Cairns Day 4

Decided to be adventurous and drive out of Cairns town - north to Cairns Tropical Zoo. Initially felt nervous and apprehensive towards venturing out of our current comfort zone - no GPS, vague maps and a novice driver's uncertainty towards the road conditions on Australia's highways. But ... still gotta try!

Went for breakfast at McDonald's at the Esplanade. You won't believe how expensive parking is in Cairns - AUD$8 per hour for just parking by the roadside! However, I just took the risk everytime and did not bother paying for the parking.

At the Esplanade

Took Captain Cook Highway and drove northwards to Clifton Beach. Surprisingly found it a breeze to cruise along the fairly empty highways. Road signs were adequate and clear, together with distance markers. Hardly many trees along the highways, but plenty of tall reeds and sugar cane plants.

On the road

Wide plains and tall mountains that cannot be found in Singapore

Arrived at the zoo about an hour later. Entrance fee was about AUD$32 per pax, but it allowed re-entry within the next three days. The zoo was small, but exhibited mainly Australia's native animals.

Outside Cairns Tropical Zoo

White cockatoo

Agile and cheeky ring-tailed lemurs

A zookeeper feeding the lemurs

The cassowary is a large flightless but powerful bird, capable of inflicting fatal bruises with their strong kicks and sharp knife-like claws. Shy, endangered and skillful at evading humans, it is very rare to spot a cassowary in the wild (they live in dense forests). Sadly, habitat destruction, traffic casualties and dog attacks have caused their numbers to dwindle over the years.

Methinks the cassowary looks like a turkey

The animal that stole Slug's and my hearts was the Nepalese red panda. We just could not stop cooing affectionately at it. Red pandas are also an endangered species, threatened by habitat destruction and poaching (they are highly-prized for their bushy tails, which are made into hats and wtf, feather dusters). They used to roam around in China and Nepal but poaching and forest loss have driven them either further up the Himalayas or to extinction. There was only one red panda in the exhibit. It took quite a long time for the zookeeper to coax it from its resting position to come and take its meals.

Methinks the red panda looks like a raccoon

The zookeeper feeding it some grapes

Isn't it cuuuuuuuuute?

Cairns Day 3

Decided to go fishing today! We rented a small dinghy at a boat rental store (the guy managing it was cute) at The Pier. It cost about AUD$150+ for the whole morning, together with drinks and the necessary fishing equipment and bait. The guy then gave us a simple map of a river nearby named Trinity Inlet and pointed out some good fishing and crabbing spots. With that, I left Slug to learn how to operate the dinghy from that guy and to do the steering. He had high hopes of catching a large barramundi (seabass, in our Asian context), while I had some hopes of spotting a wild crocodile.

Driving out in the early morning

Slug and I wearing the same Australia T-shirts

We hired the dinghy from this shop

Got to navigate our way out of the pier first

Once we sailed past the moored boats at the pier, we travelled away from the sea and into Trinity Inlet. The weather was really pleasant - cooling and breezy, and the sun was not that glaring. We stopped at a random spot on the river and he started to do his fishing business while I tried to nap.

Slug with the mangrove trees in the background

Cairns Day 2

Woke at 5+am for our Great Barrier Reef (GBR) trip (we had booked a cruise with Reef Magic Cruises from a friendly tour agency located along Abbott Street the day before for about AUD$240 per pax). Couldn't get used to waking up so early, didn't even have time to have breakfast (motels do not provide free breakfast). Drove to The Pier where all kinds of motor catamarans from various GBR tour companies, yachts and boats were moored at. Boarded our cruise catamaran at 8.30am, together with many other tall and large Caucasian (some from even as far as Ireland) tourists. The staff on board were warm and helpful in providing information about GBR to curious tourists.

At The Pier (which also houses many fine dining restaurants besides just booths for booking cruises)

Leaving The Pier

It was an approximate 1.5-hour journey to the GBR. They were taking us to their Marine World platform, located at a private outer reef of Moore Reef. Apparently, the GBR is divided into a few zones with different levels of restrictions towards human activities like fishing, tourism, aquaculture etc. Tourists are able to access the Green Zones (the GBR Marine National Park) and carry out activities like sailing and snorkelling, but Preservation Zones (Pink) and Scientific Research Zones (Orange) restrict human access, thereby conserving the coral reefs and minimizing damage to them. Methinks it is a great management strategy, but that would mean that we will be missing out on the full glory of the corals since what we would be visiting would probably be some tired-looking and tourist-harassed corals in the Green Zones.

