Tropical

Last night was colder than I expected, and definitely more noisy. But the warm day is making up for it! We had some fruit for breakfast and went out pretty early to catch a scenic train to Kuranda, a mountain jungle tourist town. The train turned out to be fully booked, so we ended up driving, but that might have been for the better – the train was pretty expensive and driving meant we could stop in more places. Plus the road itself was pretty awesome, too! Windy mountain road walled by impenetrable rainforest, sometimes opening to fantastic views down on sugarcane fields and the ocean. Eva was driving it like a boss.

We stopped on the way in RainForeStation – a park of Australian plants, animals, and culture. It was full of tourists, and 90% of them were from China or Japan. Pretty much all signs in the park were in English and Chinese and all staff spoke the language at least a bit. That itself was an interesting experience, not to be in a white-dominated tourist group. In fact, the whole Cairns seems to be a holiday spot for Asian tourists mainly.

Anyway, we started with a presentation of aboriginal dance – pretty sweet, so much sexy knee action! So naturally when they asked for volunteers to join them on the stage, I was the first there (Charlie might have been giving me some very suggestive encouraging looks). Turned out to be harder than it looks, but I very much enjoyed my crude approximation of the knee dance (though it made my freshly repaired trousers rip a bit again). We then moved on to throw some boomerangs, which turned out to be easier than expected (we were given very light plywood ones though, might be that). Finally, some cool didgeridoo and spear throwing. The guy who was showing us around was great, too, really fun and friendly!

Next, the animals. There were some kangaroos to pet, some wombats and koalas to watch, plenty of different lizards, a couple dingos, a cassawary, and two massive salt water crocodiles. Also, some very sleepy snakes. You could take a picture cuddling a koala, and Dee and Charlie went for it.

Then was the duck ride. The duck turned out to be massive, made of metal, and able to hold some 30 people. The DUKW is a six-wheeled amphibious military vehicle used by the Allies in WW2 to transport troops and supplies in the D-Day landing and the invasion of Sicily. A small fleet of them is restored and used here. Naturally, part of the trip was through the water. Our driver had a grumpy sarcastic persona, but was very knowledgeable and pretty good at showing us around.

On the way, we’ve seen a butterfly drug tree, a few basket ferns that grow in trees, some tall tree ferns, and a selection of particularly Australian plants, including a fern with lots of short sharp hooks under its vines and leaves which tear your flesh if you get tangled, and a plant with leaves covered in tiny hooks drenched in neurotoxin. You touch it, hooks get in your skin, toxin activates all nerve cells causing horrible pain… and this stays for three months. Three months of continuous nerve pain. Best wishes from Australia.

We also saw some animals, including a tiny turtle, various butterflies, termite nests, and a lizard sunbathing high on a branch.

After the duck, we went to the tropical fruit tree area and had some of the weird fruit: a red banana, a sapodilla, and jackfruit. The last ones are an acquired taste – most people hate them and you generally eat them straight from the fridge, as when warm they smell horribly. I hear that in some countries it’s illegal to have them on public transport. I quite liked them, especially the weird slimy texture they have as you slobber them off the big pip – like a jellyfish. Charlie passed, Dee tried one, and Eva and I had most of the rest, but at the end we also gave up and returned them to the store. Ah, by the way, the sapodilla has seeds with hooks on them – you swallow, they rip your gut up. Best wishes from Australia.

As we walked among the fruit trees, I found a fallen Cacao fruit. They let me take it home, now I’m looking forward to cutting it open!

We then left the park and drove to Kuranda itself. The place turned out to be a complete hippie village, with loads of hippie shops. A wonderful chill atmosphere, we just walked around, ate some junkfood, checked out the shops, saw all the didgeridoos, kangaroo skins, crocodile belts, tourist tat… I ended up buying a sexy hippie shirt, Eva and Charlie also got some things. Ah, also, I managed to forget to take my swimming pants from Edinburgh, so yesterday I bought a cheap pair. Considering it’s just for this trip, I obviously got the most colourful pair of shorts I could find. While I’m at sexy things, I should also mention that this place, and Cairns in general, are so full of gorgeous legs! And just many eyecandy people, it’s not at all easy to not stare sometimes.

The shops in Kuranda all closed super early and we moved on to check out the Barron Falls. It’s a kilometre long walk through the jungle, down a slope on an aerial pathway, pretty cool. And we saw a couple bush turkeys on the way! I kept having conflicting desires – one was to get off the path and actually properly walk in the rainforest, the other one, well, to live. Now that I know of all the plants that can hurt you here, and the cassawaries roaming these parts, I suddenly started displaying some healthy survival instinct.

We got down to the viewing platform and my Gods! This is one waterfall! It’s dry season now, so not much water, but the cliffs are amazing, and the whole valley is just breathtaking. And then we noticed that a couple people were climbing the falls! Eva said no, but by then my survival instinct had a very hard time convincing me that doing this now is not a good idea. So awesome! And then, as if this wasn’t enough, the climbers reached a small pool towards the top of the waterfall, stripped naked and jumped in for a swim! Aaah! That is just the definition of Awesome! I bet they were also shagging there, they must have! So much want!

I did let them take me home though. For now. But yeah, I’ll probably be training climbing again soon.

We thought about stopping at another place on the way back, some natural pools you can swim in, but Dee had a bad pain in his hand for the whole day and we decided to go back home and let him rest. On the way, we got some sushi in the shop and took it to the Cairns promenade. We saw even more bags this time, flying about, hanging out on trees, and making a lot of noise. Also, pelicans swimming in the water.

After we dropped off Dee and Charlie, Eva and I came back to the same spot for an evening swim in the pool that’s right next to the waterfront – we raced, played with the fountain, did handstands, and all sorts of other frolicking. Wonderful evening! Back home, I once again fixed my trousers, hopefully for good, and now sleep.