Cairns

Still in Cairns.  The week is going by quickly though! 

Vas drove me to Darwin and I flew out of there on Sunday night (the last day of September).. after visiting the Adelaid River Jumping Crocs, doing some shopping, enjoying some food and watching the footy finals at the local Irish Pub.. Shenanigans’. 

Landing in Cairns, I have stayed two nights at Vas’s place on the Esplanade.. transferred to the old Trade Winds and am back to the quiet of ‘almost home’ again. 

It is nice here, but to my body it feels a little like Madeira Park: a little heavy.  Even in the sunshine I feel a little tired and my joints hurt,  But.. also like the Sunshine Coast, it is beautiful! 

I took a drive up the coast, past Port Douglas, yesterday.  The Daintree Rainforest is the largest continuous area of tropical rainforest in Australia.  Two teachers I was with, from Boraloola, were very excited about going there.. remembering back to the political outcries before the area was made into a UNESCO site in ’88. 

There are 430 species of birds living here.. and it is home to some of the worlds oldest ferns and confers going back to the Jurassic age. I’ll bet there is still a lot to discover.  

We saw some giant seed pods, flowering mangroves, bird nests, snakes, a lizard and even an old croc.  ‘Scarface’ was fatter, and greyer in color, than the sleek Salties hiding in the muddy waters around Darwin.  And he wasn’t interested in us.. hardly opened his eyes. 

There is a platypus research station around here somewhere.. my first stop on my next visit! 

I have had a massage, watched a movie (The Sapphires) at a real theatre, caught up with friends and attended the annual NARIS (National Alliance for Remote Indigenous Schools) already this week. 

Today I will get back to thinking about teaching and hopefully connect with a teacher’s store I heard about.  I have also booked a ½ day at a ‘spa’..

A good holiday for sure.. but it is already Friday and I fly back to Darwin tomorrow. 

Imagine if Time didn’t exist.