On board, a famished Slug and I grabbed some of the cookies and coffee for breakfast, and listened as some of the crew members explained the programme for later, some rules on safety and environmental conservation, marine biology etc. We watched in amusement as some of the kids were given pictures of marine creatures and they got very busy colouring them away. A few other crew members went around encouraging the passengers to sign up for their optional tours (at an extra charge, of course) - helicopter flights above the scenic GBR, scuba diving (even for beginners), guided snorkel tours and helmet diving. Slug and I decided to take up this Adventure Snorkel Safari at AUD$45 each, which promised to take us further to a more spectacular reef wall on the other side away from their basic snorkelling ground.

The kids' artwork pasted at the drinks counter

The catamaran arrived at the floating platform ('Marine World') in the middle of the sea at about 10+am. At first we thought it would be just a normal boring platform for us to laze around, but we realized that there were other facilities and activities. For one, we went on their 30-minute Semi-Submersible Tour at 11am (there were other fixed timings too), which was like a near-surface submarine with large viewing windows taking us on a guided underwater tour of the reef. Slug and I learnt about coral reef shapes with the help of the audio commentary.

Little silvery fishes

Slug and I in the Semi-Submersible

Branching coral

Bushy coral

Table coral

Didn't expect the water to be that murky

Cute little purple fishes

The true colours of coral reefs are best seen when shone under white light (night diving)

A giant clam

Sea cucumbers with the dead coral

Oblique banded sweetlips

Cairns Day 1

Finally getting a chance to travel out of the Asia region! This time we were going to Cairns in Queensland, mainly to visit the famous Great Barrier Reef, before driving southwards to a small town named Mackay where we would board a plane bound for Brisbane. Australia welcomes winter in June, but we weren't too worried because Cairns being north and nearer to the Equator receives warmer winters (say about 19 degrees?) than the southern states.

Boarded the evening Jetstar flight (nearly missed it because had not realised that we had to apply for visas and therefore wasted 15 minutes doing so, but Changi Airport's staff were just so generous and forgiving to let us in). It was a great choice because it was peacefully silent throughout on board and the star-gazing was fantastic. Transited at Darwin at 2.30am where we grabbed some sandwiches (AUD$9, gulp, our initial shocking exposure to the high cost of living), and then touched down finally at Cairns in the early morning.

Went through an extremely rude interrogation and thorough luggage check by the airport officers, which took nearly 1 hour and immobilised 3 officers. We were asked many irrelevant questions including our occupations and the subjects that I teach, to which I replied Geography. The officer then smiled and said I could go and tell my students how beautiful Australia is, and I just gave him a wry smile. The officer checking our luggage dug out and laid out all my makeup and toiletries and messing them all up, which greatly upsetted me. He even huffed sternly, "Do you have a problem?" when he saw how displeased I looked. There was also an Indian family who also encountered the same treatment as us, and we could not believe we were already racially discriminated against even before stepping out of the airport.

Picked up the car (a near-brand new Hyundai Getz with clean and speckless seats and carpetry and a mileage of only 77km!) that I rented from Hertz, and made our way to our motel. Driving in Cairns town is quite easy - just a neat grid of well-signposted roads and streets with few traffic. However, locating a place can be quite a perplexing experience - not all places are shown on the map especially the lesser-known budget motels.

Along Sheridan Street

Came to the seaside

Had fun chasing tiny crabs at low tide

Manila Trip

Went on a short getaway to Manila again, but for the last time as Slug's brother's family will be relocating to KL in July. Will be missing their warm hospilatity, their posh and comfortable apartment and most importantly, the cheap and sumptuous seafood dinner at the seaside wet market.

Didn't take many pictures this time round in Manila. We went to some attraction (forgot the name) far away from Manila which was like a coconut plantation-cum-cultural exhibition place.

Xinmei is such a tiny tot

What a happy family

Playing with Slug's nieces

Exhibitions on the main religion in the Philippines

Exhibitions on their flora and fauna

Exhibitions on their main agricultural activity - rice farming

More pretty flower shots by Slug

Slug and I kayaking on a bamboo raft

We also visited Slug's two nieces at their school. They were delighted to have special guests (us) appearing and waiting for them to dismiss from school.

With Xinmei

Xinmei and her Korean best friend

Passed by (or rather, above) some breathtakingly blue ocean waters and aquamarine atolls on our flight back to Singapore.

Beautiful

Till our next trip again.