Day 15: Down by the reef, by the reef, by the beautiful reef

Today we visited the Great Barrier Reef.  We signed up for a deal where a boat takes you from Port Douglas to a platform they have on the edge of the Reef.  You can then engage in various activities for about three hours.  You can snorkel, scuba, get scuba lessons, view the reef from below the platform, take a partially submerged boat out further in the coral reef, or pay extra for a helicopter ride, a naturalist-accompanied snorkel tour, or do a weird helmet walk thing (we didn't see anyone actually doing this--just photos in the brochure).  They also serve a lunch.  Before the ship left, they served coffee and tea, then had water and crackers available on the way.  The lunch included rolls, salads (green, pasta, seafood, potato), fresh fruit (watermelon, cantaloupe, orange, pineapple), prawns, cold ham and roast beef, cold fried chicken, a roast beef-type stew, steamed rice, and toppings.  It was all you could eat; we went back later for more fruit.  They had tea and coffee on the boat while we waited to come back (they had to count everyone and make sure everyone was on board) as well as crackers and cheese.  The tea and coffee are not served while the boat is moving (for safety reasons) but the crackers and cheese were available the entire trip back.  Green cordial and water were also available.

Good-bye mainland!

Kathi

Along the way

The Coral Reef

The clear blue water!

We were not comfortable enough to snorkel or scuba dive, so first we viewed the reef from below the platform.

Then we went on a partially submersible boat ride.  We were told that healthy coral is actually all brown.  The multicolored coral that we see on TV is mostly done at night with black light.

Entering the submersible

coral

coral and fish

coral

coral

coral

coral

blue coral

turtle

another turtle

giant clam

fish

fish

We watched the fish being fed.

Then we ate and took photos.

Went on another submersible boat ride.

Came back in the boat.

When we arrived back, we went to visit a little chapel that we remembered visiting last time we were in Australia.  It is very sweet and has a large window behind the alter that looks out over the ocean--great wedding photo op!  Then we stopped at a store selling opals that was relocating so that everything was 50% off.

See the ocean in the background?

Inside the chapel, see the giant window looking out on the sea?

The stained glass windows have shells, butterflies, etc.

From the beach

The beach from the church

coconuts

When we arrived back at our place, we went across the street to Trinity Beach.  Because it was Independence Day for our country, we stood on the beach, faced our home country, and sang both America, the Beautiful and the Star Spangled Banner.  Happy Birthday America!

The ocean at Trinity Beach

Trinity Beach

Joshua and Randy braving the cold water (it is much colder than it was in Darwin!)

Joshua building a quick sand castle before the waves take it

Day 14, a quiet and traveling day

Today we flew in a smaller plane about 25 rows of 4 across (2 on each side of the aisle).  First to Gove--a tiny airport (and tiny town) where we got out of the airplane (down stairs to the tarmac), went into the terminal (two small rooms), through security (where we were allowed to bring water through), and sat for about 10 minutes.  Then we were called again to get back on the plane to Cairns, in our same seats.  We're not quite sure why we couldn't just stay on the plane while they added more passengers and did whatever else they needed to do.  We flew AirNorth which is a division of Qantas.  We were served breakfast on our first flight and lunch on the second flight which also included beverage and tea/coffee services.  Qantas must believe that a fed passenger is a happy passenger!

We arrived in Cairns to drizzle.  We got our rental car and found our apartment.  We have a living room/dining room, kitchen, laundry room/powder room on the first floor and three bedrooms with two baths on the second floor.  Two of the bedrooms have a balcony facing the ocean (Trinity Beach) and there is a slider from the living room on the first floor which leads to a patio eating area which also leads to a gate to go to said beach (which is across the street).

Since this is a short post, we will have a short discussion of amenities.  The house we had in Fremantle had books and knick-knacks, art on the walls, it was homey.  There were tea and coffee, salt and pepper, sugar, a brita pitcher, etc.  There were plenty of towels and washcloths, as well as body wash, shampoo, and conditioner in the showers. The house in Darwin, on the other hand, was new, but only had instant coffee and a pitcher of water and bottle of juice in the refrigerator.  There was a pump bottle of hand soap in the shower (?) and a limited and odd assortment of towels and sheets. No art on the walls, no knick-knacks or books.  Very sterile. (Also, we think we saw two cockroaches--one in the kitchen near our food and a very large one in Kathi's bedroom!).

