Australia Adventure Part IV: Queensland and Sidney

Palm Cove, just north of Cairns, is a popular resort town and as it was Easter weekend there were lots of vacationers at our Peppers Hotel.
I enjoyed a swim in the pool,walks on the beach, and the Easter bunny 

Even the very loud bull frogs in the swamp next door were celebrating

Easter morning we departed for Hartley's Crocodile Adventure

Baby croc had his mouth taped shut. Careful not to squeeze him!

                  Shari enjoyed holding a young albino python (?)

Kangaroos and wallabies waiting to be fed corn, but koala just wants to sleep and to be left alone!

Red-legged is largest, Eastern grey Kangaroo is the second largest macroped (large footed leaf eater)

Koalas sleep, eat and poop. Males are very territorial. Koalas and wombats are the closest relatives...both have hard bums!

Female cassowaries (world's most dangerous bird because of hidden sharp claw) are bigger than the males. Hello!!

      Flying foxes (like bats) are endangered

This lace monitor is in the belt stage...don't want a run-in with him!

We took a boat ride in the crocodile lagoon and watched one eating raw chicken.. Yum!

Australia has the three most poisonous snakes in the world

Inland Taipan (Oxyuranus microlepidotus): Found in Australia, this snake has the most toxic venom of any land snake, specially adapted to kill warm-blooded mammals.

Dubois' Sea Snake (Aipysurus duboisii): Located in tropical oceanic waters, this is one of the most venomous sea snakes and among the top venomous animals overall.

Eastern Brown Snake (Pseudonaja textilis): Native to Australia and New Guinea, it is responsible for the majority of snakebite deaths in Australia.

Yellow-bellied Sea Snake (Hydrophis platurus): A pelagic sea snake found in tropical waters worldwide, with highly toxic venom.

Coastal Taipan (Oxyuranus scutellatus): Found in Australia and New Guinea, it has a 100% fatal rate if untreated.

We rode the 7.5 km Skytrain over the Barron (River) Gorge National Forest.

We had lunch at the village at the top, then stopped on the way down at the very wide, extensive Barron Falls part way down

We rode a ferry from Cairns out to the Great Barrier Reef where we snorkeled and rode a glass bottom boat. It was so rough that many were miserably sick. I took this photo of a guy trying to walk and a girl trying to stand putting on her make-up. We had lunch on the platform.

 

It was very hard to get on/ off the Lycra suits to protect from stingrays

Saying goodbye to the brave crew who spent time passing out barf bags and helping us put on fins and snorkels.

April 7, on our way north to visit the Daintree Rainforest at Cooper Creek, we stopped for delicious Daintree ice cream and enjoyed flowers. 

The Daintree Rainforest Foundation (a charity) protects and rehabilitates the wet rainforest in the interest of primitive animals, rare and endemic flora and fauna and living links with the recent past incursions of flora and fauna from South-East Asia. We had excellent tours by husband and wife Neil and Angie who have lived and studied here for 30 years. The land belonged to his father. Their 4 children love it here also. The rainforest has encroached upon the old non-native fruit orchards.

 There are gorgeous umbrella and palm ferns but the Elkhorn              fern is the world's largest. Angie had to unstick me from a sharp fern

             Neil and Angie (in ivory wedding dress) were married 

               under this symbiotic fig tree in the dense forest.

Wild pigs, brought in by Capt. Cook, dig up the ground, destroying for animals, with camels and dingos to keep them somewhat in check 

    The roots of these trees are very shallow, as there are no nutrients                         beneath the topsoil. So many types of fungi

We had lunch at Daintree Tea House and learned about many tropical fruits from a very serious man Richard. He told us that unlike the outback people, the Kuku yelanti, aboriginal people here, were short and more able to climb the trees.

The trip back to Palm Cove led through fields, palm groves, along the beautiful East (Pacific) coast and cane fields, after crossing  by car ferry, the Daintree River with crocodiles. As much of Queensland, it  flooded (6 meters) by the recent devastating cyclone.

From 1840-1890, natives from Oceania (New Guinea, Tuvalu, the Solomon Islands, etc.) were brought as slaves to work the cane fields under 3 year contracts called "Blackbirding." Robert Town ran a big business around Townsville, which the government tried not very enthusiastically to regulate. A journalist from Melbourne revealed the situation, there was outrage, many returned home, some were compensated. In 1901 the practice was finally banned. The mills and  most of the cane fields have been left to rot. (not these) Cut cane used to be shipped, and along with mismanagement and spoilage (it will spoil 48 hours after picking (so was cut green) it was a hard business.

