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Cairns, Australia
After leaving the Alice Springs
airport on Saturday night, we got a taxi to the Plaza Hotel.
The young lady at check-in told us that the 18-hole golf course
adjacent to the hotel was the number one desert golf course
in the world. Hum, maybe she hasn't been to Scottsdale, Arizona
or Palm Springs, California. When we arrived, there was a
large crowd of young people milling around in the portico
at the main entrance to the hotel. It was their high school
prom and they all were dressed in formal attire. As we got
out of the taxi, I took off my new wide brim Aussie hat that
I had bought in Perth and tipped it to the crowd. They all
started cheering like we were celebrities. I guess you had
to be there but it was really funny.
We began the evening in the bar,
particularly appropriate in light of what we had just experienced,
and performed a postmortem of the landing. After agreeing
that the crew had done a great job, we decided we would leave
early the next morning before the thunderstorms started to
form since we had no storm scope and no radar. (We were to
discover later that we had no gyroscope and hence no automatic
pilot.)
By the time we reached the dining
room, we were in an agreeable mood and our waitress Rachael,
who said the weather would not clear until late morning, convinced
us to sleep in and leave later. She seemed to have in-depth
knowledge of the Alice Springs weather having lived there
for almost ten weeks. The next morning Tom rapped on our door
and advised us that, in the morning light, the waitress' advice
did not seem as logical as it had the night before. He suggested
that we get to the airport as soon as possible for our flight
to Cairns.
Our taxi driver to the airport
on Sunday morning said he had lived with the Aboriginal people
for eleven years. He and his wife had run the store at the
"station" and, when asked, said their experience had run the
spectrum from agony to ecstasy. He told us that, during that
period, the Aboriginal people had been given self-rule and
that they were having a difficult time with it. He said that
they have no concept of ownership. They believe that they
belong to the land and they cannot understand how a person
could own the land or anything else. He said that they could
not understand why he could drive his automobile home at night
and yet they were not able to take it when they wanted.
The skies were blue when we started
our roll down the runway at 10:30 AM. Tom was in the left
seat and, with no radar, no storm scope, no EFIS, and no automatic
pilot, he earned his supper dodging thunderstorms in-route
to Cairns. Our approach into Cairns took us out over the Coral
Sea before our landing in a tropical paradise. This is truly
a beautiful area. There was a nice breeze our first night
and the weather seemed more like the Caribbean than the oppressive
heat of Bali. There are abundant palm trees, lots of colorful
tropical birds, white beaches, and people who speak our language.
The Angsana Resort is on the
beach and our room had a wonderful view of the Coral Sea.
Unfortunately, it was on the third floor and our bedroom was
upstairs from that. I guess they figured we needed the exercise.
The hotel is nice but the amenities are limited so it is not
a repeater. Being on the beach was definitely a plus because
of the breeze. As a result of our overnight stay in Alice
Springs, we missed our tee time on Sunday.
Monday was our day to go to the
Great Barrier Reef. Tom and Pam had to cancel because of the
problems with the airplane. Our driver picked us up at 9:30
AM to take us to the airport for our helicopter ride to the
pontoon and our day of snorkeling. While we were waiting for
our departure time, I walked out on the tarmac to see what
was going on with N982GA. There were Tom and Pam in a pool
of sweat on the cellular telephone talking to Weldon, the
technician in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
The ride took about thirty minutes
and was a lot of fun. We saw schools of fish and two large
sharks. We arrived at the pontoon to discover between three
hundred and four hundred people had arrived ahead of us on
the catamaran. We selected our snorkel gear from the available
supply and were soon in the water. I had swum probably 100
feet when I turned around to find Ashley 30 feet behind me.
She said she didn't feel comfortable and wanted to go back.
By this point I had observed that the water was 20-30 feet
deep and quite murky. I didn't want to dive that far down
to see the coral so I decided to get out with Ashley. I was
quite upset with the poor conditions and we spent the next
2 1/2 hours waiting for the ride back on the catamaran. We
had spent the day for a 10-minute swim.
Upon our return, I sent a nasty-gram
to Abercrombie & Kent. Upon our return to the hotel, we were
informed by the crew that there were no repair facilities
in Cairns with FAA certification and that, without it, no
one would work on the airplane. In addition, they had confirmed
with the technician in Tulsa that the gyroscope was bad and
had arranged for one to be flown into Sydney for arrival on
Monday. A loaner replacement for the radar display was also
being shipped from California. That meant that the five-hour
flight to Sydney on Thursday would have to be done without
repairs. With the parts not arriving until Monday, the crew
will fly us to Melbourne on Saturday and deadhead the airplane
back to Sydney. If all goes well, the airplane should be ready
for the flight to New Zealand next Wednesday.
Tuesday, Ashley and I were scheduled
for a guided tour of the Port Tribulation area. I was so upset
about the disappointing trip to the Great Barrier Reef that
I decided to stay in the room and pout. So, Ashley went alone.
She will tell you about it in her journal. That evening, the
crew returned from their trip to the reef and said they had
had a great time. I seems that the people that had gone out
on the catamaran had been given a briefing that we didn't
get that advised them to swim further out from the pontoon
to get into shallow water to see the coral. Since we had gone
out on the helicopter, we didn't get the briefing.
Wednesday, there was another
guided tour scheduled. I decided to forgo that tour also,
and instead played golf. Ashley will tell you about her day
in her journal. It was a hot humid day with very little breeze
but the Paradise Palms golf course was beautiful and we had
a great time. It helped that I played fairly well. I won three
of the first four holes and then held Tom off the rest of
the way. I won the front by three, lost the back by one, and,
of course, won the eighteen leaving me down $5 for the trip.
