We spent our last holiday in Australia (June 5-12) in Cairns, which is the northernmost city on the east coast. Cairns is rapidly becoming one of the major tourist spots in Australia, with 1.5 million visitors this year and projections of up to 5 million per year by the turn of the century. The reasons for this popularity are primarily its proximity to the Great Barrier Reef and the Daintree Tropical Rainforest, although resorts and recreational activities of all kinds (golf, bungy jumping, white water rafting, etc) are springing up all over in response to the increased tourism. 10 years ago, Cairns was just a sleepy town where people went just to get away from it all. Since the opening of an international airport (with direct flights to Japan, Indonesia, Singapore, and soon Taiwan and Korea), it has become a mecca for Asian tourists (not to mention investors). Mangrove swamps and sugar cane fields are being turned into golf courses and tourist accommodations. It is still an interesting city, though, with great shopping and restaurants, nice places to walk and picnic, and, of course, ready access to astounding bits of nature. The climate here is very pleasant, staying pretty much in the 70's and 80's during the day and 60's to 70's at night, with only a 10 degree difference between summer and winter. It rains a lot in summer (Nov. - April), and less so the rest of the year.
Our first adventure took us on a tour into the rainforest to the forest village of Kuranda, whose claims to fame include the largest butterfly zoo in the world (rainforests seem to be the breeding grounds for a huge percentage of all butterflies), an internationally acclaimed Aboriginal dance group (Nathan wants to be an Aboriginal when he grows up!), and an extensive open air market, where you can buy a wide range of arts, crafts, clothing, food, and trinkets of all shapes and sizes. They also have the usual bungy jumping and trips through the rainforest in army personnel carriers, but we didn't try those. We took a short walk through some rainforest, enjoying the diverse sounds from the local birds, until Meredyth realized they weren't birds in the trees, but bats (fruit bats, in particular), which she found quite unnerving. And so with images of the flying monkeys from Wizard of Oz in our heads, we beat a hasty retreat. We then took a train ride back to Cairns. Now this wasn't your ordinary train ride. Kuranda is high up the slopes of the rainforests, and the train ride takes a spectacular journey past waterfalls and overlooking deep gorges. Virtually everyone who comes to Cairns takes this train ride (either up or down), and it is definitely worth it.
The next day we went on a tour up the coast to the Daintree River and surrounding rainforest. This is a World Heritage area, mostly due to the extreme biodiversity which can be found. It is estimated that less than 5 percent of the wide range of plantlife has been examined by scientists for medicinal and other uses. This is the oldest rainforest in the world (that is, it has been relatively untouched the longest), estimated at 110 million years old. The trees and plants are weird and wonderful. Many of the ferns and mosses live only at the tops of trees, forming thick blankets which blot out the sunlight. These plants retain so much moisture that trees can end up holding more than 10 tons of excess weight, which often ends up splitting the tree or knocking it over. The plant life is very sensitive, however, to drastic changes (as man typically imparts on everything he/she touches). For example, when they put in a road, the canopy is broken and the nearby roots (shallow) are exposed to heat and sunlight. The trees and bushes closest to the road die off pretty quickly, thus exposing the next layer of plants to light and heat. The process can continue like this for quite a while. Besides wandering about in the rainforest, we did a river cruise on the Daintree River, seeing numerous crocodiles in the wild. Needless to say, no one swims in the rivers around here! We visited a crocodile farm, where Nathan got to feed a cassawary - a large, flightless bird with an attitude problem. You see, it is known to attack humans, not with its beak, but with its 3 long dagger-like claws. It jumps up and slashes, and has been known to puncture lungs and cut open jugular veins of unsuspecting forest visitors. Nice, huh?
Our next trip took us out to Fitzroy Island, about 5 miles off the coast and surrounded by coral reef. We stayed here 3 days and 2 nights, walking the beaches, hiking in rainforests, and sitting around watching sunsets and drinking umbrella drinks. We also visited a clam farm (one of only 2 in the southern hemisphere), where we got to handle all sorts of sea creatures (sea cucumbers are like giant slugs - yuck!) and tease some giant clams (their insides, contrary to intuition, are soft, like velvet). Meredyth tried snorkeling for the first time (as she says, the first 15 minutes she spent hyperventilating, the next 15 minutes were wonderful, and the last 15 minutes she was too exhausted to enjoy), and Nathan and I took a paddle boat out to look at coral and fish. All in all, very relaxing and low-key.
Our last trip was a cruise out to Arlington Reef, part of the outer reef. There we spent half the day on a pontoon, with local trips in glass-bottomed boats and semi-submersibles and plenty of time to scuba dive or snorkel. Here Nathan and I tried snorkeling for the first time. After getting over the initial terror (I am in no way comfortable in deep water), we did great and had a wonderful time. The diversity of shapes and colors in the coral, fish, and other sea creatures was great - we always thought the images of coral with the vividly bright colors were somehow fake and enhanced, but we now realize the images often don't do justice to the real stuff. We could have stayed around here just floating over the coral for days. Like the Daintree Rainforest, this area is also a World Heritage site, due to the biodiversity and uniqueness.
So, I guess I'd say in summary that if you are looking for a place to visit with truly unique and diverse natural wonders, this isn't a bad place to look. You just have to be wary of the natural hazards, such as crocs, sharks, cassawaries, poisonous insects and snakes, stinging jellyfish (none around this time of the year), and the sharp edges of dead coral as you walk the beaches. We enjoyed every minute of it (except maybe when Nathan nearly lost his lunch on some rough seas), and would come back without hesitation.