Our new house seems a bit worn.  It has art on the walls, and toiletries in the showers.  No washcloths and only one hand towel per sink, one bath towel per person.  No dish soap, sugar, salt/pepper.  It does have limited tea, instant coffee, and sugar.  We had to buy dish soap (for the first time ever).

You never know what is going to be available until you get there.  Then you can see how many pots you have, if there are salt/pepper, sugar, and tea.  Also don't forget paper towels and toilet paper!

We have some fun things planned for the next two days, very full days which is why hanging out at our apartment in the rain with only a small trip for groceries was nice.  We made dinner tonight with chicken, potatoes, cooked carrots and a fruit tray, which was yummy.  Then a game of hearts.

Day 13: A boatful of crocs

Today we went on another boat tour, to a state park,  and later on to the beach.  A few days ago, I posted a photo of a flower we kept seeing (see below), but couldn't name.  It reminded us of a magnolia, but it wasn't.  So, I googled "white flowering tree darwin" and found out!  It is plumeria!  Love Google!

We went on an Adelaide River Jumping Crocodile Cruise today.  It was very much a family affair running on a shoestring budget.  The setup was a few tents with some plastic chairs to wait and camp toilet in a hut (without a door) if you needed that.  They were very adamant on the rules--every item and every body part needs to remain in the boat, below the top rail.  The water is very cloudy and a croc could jump up and grab a camera or small child with no warning.  They alternated which side of the boat had the next crocodile near it--people on the other side could stand, even on the seats, to get photos.  They taunted/fed the crocodiles buffalo meat.  It was better than what we had expected from the humble beginnings.  The first croc we came upon made the guide nervous--he was afraid of it hurting someone because of how it was looking at us.  Glad he's on top of it.  We also saw kites (birds)--both whistling and something-winged.  Perfect day--sunny and cool on the river.

a kite

Baby crocodile

The crocodile is partially buried in mud to stay cool

Alligator nest

After the cruise, we went to the Charles Darwin National Park.  Darwin is named after Charles Darwin (you know, the scientist that discovered natural selection).  He never actually came to Australia, but one of the first ship captains that came here had sailed with him on a previous journey (kind of strange, but hey).  The park was established in 1998.  During world war 2, it was used to store explosives for the military.  Darwin was on the front line of defense against Japan--especially after Japan started bombing it (see Day 11).  After the first brutal bombing, the people of Darwin that didn't die were all evacuated to Alice Springs.  The park has some displays about world war 2 and the role of the now park.  Some of the displays are in an old weapons storage bunker.

Darwin in the distance--it looks larger than it is!  Tallest building is 32 stories tall
and the tallest three are all residential buildings.

It was very hot (89 degrees Farenheit) and very humid (62 degree dew point), so we decided to go back to our house and relax before dinner.  After dinner (grilled burgers) we went to the beach to watch the sunset again and look for more shells.

Oops, this shell still had a (hermit?) crab in it!

Marian and Kathi

Joshua captured a crab

The crab is still trying to burrow down into the sand.

Joshua's crab

Joshua and I

We leave early tomorrow morning at 5:30 (yes, AM) for our flight to Cairns.

Day 12: Darwin--And another boat!

Happy Northern Territories Day!

Today we drove about 4 hours to see the Katherine Gorge.  It is on the Katherine River and in the Nitmiluk National Park.  When the park service began to set up the park, the indigenous Jawoyn (Jah-win) people became very upset because they felt that this was their land.  They took the government people around and told them their names for everything,  showed them their sacred sites, etc. to show that they had a connection and valid claim to the land.  They agreed that the Jawoyn own the land and asked them to sign a 99-year lease to allow the park service to set up a national park there.  They are very respectful of the indigneous people and tell their stories and yield to their beliefs.  The name Nitmiluk is the Jawoyn name and means something about cicadas (the story was a bit winding and hard to get all of it).  The rivers in the area were named by an early white explorer and he named the rivers after his daughters, one of them being Katherine.  There is also a city called Katherine further down the road, but still along the river.

