Cairns Museum

Friday, 4 August 2017

Freshwater Creek

Looking for turtles - or just resting?

Ferns - and rock

Crystal Cascades

Pandanus fruit

Ulysses butterfly (cheat's photo!)

Museum displays

Cane knives

Relaxing on the verandah

What a big mouth ...

Last Tuesday we waved goodbye to the rellies as they set forth for the Atherton Tableland and we spent a relaxing day in preparation for bowls that evening.  Unfortunately, Himself was not able to produce the same winning form as the previous Tuesday and managed to win the booby prize!  With the temperature plummeting to 17 degrees and a heavy dew falling, it was a rather cool evening on the green.

The caravan park management once again provided a sausage sizzle (with the trimmings) and Wednesday evening and again, the temperature dropped rapidly and the due descended.

With the temperatures very warm all week (27-29 degrees daily) and Thursday even hotter, we decided on a walk to Crystal Cascades, as the track is quite shaded by the rainforest.  Just after commencing the walk, we spotted a small bird quite low in the trees, and with his binoculars poised, Himself quickly set off into the jungle.  He hadn’t ventured very far before remembering it is always a good idea to watch the ground as well, came to a halt and slowly returned to the path.  There were a few tourists and plenty of backpackers (mainly wearing bikinis!) at the falls and we were also lucky enough to see a few Ulysses butterflies.  Unfortunately, these beautiful butterflies are very fast flyers and virtually impossible to photograph.

After returning to the caravan and with the temperature starting to cool later in the afternoon, we took some stale bread to the bridge over Freshwater Creek to help fatten the jungle perch.  While we were enjoying the fish and the sound of the running water, I noticed a splash at the edge of the creek and a bush moving; a snake then proceeded to swim very quickly across the river (towards the caravan park!!!) and disappeared into the undergrowth.  We walked very warily back to the roadway.

Today was very hot and muggy, 30 degrees and cloudy.  We visited the new Cairns Museum, which only opened a couple of weeks ago.  It was certainly well worth the visit, with the history of the region and Cairns, especially, well documented, with plenty of interesting items on display.  The old Cairns School of Arts (another name for Mechanics Institute), which open in the 1800’s, has been upgraded inside but the old verandah still exists with beautiful cane furniture.  We also unexpectedly met a couple from our bowls club who arrived yesterday for a holiday – a nice surprise.  Lunch was an indulgent waffle at our favourite ice cream parlour before Himself added to his linen shirt collection.