Cooktown

Cooktown main street at peak hour. Some tourists we met along the trip told us not to bother visiting this town. We liked it that much we stayed an extra day. The museum there actually had Captain Cook's anchor off the Endeavor and a cannon.

Falls on the way to Cooktown

Daintree Area

Typical day with the clouds rolling over the mountains. This one was at the ice cream factory.
Had to sample their products.

Could'nt get any closer to the forrest

Done all walk trails rain or shine.

In search of the Platypus

Up to the tablelands to look for the elusive platypus

The town have erected special viewing areas. None here though ?? We had to explore up the creek more.

Bingo !!!! Spotted one playing in the middle of the creek.

Liz was very happy that we had finally found one in the wild. Strange place to put a sign ?

Paronella Park

Paronella Park was built by an Italian to impress his missus.
Water features

Castles and tennis courts The castle only was a replica and the rooms were too small to live in.He built a ballroom off the castle but it burnt down

Eating areas by the waterfalls.

Most of it has been attacked by concrete cancer and needs $$$$ to fix up.

These stairs lead down to the waterfall picnic area.

Whitsunday / Airlie Beach

Airlee Beach had changed so much since we last visited 27 years ago. We could not pick where the caravan park was when we were there last.
We picked a rough day to do a 3 island tour and the rain clouds followed us. This is the best part of Hook Island as the resort and facilities were pretty run down.

Daydream Island was far better. Even the dolphins tried to impress Liz.

Whitehaven Beach is almost pure silica. Squeaks when you walk on it. Only a few brave people went into the water. Too cold for us.

Back on the mainland and Saturday was footy finals day. Good old Colingwood forever!!!!!!

Had to give the number plates a wash. Nothing but a crownie was good enough. Liz was not impressed.

Back on dry land once again.

Made our way up the coast to get out of the city.
Here we are at Mt Eungella making use of shelter as it was raining. We thought we would be the only ones mad enough to drive out ther in the pouring rain but a "wicked" van rolled up at sunset. At night the fire flys came out of the mud to put a show on. It was a bit spooky.

The hall was called the Critadon and looks like it needed some TLC

Next morning we were off to try and catch a glimps of a platypus in the creeks. Were missed them. They hide after 8 o'clock.

The walks along the rivers were great. It had finished raining but a few drops off the leaves were still falling.

Still no sign of the Platypus. Bugger.Back down the mountain again.

Vanuatu . Vila

Once ashore on Vila we took a tour to the waterfalls. We were guided by one of the locals. Along the path he stopped several times to show some of his talents by making spears from grass, holding water in a leaf and telling the kids on the tour some life lessons on how to respect their parents and always listen to them. He stopped to get the local girls to share their little lizard with us.

At the top he introduced us to some singers. All of them had lost their mothers early on their lives. They sang the Lords Prayer and a song about missing their mothers. A few tears welled upin Liz's eyes.

On to the water falls. All limestone. It was slippery on the mud out of the water. Here the tour guide took over the camera. The tour was booked to take 2 hours and along the way he kept on saying not to worry about time and enjoy ourselves. In the end we took 31/2 hours.

Certainly recommend him and his tour.