Cairns was great!  A smallish, tropical, touristy town.  Very green and lots of flowers. Lots of young folk, and not so young folk who think they are young.  It was quite hot while we were there - well at least for us.  The highs were 29C, but it 'feels like 33C', and very muggy!  The lows were low 20's, and this was at night.  The locals said this was cold!  And they would wear jackets like we might wear in late fall or early spring!!!!! We just made sure we kept drinking water.
The highlight for both of us was snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef!  I had never snorkeled before, Jer had, once, long time ago.  It was amazing.  We took a tour boat out to Green Island - a very touristy island on the Reef - about a 45 minute boat ride.  It was worth it, for the snorkel.  We just waded out waist deep, and we saw all kinds and sizes and colours of fish.   Part of this same tour was a semi submerged boat, where we got to see the reef from under the water, but in the dryness of a boat.  Amazing, to see the variety of fish, sea turtles, and even a huge sting ray swimming under the boat.  The fishy picture is taken from in the boat.

The second day, we took the train to Kuranda, a touristy town up in the Rainforest - apparently the oldest continually surviving rainforest on earth.  The trees are massive, the leaves are massive, it smells wonderful, and looks even more wonderful.  For lunch we enjoyed an Aussie icon - the meat pie!!  Very tasty, and available in bakerys everywhere.  Not good for the arteries though.  Both of us are feeling the need to start our exercising again when we get home.  To get back to Cairns, we took the Skyrail - about a 40 minute ride down to the coast.  Spectacular.


Yesterday, we decided to spend the day in town, getting to know Cairns a little bit.  It was HOT!!!  We haven't felt that kind of warmth in a long time.  We walked along the promenade for awhile, along the mud flats.  There isn't really a beach, just the tidal flats.  The tide was out, but there was lots to see in the mud.  Did I mention it was HOT??!  Jerry is VERY tempted to join the kids in the water park, as you can see from the photo!

We arrived back in Brisbane at 10PM last night, where our son and (almost) daughter-in-law picked us up.  Today is laundry, shopping, etc.  Now we are off to Straddie  (as the Aussies call it), or Stradbrooke Island with Andrew & Bella for the wkd.