Even in 2012 there were 7,000 seasonal workers from Fiji and Tonga

in Mossman where it was milled. The mills and  most of the cane fields have been left to rot. (not these)

               Good night, goodbye to Palm Cove, leaving for Sydney, a 6                    hour flight the next day, April 8

 After arrival we had dinner in vibrant Spice Alley, Chinatown, in Chippendale, near our Rydges Hotel

During his first Pacific voyage in 1770,James Cook charted the eastern coast of Australia, making landfall at Botany Bay. In 1788, the First Fleet of Convicts, led by Arthur Phillip, founded Sydney as a British penal colony, the first European settlement in Australia. After WWII, Sydney experienced mass migration and by 2021 over 40 per cent of the population was born overseas. Foreign countries of birth with the greatest representation are mainland China, India, the United Kingdom, Vietnam and the Philippines. The population today is over 5,200,000. 

The following morning we set off to see some of the vibrant and beautiful city of Sydney, capital of New South Wales, with so many coves, harbors, parks, skyscrapers, trams, train line, and lively people.

At Sidney's beautiful Bondi Beach with surfers and swimmers on yet another beautiful day (we had perfect weather except for a day or so in Melbourne) we were sobered at the memorial to the December 14, 2025, Islamic State-inspired, antisemitic terrorist attack, targeting a Hanukkah celebration. Two gunmen, a father and son, killed 15 people—including a child—and injured over 40 others. A heroic Muslim is credited with wrestling down the gunmen. It is Australia's deadliest shooting and only massacre (defined as 4 victims) since 1996, after which assault guns were destroyed and banned.

Not far away at Vaucluse, Gap Park, another hero Don Ritchie whose kindness and compassion over 50 years is credited with saving the lives of hundreds of Australians, tempted to jump to their death from the cliffs across from his home. He would "want you to know there is always hope, and that there are people who want to help you through difficult times." There are now fences and cameras to help.

We passed the warship harbor, Royal yacht club, nice neighborhoods, exclusive schools, and 2 lighthouses guarding the treacherous Ditch between Sidney and New Zealand, and  had fish and at a famous old 1885 renovated cafe on Watson's Bay before sitting to share our favorite memories of our great trip with Michael and our new friends.

We took the ferry to Sydney's main Harbor, Circular Bay with Harbor Bridge, Opera House, dock for cruise ships, end of the tram line (trams built in 1950's and 60's replaced by buses, which trams have replaced.

We took an extensive tour of the iconic Opera House on Bennelong Point. B was intermediary between Aboriginal people and Brits).

Danish architect Jorn Utzon designed the 16 year project but was forced to leave in 1965 after new government leader Davis Hughes criticized it. Utzon never saw his multi-venu project completed in 1973but nevertheless won a Nobel Prize for architecture. Many famous artists such as Joan Sutherland, called "La Stupenda" by Luciano Pavarotti, have performed here. That evening after dinner in front with a gorgeous view of the bridge and skyline, we had dinner before attending Gustav Mahler's Sixth Symphony.

The next morning we took the train and then walked across the Harbor Bridge with more magnificent views

We could look out to Cockatoo Island which is the site of the old "second offense" convict prison 1839-69 and also shipyards

and then Michael gave us a tour of "the Rocks" which is an old industrial and poor run-down area near the port

This apartment building is the oldest preserved colonial district

The area is now filled with shops but the old bank, which looks like a church (in hopes of gaining the trust of wary investors) still stands.

That afternoon Virginia and some of us visited the old convict barracks where many were housed despite the pettiness of many of their crimes.

The museum depicts the loss of choice indigenous lands to the British

It was most impossible for the convicts to sleep in close uncomfortable hammocks. We saw tools and other implements used to train convicts, and also saw the first floor that housed women and orphans.

videos of interviews of indigenous later housed here were poignant

Sydney is filled with parks and ancient trees, lawns, and flowers

I really enjoyed the Australian (most studied in Paris) and European art in the NSW Gallery. Here are a few favorites:

Interesting that he is not an artist's model but for medical students' anatomy class.!

                           Australian Streeton of Mossman Bay

                      Australian John Russell's My Friend Polite

That evening we had a happy/sad farewell dinner at a great Grrek restaurant on the Circular Quay before leaving beautiful "Down Under" after 3 1/2 amazing weeks of fun and discovery. On the long flight from Sydney to Dallas, Texas, and very turbulent 2 hours from Dallas to Salt Lake City I enjoyed reading Bill Bryson's Down Under (a gift from Karen) to learn more about and laugh about some of the places I had or hadn't seen in amazing Australia. I will always treasure my memories of the only island continent so far away but with a fascinating history, friendly people, a bit more knowledgeable and with an even firmer conviction that people everywhere are much more  alike than different: wonderful!! I'm so grateful for this great journey!