Where the Forest Meets the Sea

Exit to the Great Barrier Reef

You know you are in an Aussie tourist town when you hear neighbors singing Waltzing Matilda through the paper-thin hotel walls. Cairns is on the scale of Disney World or Cancun for tourism.  In Adelaide I have met a total of two Americans other than my exchange friends, but Queensland is the spot for young travelers from over the world. Mexican restaurants collect US youngsters hosting tables. The feral children with dreadlocks in the forests (not all Americans) are a dime a dozen running shoeless alongside the Yalanji or theKuKu Thaypan people. The place is an experience; it perhaps gave me the same feeling as Vegas. A town that caters unlimited trips to the reefs, in just about any weather, must have tourist shops galore. At least no one was beside every storefront shouting, "Viagra, Viagra, buy here," like in El Bufador or other parts of Mexico.

I keep hearing that I am visiting the most dangerous place on earth,
but I really haven't noticed. 

Aboriginal Artworks from the Area

  In the staff room during morning tea (such a civil idea) I mentioned that I really didn't want to travel alone during the next holidays. Next thing I knew the best travel companions, Del, Mary and Kate, had a trip booked and an itinerary set. Kate and Mary had never been to the tropics. Kate was set on jungle surfing and Mary just wanted to spot the Ulysses butterfly or a cassowary. Del had been up north several times and she organized all the right spots to take in. Del dreams of moving to the N.E. coast and I caught her looking in the realtors' windows more than once. Of course my main reason to go was for snorkeling.

 Kate, Mary, Del, thousands of other tourists and I craned our necks from the Daintree tour bus and along boardwalks in the forest searching high and low for the reclusive cassowary. Heather saw one crossing the road earlier in the week so we knew they were not just part of Dreamtime. Their favorite food, the fallen purple fruit litters the forest-floor. Food is aplenty...sightings are not.

Nor were the tree frogs obvious except for some frog-like croaks in the forests and the real frogs hidden behind Chinese trinkets of a gift shop.

I do have that crazed Pam look.

We saw plenty of cane toads though, which are truly unwanted; they are the worst of invasive species. Cane toads were brought here to control the cane beetles, which were detrimental to the sugar cane. When the toads were released in the 30's they rapidly multiplied and there are now more than 200,000,000. They had no impact on the beetles and spread diseases affecting local biodiversity. But, alas, a few people are making a living off the cane toads. There were 2 sold-out seatings each night at the local pub holding cane toad races. My true friends made sure that I had a chance to kiss a toad and to be the official race scorekeeper. I was told by the toad race organizer that he usually gives prizes to his assistants, but, well, I can be pretty cheeky around a bunch of toads. He also informed me to stick to my job of scoring, that I was to be a silent helper. I'm sure that he was frightened that I would steal the show.

Epiphytes or bromeliads, the Aussie/ American debate

Manjal Dimbi

We toured Mossman Gorge, a sacred spot to the Kuku Yalanj indigenous peoples and the oldest rain forest on Earth. It contains 30,000 living species, but they certainly can remain hidden except for occasional strange sounds. Manjal Dimbi, the mountain behind the gorge means "mountain holding back". In dreamtime Manjal Dimbi, a humanoid rock, came to aid the other hills and bluffs by holding back evil spirits. The indigenous people in the north are greatly informative about the forests and are integrated into the community more than in the other cities that I have visited.

How old are you?

 In Kuranda, a mountain village, there was a large family that I watched as the kids climbed higher and higher in the tree. The grandma and baby sat by a shop window while the kids climbed. Around here when there is a photo op, etiquette is to ask first. The grandma gave a nonchalant affirmation and after I learned the kids names and took pictures of them, they followed Kate and me up the road. They wanted to know our names too and perhaps become our little shadows for the remainder of our time in the town. After asking about school, the oldest got sheepish as it was a school day and they left a bit after.

Jellyfish or Marine Stingers are thick from November to May, and bottles of vinegar to treat a sting
are in special cubes on the shore. But a sting of a box jelly will kill you in 2-3 minutes. Crocodiles are ever present where they can lounge in mangroves, the deltas, and on riverbanks. In Cairns no one is to go on the beach for crocs lurk. The spiders are monsters with spears and the green snakes beautiful, but close to invisible. Even the plants have hooks, severe looking spines and poisons. When on the reef, divers saw a shark. They returned rather breathless. We saw where Steve Irwin's stingray attack occurred and some people in the area know first-hand that pelicans can even count as dangerous. They have been known to chase after people reeling in a fish. Then there is the danger of bogans or touting. There is a matter of mold, fungi, and night clubs. Personally, I still find the meat pies a danger. Of course you remember the cyclones that totaled towns a few years back. The cyclones were in the region where we stayed.

Dangerous?

Dragon Fruit Liquor. . . Dangerous?  Oh, yes!

Dangerous ?

Dangerous?

Dangerous? The strangler tree

Dangerous?

Dangerous?

jungle surfing

None of the above caused any dread in me, or any concern. Of course, I didn't get close enough to most described. The only real yuck (yuck is a favorite word with the New Arrival students) encountered was the cyclone-like sea while in the boat to the reef.  No more really needs to be said. For all of you that (probably everyone) have had an unpleasant (car, sea, cessna, plane, roller coaster, elevator. . . ) bag grasping adventure with me, you have missed out on the all time most miserable. I whinged to the skipper when I could lift my head saying, "If you can get me back to shore, I will give you allll my retirement of 30 years." Lucky for you, Allison and Claire, he didn't agree. 

Flora

fauna

Glossary:Whinge: complain 

Bogan: Rednick

touting: aggressively trying to sell 

Ulysses butterfly: Morpho as known in Latin America

I have read the book Where The Forest meets the Sea for years to students, never really considering its setting. Well it is set around Port Douglas where we were based. What fun. And true to its word the forest comes directly down to the sea. Hence, the title of this blog.

Where to next? Anyone want to join me?