After 21 years living in Aotearoa New Zealand, I finally visited Australia. I know, I know—pathetic, but it is what it is. And, no, I wasn’t really hot and bothered (not much anyway), but the song Open Road was playing non-stop in my head for our whole visit, and that line seemed appropriate for this post.

After a miserable start (flight delays, missed connections, etc), we had a nice holiday, despite it raining nearly every day.

Port Douglas afforded me my first real experience of sulphur-crested cockatoos en masse—loud and obnoxious during the day, but the most spectacular experience we had with them was after dark. Someone began setting off fireworks on the hill above town. It must have bothered the cockatoos, because suddenly thousands were silently cruising overhead like winged ghosts against the dark sky, escaping the noise.

We had lots of boat trips on this holiday, which I loved. On our way to Daintree National Park, we stopped in for a crocodile cruise on the Daintree River (and ended up doing a second one on our way out, further upriver, because they were offering a 2-for-1 deal). The crocodiles didn’t disappoint—we saw babies to behemoths—and we also saw lots of birdlife and a pretty little tree snake.

After crossing the Daintree River on the ferry, we stayed two nights at Noah Beach campground—basic, but quite nice. While in Daintree National Park, we hiked up the Mount Sorrow lookout track, where we were tormented by butterflies who wouldn’t sit still for a photo, and greedily descended upon by terrestrial leeches. The rainforest was full of curious plants and fungi, and we managed to photograph a wee skink, too. But the best sightings on this track, for me, were a dung beetle rolling a ball of poo along the path and a big black semi-slug with a gold Nike-like swoosh on its back (well, and the leeches, too, because, land leeches? How bizarre and cool is that?).

With no showers at the campground, we stopped in at Mason’s Swimming Hole afterwards to cool down and wash the mud and sweat off. Great spot for swimming, and the beer and chips afterwards at the associated shop/cafe was the perfect ending to the day.

All along the road in Daintree, there are cassowary warning signs, and finally, as we were leaving we were treated to the sight of an adult male cassowary with two chicks strolling along the road (see the bad photo below, taken through the car window).

Next stop was the Atherton Tablelands. We swung through Kuranda late in the day, hoping to snag dinner before heading to our campsite, but discovered that the entire town closes at two, after the daily tourist train leaves. So we picked up food at the grocery store, and popped out to Barron Falls nearby before hitting the campsite at Speewah Conservation Area. A short night walk near the campsite was rich in cool bugs.

Having seen Kuranda without tourists, we decided it wasn’t worth returning for the market the next day. Instead, we took a nice walk at Speewah on a track littered with cassowary poo. Presumably the birds themselves were around, and saw us, but we never caught sight of them.

Then we were off to two days on the Atherton Tablelands waterfall circuit, with a westward jaunt to escape the rain and see kangaroos. We stopped in at a wide variety of falls, every one of which was worth visiting (check out my waterfall medley). Along the way, we also stopped in at a mango winery, the Golden Drop. The wine was surprisingly good, and I enjoyed hearing about their operation.

Leaving the Atherton Tablelands, we camped at Murray Falls—a lovely spot—and the following day, took a rafting trip down the Tully River. A fun and wet time was had by all. 

Then it was back to Cairns for our last day of holidaying. We walked the Esplanade and hit the night market. Had a delicious dinner at Hecho en Mexico, then went back to our campground to watch the fruit bats squabble as they forayed out from the bat-laden tree near our campsite.

It was an interesting trip, and I ticked off a lot of cool Australian wildlife—crocodiles, cassowaries, kangaroos, tree kangaroos, fruit bats, kookaburras and more. But there were surprises, too. Having lived in Panama, the rainforest in Queensland was quiet and still by comparison—not much of a morning chorus, and not a lot scuttling around the undergrowth, either. And I never used insect repellant! I kept expecting mosquitoes, but came home with only two or three bites. So it defied my expectations in some ways. 

It was nice to enjoy the tropics for a bit, but I’ll admit it was good to be back home. It’s back to the garden and the next book, now!