Australia, gawd bless her, has a love of 'Big Things'; i.e. large cheesy (yes, there is a Big Cheese) sculptures. This blog is not alone in wanting, very badly, to take photos of as many of them as possible.
This post links to other posts that have Big Things in them. Enjoy:
Sunday, November 18, 2007
Holiday 2007 - North Queensland Menu
Sooo, we spent a couple of weeks on holiday in North Queensland flying in to Proserpine near Airlie Beach, then picking up a hire car for the trip north to Cairns. This, in rough order, is the list of places we stopped at.
Friday, November 16, 2007
Port Douglas
And finally...
We ended up in Port Douglas before dumping the car at Cairns airport and flying home.
Port Douglass is a lovely little town with a strange mixture of the mad and the stinking rich.
Very clean it is, too.
Lots of flowers and trees.
Water, too.
And that was the end of our holiday. Just like the beginning, it started with some smoking tomfoolery...
A lovely pub had tables outside in a designated smoking are. All good so far. However, each table could, by the general stupidity of the local authority, have only 4 chairs around it. How this helps, detracts from, or in any way impacts the local interpretation of the state smoking laws (oh, you thought that state smoking laws applied evenly throughout state) is anybody's guess. However, them's the rules and the bouncer, instead of bouncing, spent most of the evening being 'The Chair Police'.
Queensland, at least the bits we went to, is truly lovely. However, if you smoke, they make your life a misery, not only by banning it from damn silly places - i.e. within 4 metres (science, people) of a doorway, in an area where food was once served but is no longer, at a table with at most 4 chairs around it, other strange and random places. Better you gave the whole thing up and go somewhere stress-free.
I'm sure there are those in Queensland who would happily give up a lot of tourist revenue for the opportunity to stick it to the smokers. Smokers should probably accommodate them.
We ended up in Port Douglas before dumping the car at Cairns airport and flying home.
Port Douglass is a lovely little town with a strange mixture of the mad and the stinking rich.
And that was the end of our holiday. Just like the beginning, it started with some smoking tomfoolery...
A lovely pub had tables outside in a designated smoking are. All good so far. However, each table could, by the general stupidity of the local authority, have only 4 chairs around it. How this helps, detracts from, or in any way impacts the local interpretation of the state smoking laws (oh, you thought that state smoking laws applied evenly throughout state) is anybody's guess. However, them's the rules and the bouncer, instead of bouncing, spent most of the evening being 'The Chair Police'.
Queensland, at least the bits we went to, is truly lovely. However, if you smoke, they make your life a misery, not only by banning it from damn silly places - i.e. within 4 metres (science, people) of a doorway, in an area where food was once served but is no longer, at a table with at most 4 chairs around it, other strange and random places. Better you gave the whole thing up and go somewhere stress-free.
I'm sure there are those in Queensland who would happily give up a lot of tourist revenue for the opportunity to stick it to the smokers. Smokers should probably accommodate them.
Daintree Rainforest
They've got rainforest in spades around here so we went to one of those canopy walk thingies.
This is up a bit. Green, eh.
No, Kim doesn't know - because she's looking at the camera..
Little people down there.
This is out the top.
Things you can eat in the rainforest. Looks like daschund's on the menu.
The sun poking though some leaves.
Pretty much all the animals up here want to kill you. Not wishing to be outdone, the plants have got in on the act. Meet the Stinging Tree.
The tower to the top.
Kim Noni Roach.
I married a Cheese Fruit.
A tree-eating tree.
This was a gorge a bit down the road.
All rushing water and rocks to dash your brains out.
Port Douglas to the Top End
The point being to get the front wheel of the car on start of the unsealed road.
Yeah, they need stinger nets round here.
But the beaches are very nice.
Ooo, mangos - straight ones this time.
The road from Cairns up is stunning.
There's a river to cross on the cable ferry.
Someone decided that making a boat that looks like a train, putting tourists in in and then launching into a croc-infested river was a really good idea.
There's a bit of mountain to go over.
Me. On a mountain.
Woot, the real deal - a cassowary.
This guy decided to have a bit of a wander around on the road.
Not very clear, I know, but the front wheels are on dirt, the back on seal road. That's it. This piece of crap ain't going no further.
Back down to Cape Tribulation and I ran into this little fellow.
The usual warnings that just about everything round here can, and will, kill you.
More nice beaches.
And mangroves.
A weird mangrove fruit-thing that may be edible but will more likely kill you.
Tea - and there was me thinking it came from bags.
Cairns Diving
Okey cokey, this is what we are really here for. Diving the Great Barrier Reef. We got a boat trip that was cheap as chips for this and it was just great.
Towing the safety boat.
Ah, the tee-shirts.
The blue fluffy things are sometimes known as 'xmas trees'. They are little animals and, if you get too close the pop down a hole.
Giant Clam - a big one.
Nice bommie with some fish.
Bit more of the coral garden.
Bat Fish - nice size too.
Yellow soft coral.
And red soft coral.
Another nice Giant Clam.
Sea Slug - ugly little spuds but not bad fried up in some oil and soy sauce.
More reef and fish.
Another fish - dunno what sort though.
A weird-looking soft coral.
That's more of a reef scenery shot.
And that's the bottom of the boat on the way up.
Cairns Town
Cairns is great. There's good nightlife - we were a bit out of the centre but there was a good pub just around the corner - and it's the gateway to the really good bits of the reef.
Oh, and it's got a Big Thing.
Big Captain Cook - right after he invaded Poland.
That great little pub around the corner - the Cock and Bull.
The marina where the reef boats go from.
There is a really nice lagoon in the town - well, there has to be. The sea is full of stingers and crocs. Really.
There's a helicopter coming in.
Oh, and it's got a Big Thing.
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