5-8 February 2025

Hi everyone,

We’ve had a great time in Cairns! We weren’t quite sure what to expect – parts of Cairns’ county, Queensland, was damaged by flooding last weekend. The worst, it turns out, was just south of Cairns and it eased up before we got there.

Our time there way quite lovely. The first day was spent on the Silverswift catamaran in the Great Barrier Reef. With the sun finally peeking out, we sailed out about 45km from land to three different reef sites. Spenser snorkeled at all three, and I snorkeled at one and did some intro scuba diving at the other two.

We saw lots of different kinds of coral, many fish, and Sarah even saw a shark on one of her dives! The reef was incredible to see and learn about. 

The second day here was spent on a day tour up to the Daintree Rainforest. We stopped first at Mossman Gorge where, after a short walk through the rainforest and along the gorge, we had morning tea. Then we went for a crocodile sightseeing cruise on the Daintree river where we saw a couple of crocs – one mother near her nest and another 3 year old small one sunbathing. Often you can see more either in the river there or along the other waterways you pass over on the drive, but because of high tide along with higher rivers due to the rainfall, there weren’t many in their usual places.

Mossman Gorge

North of the Daintree river is completely off-grid, and is where we were dropped off. We headed to lunch at the Heritage Lodge in the middle of the rainforest, then continued on to Cape Tribulation, a beach where the Great Barrier Reef meets the Daintree Rainforest. After a nice walk on the beach, we then headed for ice cream.

Overlooking the rainforest

Daintree Ice Cream is run by a guy who bought the land when it was just a tropical fruit farm. Unable to sell most of the fruit at the market because its not well known, he started making ice cream. He paid off his loan in 6 years, and later bought solar panels and battery storage for the local school. When the government was going to relocate one of only three school teachers during COVID, he started paying that salary and has been every since.

Our guide was local to that area and has lived there much of his life. He knew a ton about the plants and animals in the area, as well as about the local natives and their history. He has a cousin that married into one of the local aboriginal tribes, so has been able to hear more than most about their history directly.

He pointed out a number of plants, insects ,and animals such as mud crabs. We also saw hundreds of crabs the size of a small fingernail on the beach – if you stay still for a minute, they’ll peak back out of their hole and continue removing sand from their holes which makes an interesting pattern. 

On the way back from the rainforest we saw red-tailed black cockatoos, and walking around the town center we saw Bush Thick-Knees, Rainbow Lorakeets, and Australian Pelicans, and more bats (we also saw some in Sydney). 

Bush Thick-Knee

Yesterday evening we tried kangaroo and ceviche kingfish marinated with some local plum juice. Both were excellent. Today we flew to Adelaide and spent the afternoon walking around town. We saw a delightful magic show at a bar called The Lost Dice. 

Tomorrow we head to Gorge Wildlife Centre!