cairns wrap-up

Rob and I had a difficult time leaving the Shangri-La. So difficult, in fact, that we decided to extend our stay in Cairns for a couple of days. Although Cairns doesn't offer much in terms of nightlife--at least for the older crowd to which we apparently belong--there were plenty of cafes, restaurants, and ice cream shops to keep us occupied ... or at least full. One of my most memorable meals was dinner at Perrotta's, an Italian/Australian outdoor spot where I had a superbly delicious mixed greens salad topped with pumpkin, pomegranate seeds, and popcorn.


Although Rob and I spent a good amount of time hanging out in the lobby of our hotel basking in the free wireless, we managed to fit some sightseeing into our schedules and rode the SkyRail Rainforest Cableway, a 7.5 km long cableway which crosses over and through the North Queensland rainforest.


According to SkyRail's website, this rainforest is the oldest continually surviving rainforest on earth. Rather than just waste time merely observing the scenery, we held a photo shoot inside the cable car.


The SkyRail, which from end-to-end takes about 70 minutes, makes two stops inside the rainforest, the first at Red Peak Station and the second at Barron Falls.


At Barron Falls, we met this adorably cute spider! (By the way, this shot was taken from at least 10 feet below the spider's web on a modest zoom setting.) I'm sure that he's deadly.

Well, maybe the spider wasn’t as deadly as it looked, but this bird, the cassowary, is apparently quite vicious and has been known to attack—and even kill—humans. Of course, Rob and I spent a good 5-10 minutes getting up close and personal with him not knowing that we were one flash bulb away from having him jump one of us and rip open our chest with his razor-sharp talons.

Next stop Brisbane, where we plan to take a break from nature and get back in touch with our city roots.