Week 10- Cape Tribulation to Cairns Highlands
Cape Tribulation is in the NE corner of Australia. This area of Queensland is considered the “wet tropics” (i.e. hot, humid and rainy) and is part of the oldest rainforest on earth. Cape Tribulation was named by Lt. Cook because off shore his ship ran into the reef and this is where all his troubles started. He managed to float his ship to the next safe harbor where he repaired his ship. This area is now Cooktown. We took a 4 WD trip up to Cooktown via the Bloomfield Track. We had to ford several streams and bounced our way up on the rough track. On the way, an aboriginal tour guide gave us a talk on bush medicine and took us to Bloomfield Falls. We visited the Cook Museum in town.
We took a boat out to the Great Barrier Reef for a day of snorkeling. The coral was great and we saw 3 green turtles. On land we did many hikes searching for the elusive Cassowary, a large flightless bird with a nasty kick, but we had no luck.
Back in Cairns we visited the Tjapukai Aboriginal Cultural Center. We watched a native dance performance, but their fire making demo (rubbing two sticks together) was unsuccessful. I did learn how to throw a boomerang. We returned to Cairns Highlands and staked out a pond near our campground. After an hour of waiting, two platypuses appeared just before total darkness over took us.
Cape Tribulation is in the NE corner of Australia. This area of Queensland is considered the “wet tropics” (i.e. hot, humid and rainy) and is part of the oldest rainforest on earth. Cape Tribulation was named by Lt. Cook because off shore his ship ran into the reef and this is where all his troubles started. He managed to float his ship to the next safe harbor where he repaired his ship. This area is now Cooktown. We took a 4 WD trip up to Cooktown via the Bloomfield Track. We had to ford several streams and bounced our way up on the rough track. On the way, an aboriginal tour guide gave us a talk on bush medicine and took us to Bloomfield Falls. We visited the Cook Museum in town.
We took a boat out to the Great Barrier Reef for a day of snorkeling. The coral was great and we saw 3 green turtles. On land we did many hikes searching for the elusive Cassowary, a large flightless bird with a nasty kick, but we had no luck.
Back in Cairns we visited the Tjapukai Aboriginal Cultural Center. We watched a native dance performance, but their fire making demo (rubbing two sticks together) was unsuccessful. I did learn how to throw a boomerang. We returned to Cairns Highlands and staked out a pond near our campground. After an hour of waiting, two platypuses appeared just before total darkness over took us.
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