When we arrived, we went to the visitor's center because we had reserved a boat cruise (evidently the best way to see the gorge, because, well, it's a gorge).  We were booked for the 2-gorge cruise (there was also a 3-gorge cruise leaving right after ours).  When we arrived at the visitor center, then made our way to the boat docks, we found that the trees were full of bats--millions and millions of bats!  Some flying around, and they were huge!  Their wingspans were easily 3-4 feet across!  After our cruise, I asked what type of bats they were (ever the teacher!).  They were red flying fox and black flying fox.  On our way home, I looked them up and read to our group about them (no, really, they wanted to know!).  Randy, Joshua and I thought the bats were very cool--Kathi and Marian did not agree with us!

Yes, these are all bats!

Even the dots of black across the river are more bats

They were taking off in swarms

These type of bats are red flying squirrels and black flying squirrels.

While waiting for our boat, we met a family with four children.  They were on a year-long caravan tour of Australia.  One part isn't reachable by vehicle, so they rented tents and walked there to camp. They are from Canberra, so they are almost half-way around.  They are doing school with their three oldest (the youngest is in pre-school).  The oldest son's class is currently learning about the 10 wonders of Australia--he's seeing them!  What a great idea for families that can do it.  They wanted to do it now, while they are young and missing a year of school is easier to keep up with.  They also told us that today is Territories Day for the Northern Territories (it is the anniversary of the day in 1978 that they became self-governing) and that there would be fireworks tonight in Darwin at 7:30.  So we figured that if we left right after the boat cruise we could make it (since we'll be missing out independence day fireworks).

The gorge is very pretty, very scenic.  They talk as you go down the first gorge, then you have to get out and walk a short ways to get to the second gorge and the second boat.  There were people out canoeing--that would have been a lot of fun, but I don't think that Marian and Kathi would enjoy that!  And this way we could hear about what we were seeing.  We were encouraged to get up and walk around to take pictures.  They also had a container in the back to refill our water bottles and cups if we forgot to bring bottles.  We filled ours from a container at the visitor's center before we went out.

Old aboriginal drawings

Old, aboriginal drawings

clear water!

The white/gray areas are the actual color of the sandstone, the red areas soak up water like a sponge and the minerals inside are oxidizing.  The black areas are small waterfalls during the wet and the black is algae that grows on them.  

Cheeky boy!

After the boat tour, we hightailed it out, stopping for a short bite to eat in Katherine (the town).  As we got closer, maybe an hour or so out of the city, we started seeing multiple fireworks displays all around.  We also saw an area next to the road on fire.  This is their dry season and everything is very, very dry.  Our Google maps (we call her Florence, from Florence and the machine--changed to Florence in the machine) directed us to a dead end.  As we drove around Darwin trying to find the right beach, there were huge fireworks everywhere!  Two, one of them huge, went off in front of our car!  We saw three more fires--one was a large building engulfed in fire.  I looked up the Australian emergency number (for future reference, it is 000), but there were people at each fire already, so we could assume they were calling the fire department.  We decided that the city was too much like a war zone and drove back to our house (it was already 7:45).  We are staying in a small suburb.  As I type this, it is almost 10:00 and the continue to go off even around our neighborhood.  When we got out of the minivan, we went out into the street and we could see 7 different displays all around us.  We came in for ice cream, and it felt like we were in Bosnia or Beirut (though not as bad as those because they are definitely in danger).  It is constantly loud--both small and full-size fireworks going off within a block or two of us.  Hope we don't catch on fire!  We have metal siding and roofing, so we should be okay, but it 's still a bit scary.  We're not sure when we'll be able to sleep.  And I thought July 4th in the US was a pain!  As an ardent Democrat, I think they need more regulation of who can buy and set off some of these!  It is dangerous.  We feel like we're in a war zone.  Joshua looked up an online map of fires in the Northern Territory and there were tons of live fires (not controlled yet) all over Darwin, as well as the ones they had already controlled.  Yikes!

This is just a block away!