Continuing with day ONE!

After the train ride and the visit to the shopping village of Kuranda, we were whisked off on a bus to our Rainforest Experience and Aboriginal Dream time (with lunch in between).

It was quite a warm day and getting a ride in an amphibious vehicle through the rainforest was very pleasant.
We were regaled with horror stories of all the plants, animals and insects to avoid if we didn't want a painful... well whatever. I saw Hercules butterflies, giant sized and irridescent dark blue. Honey eaters, a bird that eats bees and honey and is the most lovely combo of bright colours. Crocs, again and lots of "come along" palm
vines. They have thorns to be proud of and if you get tangled up in them, they make you "come along"




It's all very beautiful from the water, but I'm sure it's impossible to walk in. This particular piece of park was just outside of Kuranda and about 40 miles from Cairns.








After a great buffet barbecue lunch, we were treated to the
aboriginal dream time. This was a lot of songs, some descriptions of life in the OLDEN days and then some great theatre where they did a wonderful imitation of a day in the life of kangaroos.
There was lots of singing, dancing and playing of the digeridoo and members of the audience being asked to try to dance in the aboriginal style.








The performers were all really good. They were men who were about my height, not much more if at all. Most of the aborigines I got to meet were that kind of height.












This is the recreation of the life of a kangaroo, including a battle of males, one of who gets killed.


















This was the MC. He had a wonderful sense of humor and was great with the public. He demonstrated a lot of different skills (boomerang and spear tossing) that were very hard to do.
































Three of the dancers after the show.
Digeridoo player in the foreground.

The place that this all happened at was also a wildlife preserve and we got to visit a lot of different animals after the show.

















There were some wonderful pieces of art around the compound. I really love the art and design of the Australians. I found a lot to buy while I was there.




















This is the demonstration of playing the digeridoo.

A surprising number of people bought some and I kept wondering how they were going to get around for the rest of their trip with these things. They're not so small.










Some lovely relaxing kangaroos. There are a couple of varieties here. At least a couple.

















They were all loose with the people and we were able to wander around amongst them. They were very tame and not shy, even the tiny ones. They like bread.


















This dingo looks very alert. He was actually watching one of the tiny kangaroos that was walking around behind me. Can't you just see his hungry look?













The forever asleep koala. They rarely even opened their eyes. Sort of a boring kind of bear like thing.


























This is a wombat. Who Knew?














Crocodiles are just amazing. So big. They were lazing about after the brightness of the sun. I think they get showered too.










Remember the Sky train station photo? Well, this is on the gondola of the sky train. Nina and I had one to ourselves and enjoyed the view tremendously. We were very high over the rainforest and could even see Sulphur Cockatiels flying waaayyyy below.






We got to get off the Gondola about halfway down, to change lifts and there was a tour of the high forest trees.




I get to see another Kauri tree. This is a really big one. I am stunned by the sheer size of these trees. They look like a bad kids drawing with a big trunk with sticks coming out and clumps of leaves on the end.
















As we come floating back down the mountain to Cairns.











We were getting near the end of our first full day in Australia and it must be admitted that we were both getting pretty tired at this point. We got to the bottom and went through the gift shop. I bought a very nice bird identification book and then were were dropped off at the hotel. A beer was very much in order.