Australia, part 1

I met my parents at the Sydney airport, and we flew to Cairns and met my sister. We spent a day in and around Cairns, a coastal city in northeast Australia, and close to the Great Barrier Reef.


We spent most of the first day in the world's oldest continuous rain forest. A gondola took us up over the trees.



I liked this tree:


Barron Falls:


We got off and walked a little closer to the falls:


... and a little closer to some big spiders!


With the legs, they were about 3-4 inches in diameter.

Luckily, we had nice weather on the way up, because after lunch, it started to rain.


This picture was taken at about the same spot as the first Sky Ride picture above.

That afternoon, we got on our small cruise ship, the Coral Princess II.


Our first stop the following morning was at Cooktown, a small coastal town north of Cairns. The town got its name from James Cook, whose ship, the Endeavour, ran into the Great Barrier Reef, needed repairs, and made it to a small settlement at the mouth of a river. A tour van took us to the top of a nearby mountain, where I took this picture of what is now called the Endeavour River.


After lunch, we set sail for Two Isles, where we snorkeled. That night, we anchored off Lizard Island.

More to come later. The internet has been hard to come by!