..) and named the port after a former crewmate, Charles Darwin (one and the same...).

Mining and tourism are the main industries here continuing to this day.  Darwin was bombed by the Japanese fleet that also bombed Pearl Harbor in 1942 killing 243 residents.  Since then, there has been a military presence here.  US troops were deployed again to Darwin in 2011 and will grow to 2500 marines by 2017.

As noted before, violent weather is common enough in Darwin.  The most notable and tragic example was Cyclone Tracy which struck on Christmas Day, 1974 killing 71 people and leveling 70% of the city.

Sights

During our visit, we took a trip to Crocodylus Park and Zoo to see some genuine Aussie saltwater Crocs.   Man at these things huge.  Pat and I had seen Crocs in Thailand several times but none were anywhere near the size of these monsters. I understand that some we saw were still modest compared to what is seen in the wild.  The largest one that  the park had was over 530KG (1100 lbs) and roughly 15 feet long.  It is not uncommon for the largest in the wild to weigh close to a ton....almost as much as my first car.

It was surprising to me how little Crocs need to eat to maintain their size and strength.  The park ranger was feeding the Crocs small pieces of chicken and explained that a full size Croc only needs about 1 full chicken per week to survive.  Too much food stresses the liver.  During 200 million years of evolution, Crocs have developed a very efficient metabolism.

Crocs can move very quickly over short distances....up to 25M per second.  As our guide says, walking near any open body of water, it's a good idea to stay 15 - 20 meters away from the water line.  If one of these snags you, it's all over.

This is a really nice location and a great park that included other types of zoo animals besides Crocs.  They had a particularly nice enclosure for Meercats and the Lions were terrific.

What a monster and waiting for feeding time.

A full family of Meercats.  They make an interesting "chittering" sound

This Ostrich was bout 8 feet tall.  This would not fit on my barbeque!

Note the size difference between male and female.  These breeding pairs must often be separated as the male may eat the female.  Note the size of the Male....this is about 50% of the weight the largest grow in the wild.

Later in the day, we went to the Northern Territory museum showcasing Aboriginal Art.  Great displays and exhibits, especially those on the painting style utilizing many small, multicolored dots to create a picture.  Very creative.

After a brief (and hot...did I say this?) walk through downtown, we made our way back to the ship and the promise of air conditioning.....

Off to sea for the next few days and our next stop in Cairns.  That's all for now!

Singapore Lives up to the Hype

Pat and I have spent the last few days in Singapore.  What a wonderful place.....very friendly people, very diverse population, many attractions and very beautiful scenery.

Singapore is an interesting place with an interesting history.  Without the usual history lesson, Singapore has roots in European and Muslim cultures for roughly 2000 years.  The more recent era began with the Portuguese landing at Malacca in 1509.  It was a Portuguese colony until the Dutch came in during the 1700's and finally the British with the arrival of Sir Stamford Raffles in 1819 who founded the colony.  If the Raffles name sounds familiar, you may remember it....many hotels, hospitals and other landmarks are named for him both in Singapore and other countries like Cambodia

Sir Raffles saw the potential of the port and worked towards developing this region.  It continued as British colony until the Japanese occupied the region from 1942-1945 after which it returned to British rule.  In the 1960's with the economy in shambles, Singapore embarked on a very successful modernization program which resulted in the best, per-capita, income of any Asian country outside Japan.

And what a job they have done!  This is one of the cleanest cities I have ever seen, It is a model for multi-cultural harmony with Muslim, Hindu and Christian religions existing in relative piece.

Seriously, I counted two (2) cigarette butts!  I learned that you can get a ticket if you flick a butt on the street and it shows...it is tremendously clean here.  We typically take a boat ride to get an overview in cities that offer it.  We took a quick boat trip here and I did not see one piece of floating debris in the water.  Stark contrast to Thailand and Italy where I would be uncomfortable sticking my hand over the gunwale to touch water.

We saw very few animals in the street....no stray dogs and very few as pets.  During the two days on land, Pat and I only counted 7 dogs which is roughly twice the population of the Glenn household.....wonder where all the dogs are?  No jokes about seeing the food section of this blog....we were assured that this is not the case in Singapore.  Not sure I entirely believe this, however.

On to the sights.  The Gardens by the Bay are and absolute must see.  Trip Advisor rates them the number one attraction in Singapore and I would agree.  Make sure to take the OBCB Skyway in the Supertrees area.  Do the Cloud Forest and Flower Dome as well.  Wonderful vision by the designers that showcase the beauty of the indigenous plants.

The only downer (if there is one) is the food and drink.  We found most places expensive and Wine and spirits off the charts expensive.  One particular restaurant insisted in charging us for the moist towelettes placed on the table.  I rarely flame any business during our travels but this one will get a bruising review.

All in all, a terrific visit to a wonderful region.  It takes a while to get here but absolutely worth the trip.

We were headed to Bali next but Celebrity has decided to cancel that part of the trip due to security concerns.  This is near the anniversary of the bombing of a night club that killed many tourists.  This allows us an extra day in Singapore and Darwin.  Next port of call is now Darwin.  This is a long sail and will take about 5 days.  See you soon.

Cloud Forest Walkway

SuperTrees with the OBCB Skybridge connecting the trees.

Pat standing in front of the waterfall in the Cloud Forest Dome

Poor Selfie but we are working on it.  Cloud dome with the waterfalls

Wood Sculpture Dragon at the Gardens by the Bay

Our Next Adventure

Pat and I are off on our next trip tomorrow.  We begin in San Francisco with a quick overnight to see my parents, Embarcadero, Golden Gate and dinner at Tadich's Grill.  My dad has been bragging about this place for years.....


Next, we fly to Singapore for a couple of days of sightseeing before starting a cruise to Bali, Indonesia and several ports in Australia that we have never been to like Darwin, Cairns and Brisbane. The cruise ends in Sydney after which we hop a flight for our next leg.

Finally, we have a week in New Zealand where we will tour the North Island....again.  This time we are touring wine country and some place called "hot tub" beach where you dig a hole in the sand which then fills up with hot water.....sounds a little edgy to me but was suggested by my brother in law (well known for "edgy").



More to come!