We had a lovely week away, back home at the weekend to lots of washing, ironing, paperwork and several small crises like the TV not working, bulbs blown etc.
Ignore the rest of this post if you don't like a lot of photos!
We stopped for smoko at a lovely national park Jourama Falls. This was the creek, we didn't do the walk to the Falls.
Click on this photo to enlarge and see the wonderful camouflage of the goanna - sunning itself.
Again, you will need to click to enlarge this photo of the swimming enclosure at Kurramine Beach. It has a net attached to the floats and goes up and down with the tides, keeping swimmers protected from the deadly marine stingers (box jellyfish or Chironex fleckeri) present in tropical waters.
If you are stung by this jellyfish it is important to pour heaps of vinegar over the site as quickly as possible which makes the tentacles detach. These posts containing bottle of vinegar are located at most popular beaches in the north.
I don't know which species of wallaby this is, but he came to visit us when we were having lunch.
This was the view from our unit at Palm Cove where the conference was being held.
Some lovely orchids in Cairns Botanic Gardens
A pink ginger, not sure of its species name.
I was fascinated by these heliconias, very large, and they looked as it they had been under a steam roller!
Not sure what is happening here - the photo on the left is the Kuranda railway station, which has had beautiful gardens in pots for at least the last 70 years. The photo on the right got in by mistake and I can't get rid of it - a pathway in the Cairns Botanic Gardens.
This is the Kuranda train, still with its vintage carriages, but no longer pulled by steam locos. The line was built in the late 1800s up a very steep mountain, so that Cairns had an outlet to the rest of Queensland on land. There were over 100 people killed during construction. Today it is a huge tourist attraction. More photos of that tomorrow.
Ignore the rest of this post if you don't like a lot of photos!
Lovely photographs of such a different area from any I have ever visited. Love the vinegar bottle!
ReplyDeleteLook forward to more photos.
Nice to 'see' you back home safe and sound. Photographs are all gorgeous and I found them interesting, and well worth the enlarging. The flowers are just spectacular, and oh how I wish I could grow such spectacular pot plants as the Kurandah rail station!! Our son and DIL spent their honeymoon at Palm Cove and enjoyed the area very much, especially their trip on the Kurandah train [a gift from the best man]. Will write soon, very behind.
ReplyDeleteyour photographs are wonderful Robin, and bring back many memories of those areas for me. you were certainly treated to some great excursions.
ReplyDelete