Pat
On the above Tuesday that Pat
referred to, I met with my guide, Kevin Hann. Kevin was a
32-year old young man with a great ponytail who knew all about
the plants, animals, bugs, trees, weather conditions and history
of the area. He was English, and when asked why he had come
to Australia, he said, "to leave England". (It's a little
more crowded over there.) He's married to Rebecca who is a
waitress at one of the resorts. They have no children, but
they do have an octagonal-shaped tree house on 15 acres in
the rainforest. He works only 3 or 4 days per week and loves
his job. He was especially pleased to have only one client
that day, and we could do whatever we wanted. After a couple
of stops to ooh & ahh at the views, we had "tea" at a sort
of Hippie place that another young couple operated. We sat
at a picnic table under a tent and then walked through the
trees to the beach. This area is known as Cape Tribulation…named
by Capt. Cook who named it saying that that is where all his
trials and tribulations had begun. The beach looked like a
movie set, and when I made that comment, Kevin said that many
movies had been shot there. The sand was real silky, and there
were few shells, but I did find one small one that I picked
up for a souvenir. This is known as the place where the Great
Barrier Reef meets the Rainforest, and is a very special place
on Earth. I waded into the water, and it was about 80 degrees,
but I couldn't go any further, because the water is full of
box jellyfish this time of year, and they have tentacles about
4 ft. long that are transparent in the water. There are areas
that are swimmable and have been roped off prior to jellyfish
season. The Great Barrier Reef is a pretty good ride out into
the ocean, and they're not out there.
As Pat said, this was a really
hot and humid day…I don't do HUMID…guess I've lived in the
desert too long. Anyway, it wasn't too bad in the Rainforest.
That was enjoyable. There are places especially for walking
.They have built boarded walkways with hand rails about two
feet above the ground, and no one is allowed to leave that
walkway.It's a protected area and is lush with plants that
seem to weep with moisture. The plants look like a lot that
we've seen before but are really special. One very large palm
tree (the leaves looked like they were coated with some brown
dust) was four hundred years old and could grow to be as old
as 1000 years! Can you imagine having a plant that will outlive
your house? There was a tree that had roots that protruded
out from the tree a couple of feet above the ground and was
very thin vertically. I've put a picture of it on the website,
because it's hard to describe. That's where the boomerang
is cut in the joint where the root meets the tree, because
it will all be the same grain of the tree. There's a blue
plum that will not germinate until a certain bird eats it.
The bird looks like an ostrich but has really thick legs and
large feet. The fluids in the bird's digestive system break
down the skin of the plum so it can expose its roots and grow
a tree. I'm not going to tell you all the names, because I
can't remember them, and you probably wouldn't either. It's
just interesting.
Next, I took a ride on the Daintree
River in my private tour-type boat (6 benches on each side)
and navigated by a man named Peter who lives on the river.
He had a great sense of humor and pointed out 3 "crocks" on
the mud of the mangroves. One was 14 ft. and two babies (2
& 4 ft.). I learned that in a mangrove all the plants are
not necessarily the same, and there are two ways for the plants
to get oxygen/carbon dioxide/water. I was on the river for
about 30 minutes, and as we passed other tour boats they would
tell us where they'd seen crocodiles. I was real glad that
Pat wasn't there.
We ended the day having more
tea (I had iced coffee) at a 5-star resort in the rainforest
named "Silky Oaks". There are a lot of resorts in the area
for younger people, and they're really beautiful and have
lots to do…scuba, snorkeling, parasailing, touring like I
did and just hanging out at the pool (in the rainforest or
near the beach). I got some brochures in case someone was
interested in the area.
The next day when Pat & Tom played
golf (another hot & HUMID), Pam & I took a train ride through
the rainforest to ooh & ahh some more. Our guide was about
our age and was entertaining. Lia was from Venice, Italy and
had come to Australia with here husband about 15 years ago.
Abercrombie & Kent (our travel agency) has given us some very
nice guides.
Since there were only the three of us, and our interests were
similar, Lia took us shopping in the little town at the top
of the mountains. We needed some cooler clothes because of
the…HUMIDITY! We had lunch and shopped some more…this time
for Aboriginal art. I've been doing research on their art
at each stop, and it's all different in it's own way, depending
on the area. We took the Sky Rail down over the treetops of
the rainforest and on to the Aboriginal Cultural Center where
we saw a live show with special effects about the Aboriginal
beliefs about the Dreamtime or Creation of the earth and mankind.
After that we were instructed in how to throw a spear with
another "thing" that sort of helped propel the spear further
than if you just threw it. ( The "thing" had a name, but I
can't remember.) Next, Ralph, an old sorta fat Aboriginal
man who wore an old sweaty bush hat, instructed us in the
skill of throwing the boomerang. This is not as easy as it
looks, and out of about 15 tries, I was successful only twice.
Ralph said that I needed to practice, and I could buy some
boomerangs in the shop where, I'm sure he got a cut…which
he probably gave to his tribe. These people share everything.
They even work together in creating their art. Lots more to
learn about these people. It's hard to realize that only two
hundred years ago they were living the lives of stoneage people.
They've come a long way in a short time, and I believe their
art will become very collectible.
Ashley
Great Barrier Reef
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Shark
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Moore's Pontoon
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Arrival at Pontoon
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Pontoon with Catamaran
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Moore's Pontoon
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Moore's Pontoon
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Cape Tribulation Rain Forest
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Guide, Kevin Hann
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Boomerang Tree
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Cape Tribulation
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Carnivorous Lizard, 4' Long
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Rain Forest Cappicino
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All Aboard
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Rain Forest Water Fall
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Diggeridoo
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Sky Rail
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Rain Forest
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Aboriginal Performance
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