On the Wallaby

We are here in Yungaburra, Queensland at a great hostel called On the Wallaby. The staff are very friendly, including a girl from Kingston, Ontario who has worked here for a year. The hostel organizes many activities every day. Last night we went on a night canoe trip to spotlight rainforest creatures near the shore of Lake Tinaroo - saw 3 types of possums, pademelon kangaroos, a 3 m python on the rocks by the shore, bandicoots, a tree kangaroo - and heard the wild, crazy cries of a large flock of roosting brolgas, a large type of crane. There were so many stars in the sky as we started, although it clouded over by the time we returned. The hostel also offers free platypus spotting before dinner at a nearby creek - we only caught fleeting glimpses of them last night but we saw many platypuses? platypi? this morning on an early walk before breakfast. At times, we were close enough to see his little feet paddling underwater!
Food here at the hostel is cheaper than anywhere we have found so far - dinner for $10 each (all restaurants are at least 18 for main courses) and breakfast for $5 each; our double room is only $55, too. We have been making our own lunches and breakfasts in most places - cereal or toast for breakfast and sandwiches for lunch. Lots of local fruit, too, with pineapples, passionfruit and oranges from a Farmers Market. We even picked our own oranges at our lodgings in Chillagoe!
Today we drove around the Atherton Tablelands, a plateau to the west of Cairns. they are beautiful - rolling green farmlands with pockets of rainforest (it was all rainforest before farmers cleared it). The area is known for its waterfalls and we stopped at 5 of them, swimming under one of them! We had planned to post a photo of us under the fall but can't figure out photos on this computer.
Tomorrow we fly to Sydney. We will be sad to leave this area, which has so much beauty, so much interesting wildlife and SO many species of birds! I love the casual atmosphere of the area, too. It has been a wonderful week here with too many highlights to choose just one. My one disappointment is that we did not spot a cassowary, not surprising as they are rare but still disappointing.
Time for dinner. Love to all, Les and Shon

greetings from Mareeba

Hello, all, but special birthday greetings to Chris for today (Oz time) and to Jenn for a few days ago. We hope you both have/had special days. We are having a whole heap of special days here - swimming with the tropical fish on the Great Barrier Reef, birdwatching in the rainforest and in the Outback, trying new beer (Shon only! yes, Walt, Coopers is good). We saw a large croc during a Daintree River cruise. We have also seen our first kangaroos - mainly dead on the side of the road but also a few live ones.

Our flights were all on time and our luggage arrived with us - a good start! Our accommodations so far have not been deluxe but have been adequate. We sure enjoyed our dips in the pool at our Port Douglas hostel - humidity is high in the tropics! On the day we drove north to the rainforest (Cape Tribulation), we discovered why it is called a rainforest - we got drenched on a mangrove boardwalk trail!!!!!

This morning, we had a guided tour of some spectacular limestone caves in Chillagoe. Photos to follow.

I am trying out the idea of adding a photo to a posting. This is Neko in late July, wearing a toy of Kynnan's - isn't she a beauty?! The answer is, of course, yes!

G'day, everyone

In less than two weeks, we will be flying 'down under'. We intend to post regular updates of our travels - possibley with photos. We are starting in the northeast area near Cairns then will fly to Sydney before renting a car to explore between Sydney and Adelaide. At the beginning of November, we will happily fly to the Cook Islands for a week of relaxation before heading home.
Les and Shon