Stinger season

In this area, the wet summer is also the cycklone season, the humid season and the stinger season.  Any snorkelling or diving must be done while wearing a lycra suirt or wetsuit.  There are different kinds of jelly fish (or stingers) but the most lethal is the irukanji.  Port Douglas beach along with most of the the other beaches around here erect stinger nets during the stinger season. 

The lakes at Cairns botanical gardens

We stopped off at the Cairns Botanical gardens on Saturday after a shopping day in the "big" city.  coming at it from a different angle we decided to walk through what is called the lake area. It was lovely, but lots of mozzies.  In fact the botanical gardens itself was very muggy and humid so we are glad we did the other walk as well.  Walked through the bamboo walkway and then back along the paperbark boardwalk.

This was in the botanical gardens itself.  Funny I thought there would be more flowers, but I was a bit dissapointed in that.  Once we got in amongst the plants it was very muggy and hot.

So we walked back on this boardwalk - always looks a little spooky to me!  Notice how the old leaves lie on the ground and decompose to form mulch.

On the right of this photo is a paperbark tree - they grow huge, but this one is a small one.  Paperbark has been used for lots of things including making boats.

Tropical fruit orchard

Over the weekend we attended a birthday party held at one of the tropcial fruit orchards in the Daintree Rainforest.  This one is just called the orchard, and doesnt have fruit tasting, we have taken visitors to the cape trib exotic fruit farm for fruit tasting and they have enjoyed the experience.   I went to a talk that the owner Digby gave about how they are growing organically and he is very imformative.
http://www.capetrib.com.au/

Anyway, I digress, this was just a party, but I managed to get some good fruit photos so thought I would share.  I think this is mandarin.

then abui

Interspersed amongst the fruit trees is - a mashie gold course!

This is the building, but I think they mainly just use it for functions where you would have to book, or maybe tours.  Open sides, and with the generator going to power the fans it was quite pleasant.

My all time favourite looking tree is the breadfuit tree - they have a very dinstintive shaed leaf - glossy dark green.

This is the detail showing a breadfuit - they are delicious baked in a  fire.

The Daintree Rainforest

We are so lucky to have the Daintree Rainforest right on our doorstep, and boxing day (the day after christmas) we decided to take a drive up north.

Just about 20 minutes north of Mossman is a turnoff to the Daintree ferry.  This is a cable ferry and runs every 10 minutes or so - the cost is 18.00, at the moment.  Locals can get a season ticket - hope that never changes.....   I find that as soon as we are off the ferry and start driving through the avenue of trees I feel utterly relaxed.

Alexandra range lookout

 is always a good place to stop and on a clear day you can see all the way back to Port Douglas.

Further up the range there are some lovely walks - I can never decide which is my favourite.  There is also the Daintree canopy for which there is a charge.  It is an elevated walkway and a high tower which you climb up and then can overlook the rainforest from on top.  They have  little recorders that you can carry around with you and get information on everything around you.  We stopped at Myall boardwalk, and today it was my favourite!

All the walks are so well maintained, and this one is a wetland area so is very shaded which is an especially lovely thing on a hot day.  These common ferns are all over in the trees and are called birdsnest ferns for obvious reasons.  they sometimes get huge!

this is a detail of the underside of the older leaves which die back and create the "nest" effect

As you can see there are often more than one birdsnest fern per tree!

I love these gnarly roots!

This is a curtain fig which grew around another tree and strangled it.

I love the way the light filters through the fan palms. 

There is also a  fan palm walk (maybe that is my true favourite) but that is being renovated.

the last stop was cape trib where we walked along another boardward to  a great lookout.  Scared a huge iguana along the way, but I was not quick enough with the camera for that!

A long lazy drive home brought to an end another perfect day spent in paradise!

The little town of Mossman

Yesterday afternoon we took a walk through Mossman and along a newly finished path towards North Mossman.  As you leave the town and head North you have a georgous tunnel of green raintrees.  These are very old huge trees that sweep across from one side of the street to the other.   On the one side under the trees is a grassy area that turns into a bustling market every saturday morning.  There is fresh local produce, crafts and plants.   Even a massage tent.  The old stone Anglican church is there and they have some tables and chairs where you can share a cuppa and a bikkie for a dollar or two!  How Australian is that!

Walking along the path which is separated from the road by a landscaped bed I notice my favourite tree in flower - the Poinciana.  Huge bright bunches of flowers and long arching seed pods.

The trees have such a beautiful shape.

The flower beds have wonderful really tropical flowers - this one a lobster claw heleconia.

The setting sun behind the park on the other side of the road reminds us that it is the wet season.... do these clouds mean rain tonight?   No matter - that is what makes it so green and lush.

Cairns Fletcher Botanic Gardens

Whenever we are in Cairns I love to pop into the Fletcher botanical gardens. It is not a huge area, but so cleverly designed that there are plenty of paths to wander back and forth, up and down, beside little streams and you feel at times totally lost in a tropical jungle. The torch ginger is perhaps one of my favourite plants.

Then again this ginger with variegated stalks looks a bit like a bamboo, but then it has these lovely red and yellow flowers that rise up at the base.....

Here is a detail of those lovely stalks..

These orange gingers look like stacks of orange slices

I called these poached egg orchids, but no matter what you call them they are lovely.

The tropical skyline - there is just something about a palm tree against the sky

Swathes of grass just call out for visitors to lie down and admire the view from another angle

Huge arching branches over the path give a lovely shade, and then these huge arms of Heleconias drop down at the side.

A detail of the flowers..

and one more...

I hope you enjoyed a taste of the Fletcher Botanical Gardens and that you plan to include a walk around here if you are ever in Cairns

Oh wait - did I say that the torch ginger was my favourite? - then the beehive ginger comes along. I don't believe you can choose just one.

For more information on times and location: http://www.cairns.qld.gov.au/cairns/services/botanic_gardens/fbg_main.htm

Mt Malloy

There was a permaculture house open for display in Julatten so we loaded up the grandson in the car seat and headed up the range. It is a long winding road which often makes everyone carsick, but luckily the little one nodded off to sleep. They look so cute when they sleep:) It was dirt road which we had not expected, and the house wasn't much to write home about so we thought we would continue on to Mt Malloy and explore. This is a tiny little town - don't really know what makes something a town - 1 post office, 1 pub, 1 restaurant, 2 schools and 2 churches. We walked down "little road" to a park with a lake full of waterlilies. Very pretty, but I wonder if there were not crocodiles lurking under all the green stuff! The whole area is extremely dry, but gosh that must be perfect weather for bougainvillea - such lovely flowers. We saw cows , and horses - even a pony right on the veranda of someones house, and a couple of kangaroos. A couple of slides in the school playground and then we settled on the pub for lunch. In order to try both meals we ordered one fish and chips and one steak sandwich - we should have both gone with the steak sandwich - it was delicious. Overflowing with lovely lettuce, tomato and beetroot. (That is an Aussie thing to put beetroot on hamburgers and steak sandwiches). We should have taken more photos, but here is one of little street which heads down next to the post office. Someone maintains those post office gardens very well.