Serendipity

 Sunday Oct. 26

We used the local bus to get around today.  We were staring at the bus sign trying to figure out routes and a helpful person approached us and said there was an express bus to Palm Cove in 10 minutes.  She was going there and we just had to buy our tickets on the bus.  With that mystery solved we decided to take the bus so we hopped on.  The people behind us were tourists studying their maps and they told us they were going to the zoo.  When the bus stopped there we also got off and had a marvelous day at the zoo.  Amazing to think that all those exotic animals and birds actually live in this country.  What a memorable day – up close and personal with koalas, cassowaries (the huge flightless bird with beautiful head coloring.) Imagine being warned to avoid them in the wild and it is something we could experience on our rainforest trip.  The birds were so beautiful, especially the plentiful lorikeets with their green backs, yellow necks and purple face.  Alligators are protected here, so most of the gators in the park were captured when they had done something like eat someone’s dog!  And we think coyotes in our parks are bad!

Between the warnings to take care because of sharks and jellyfish, freshwater alligators, cassowaries and snakes – land, sea and air are covered. I guess it’s not safe to do anything!

We carried on to beautiful Palms Cove, a suburb of Cairns.  This is what you imagine a beautiful beach town should look like.  It is the number one spa town in Australia.  It has a beautiful strip of beach, gorgeous palm tree lined streets and wonderful tropical architecture. Mountains provide a backdrop to the scenery.  It’s just beautiful!

On the way back to Cairns we decided to get off the bus at Tjapukai for a sumptuous buffet dinner and show in the Aboriginal Cultural Centre.  They painted our faces and we took part in a fire lighting ceremony with aboriginal actors.  I don’t know the constellations for the night sky here.  But I think I saw Sagittarius.  I’ll have to ask someone what to look for in the sky at night.

The weather has been great, but I’ve got blisters on my toes.  I’ll have to rest up for another day of spending.