Port Douglas and Daintree NP

The week after Grampians we flew up to Cairns in North Queensland to visit Daintree National Park and the famous Great Barrier Reef.  We made our way up the coast Friday night to Port Douglas, a small, seaside resort town full of beach bums and tourists.  The first actual day we had in Port Douglas was spent up at Mossman Gorge, which is part of the Daintree National Park.  It was a neat environment to experience.  A tropical rain forest.  I haven't been to anything like it so a new experience is always welcome!  We then went back to Port Douglas for a quiet night before going to the reef on Sunday.

We headed out early Sunday morning from Port Douglas in search of Nemo in the Great Barrier Reef.  About a 90 minute jog out to Opal Reef, which was the reef picked out for the day.  Luckily it was a quiet day on board, only eight paying customers on a boat that holds up to 100!  I did two snorkels and one dive to 12 meters.  It was another experience that was new and I loved it.  It was as if I was in an aquarium, but was actually in the open water.  Very neat.

Monday was spent up in Cape Tribulation in the northern section of Daintree National Park.  More hiking through rain forest and along tropical coasts.  The waters in the national park are notorious for crocs, so no swimming was had up there, unfortunately.  Instead of swimming with crocs I had a crocodile burger for lunch.  After some more walking we ended with homemade ice cream on a tropical fruit farm.  Two thumbs up!

Tuesday was our return to Cairns and flight back to chilly Melbourne.  It is winter here in Melbourne so a few days in the tropical north was nice.  North Queensland was very good.  Look for photos coming in about a week from Sydney!

Big spider! Size of my hand!

Croc Burger

Hairy Red Pittosporum

Only way across the river 

Grampians NP

Found some Kropfs down under! Mom and Dad came to visit for a couple of weeks and get a taste of Australia.

Grampians National Park is the next location on the journey around Australia.  This is a national park in the western part of Victoria.  It is about four hours west of Melbourne.  Known for its waterfall (McKenzie Falls), hikes, and scenery, the park was ours for a couple of days.  McKenzie Falls was impressive and the water was quite chilly!  Next were a couple of walks to lookouts and hiking to Pinnacle Point.  The hike to Pinnacle was probably one of the more interesting ones I have done.  Being used to the eastern US hiking trails, this was nothing like what I hike at home.  A more open, rocky hike is what we encountered, with poor weather and unique terrain all afternoon.  The view at the top was well worth it, and we found some sun on the way down.  On our last day we visited the Aboriginal Cultural Center and a rock art site with authentic Aboriginal drawings!  After the rock art it was back to Melbourne for a couple days before Queensland on the weekend.

McKenzie Falls

Some Hall's Gap locals 

Aboriginal rock art

Bendigo!

Just a short train ride from Melbourne is Bendigo, an old mining town in the Goldfields region of Victoria.  The area today is known for its wine and countryside, but this quiet town used to be the center of the gold-mining world.  The underbelly of this town was once laden with gold, equipment, and miners, but all that is left today is just a large system of tunnels and shafts.  The town has classic architecture brought over with the Europeans upon settlement.

The Central Deborah Gold Mine was one of the largest mines in Bendigo.  It has since stopped mining operations but still has much of its original touch.  We went down about 60 meters to see life as it would have been for a miner in Bendigo.  Miners lived a tough life and worked in some of the most dangerous conditions at that time.  Drill and equipment demonstrations were included!  Wish I could have tried it out!  After visiting the mine I have learned it is good to be studying, or I may have ended up mining for gold!

See you at the Footy

Went to an afternoon game of Aussie Rules Football, or "Footy" as it is commonly called.  Definitely a new sport to me, but definitely interesting and fun if you know it well.  It had the intensity of football and the passion comparable to soccer in Europe.  

Little kids at halftime

Tastes like chicken

Chicken flavored chips.  They are a popular pick by the Aussies here!