Welcome

Somehow I managed to graduate from college, and somehow there was still beer left in Arizona. A little over a year of working in the real world and I was ready to start using some of that vacation time that showed up on my paycheck. I recently saw the Simpsons episode “Bart vs. Australia” and had been sharpening my skills in the game of “Knifey-Spoony”. I really wanted to see one of those big beers so Australia quickly became the destination. I figured the first thing I should do was get one of those passport deals, so I found the correct forms and snapped a fairly decent picture. I contacted my good friend from college, Rich, and we started planning out our route. [Begin Australia Journey]

Home
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Next Destinations
Southeast Asia (Thailand, Vietnam)
The Alaskan Wilderness
Peru
Africa (Tanzania, Zanzibar, Kenya, South Africa)
Northwest Asia (Bhutan, Myanmar)
Southeast Asia (Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, South Korea)
Africa (Namibia, Uganda, Botswana)
Ayahuasca in the Amazon (Peru)
Mayan Cosmology (Belize, Guatemala)
Philippines
Jordan
San Pedro in the Sacred Valley (Peru)
Mongolia
Indonesia

- phynntravels@comcast.net

Reflections

I found Australians to be extremely friendly, they wanted to make sure we enjoyed their amazing country and would help us in any way they could. I have never been good at learning a foreign language but picked up Australian before the plane landed. I was also successful in finding that big beer, in fact I found it more than once. I like to think a little of Australia wore off on me, their warmth, their toughness, and the appreciation of how they got their toilets to flush in the other direction.

"Free yourself and see the world"
- phynntravels@comcast.net

Long Journey Home

We got to the airport, flew from Cains to Sydney (3 hours), Sydney to LA (14 hours), had a 4 hour layover, and then LA to Seattle (2 hours). Needless to say it was a long sad trip home, I could have easily stayed a few more months. And I would go back in a second.

Last Night in Cains

We headed back to Cains for one last night out as our plane would leave at 5:00 in the morning on the following day. I had my last bit of Aussie Tucker and my last VB (beer).

Exploring Silky Oaks

Today we would head out for an all day safari in to the Daintree rain forest. It started out with a trip down the river where we spotted a few small crocks.




Then in to the four wheel drive. We were told about all the things we should not have done yesterday after we had already done them when we walked through the forest. Our guide pointed out some cool trees, including one that could kill you. It had tiny glass fibers in it, and if you get enough of them in your skin you could go in to a coma.












We also came across an old mill.


They had a nice barbeque for us outside and some amazing fruit. Not like what I was used to, this was like a solid color jello, but quite tasty. By the way do not feed the lizards, there was a four foot one that I tossed a bit of meat to and it wanted more and came after me. We then went swimming in a fresh water hole, so no crocks. Whoever said there was no such thing as a stupid question was stupid. Our guide was showing us things we could eat in the wild. There was an ant (among other bugs) that you could bite the head off and it was an excellent source of vitamin c. This stupid 15 year old girl asked after eating one if it hurt the ants. Once we got back out of the forest we walked back along the beach at Cape Tabulation.




Once we returned we found another large spider just outside our room.

The Rain Forest of Silky Oaks

We went on a walk-a-bout through the rain forest up along the river.








Saw some amazing things including an old plane that had crashed. Fortunately there was no one in it, in fact it was clear we were not the first ones there as most of the plane had been gutted.


We got back in the afternoon and hung out in the treetops playing the Australian version of Trivial Pursuit.

The Mosquitoes of Silky Oaks

We caught a little more sun today, hung out at the pool. Shortly after lunch we headed up to Silky Oaks. A resort in the rain forest part of the way up the mountain right on the Mossman river. This place was beautiful, everything was open, beautiful wood floors, cool walkways, very Swiss family Robinson like.






The only problem was the mosquitoes, these were awful, the only thing that seemed to work was this stuff with some poison in it, so we could only use it for two days at a time.

The Locals of Port Douglas

Today it was time to relax and get some sun, we walked to four mile beach which is quite beautiful, however our water access was limited. It was still the end of the box jellyfish season and they had to put up nets to keep people safe. I guess a sting from one of these is quite deadly. I had a pretty good base going so sunburn was no longer a factor.




That night we would get a sampling of Cane Toad racing. This was pretty amazing, people were dropping 20-30 dollars on each toad for the chance to win a $4 beer. We walked down the street to hit the other pubs. Public transportation in Port Douglas is quite something, at the end of the night we boarded a bus back to the hotel to find it loaded with slightly intoxicated Aussies singing songs like The Flintstones and Giligan's Island.

The Animals of Port Douglas

We checked in to our hotel, the Reef Resort...




Our day in Port Douglas would start with a trip to Hartley's Creek to check out the crocks. We found a few, and I got as close as I wanted, thank God for zoom on the old camera.














We went to this crocodile attack show where this idiot was running around a grassy swamp area carrying dead chickens trying to get the crocks to snap and do death rolls. I guess its not uncommon for people to get carried away every once in a while by these things. We also found a number of Kangaroos, these were very friendly and quite cute. I felt bad for eating one the other night.








We also saw some Koalas, but they might have been fake because they didn't move very much.






I feed a Cassowary, Australia's big bird.


And of course a few dingos, but they weren't eating anyone's baby.


Near the end we attended a snake show where more crazy people were handling the 10 most poisonous snakes like they were cute little bunnies.

Departing Cains

We got up and continued our sampling of Australian beer, food, and culture as we hung out in Cains for a while before leaving for Port Douglas. While Cains is on the ocean, they don't have a beach, it's a mud flat, and it is mud. Again we found some local bands and a group of people watching their version of football, quite a rowdy bunch. It was interesting to see their selection of sports on TV, mostly Football, Cricket, and Bachie Ball.

Hanging out in Cains

Back in Cains we checked out the town a little. I picked up a Didjeridu but can not yet circular breath where you breath in with your nose and breath out with your mouth. I know its hard to believe but I saw a number of aboriginals do it. Both Rich and I noticed ourselves still swaying from the boat, in fact it would take a full day before the feeling would go away.






We then got on a train that would take us up to Kuranda, a village at the top of the rain forest. This was a beautiful trip through the forest that included 15 hand carved tunnels and over 90 turns to get up the mountain.














At Kuranda we found lots of birds, some friendly, some not.













After seeing the sites we proceeded back down the mountain on the skyrail, basically a ski gondola. We got some beautiful views of the rain forest canopy.












Once down we went to Tjapukai, an aboriginal cultural park. I was a little disappointed in this as I wanted to learn more about the culture, but it was basically just a number of shows and talks. I did try my hand at throwing a spear and of course tossing a boomerang. The other picture is me going and fetching the boomerang.