Inspirational World

A personal muse on the beauty of the world, beauty in all its forms. The beauty of nature in all its magic, the beauty of humans in all we all are able to achieve through culture, society, technology, love, and peace. Inspirational in nature - a glimpse into the uplifting and beautiful world that we ALL live in.

Saturday, August 04, 2007

Cairns Adventures

Tales and images from a wet two weeks journey in Cairns

Queensland: Beautiful one day, perfect the next*.
* AND RAINING THE OTHER 363 DAYS EACH YEAR. - So should read the disclaimer. Judging by our experience, two sunny days in a row in Cairns would be a freak occurrence worthy of a news report. Lured by the promise of an escape from Melbourne's winter theat would have us lying on a beach for two weeks of idle recharging, Julia and I quickly discovered why a rainforest is so appropriately named. For unfortunately, nobody had notified the gods that the wet season officially ends in May. Sunscreen graced our pale screen for a total of 6 hours over the course of the vacation; every layer of thin clothing was employed just to keep us warm and dry in the 19-22 degree daytime temperatures. Of course, this was the same weather front that flooded Newcastle and froze Melbourne, so we didn't fare too badly.

For the first few days we were buoyant, regardless of the weather, and hopeful for an improvement in conditions. The cliff-top hang- gliding instructor believed that the windswept, onshore conditions were perfect (perfect for business, not for our holiday), and likely to remain so for a couple of days. He kindly directed us to a freecamp on "Pretty Beach", apparently the beach where the XXXX commercial was filmed. Ahead of us lay a hilly coastline seemingly beset by interminable rain, clouds frozen in position above green mountains, a mystical land called the Daintree.

It seemed like another planet up there; seemed inconceivable that we were in Australia, and I expressed my surprise that the locals spoke such good (albeit broad and slow) english, and that the cars drove on the left. Unimaginable lifeforms sprung from the fertile earth, raising heavenward buoyed on the air alone, mystical beings danced amongst the trees or lay frozen beyond sight. We awoke each morning half expecting that the forest would have reclaimed our van the previous night, such was the competition amongst the crowded flora for available land space. A world of abundance that supported crazy creatures like a colourful
Emu (Cassowary), hopping mouse (Musky-rat Kangaroo), and a glowing
beetle that lined the sides of the road, as if placed there by a over-
diligent roadworker who'd seen one too many David Attenborough
documentaries.

Whilst Julia hid away from the crocodiles, mosquitos, cassowarys,
wild pigs, and leeches that all seemed intent on eating her, I got
friendly with wildlife.


One of my most serene encounters was with a dragonfly I found
drowning. I walked past this beauty floating in the water, took a
photo, but sadly assumed that he had already drowned. Not far down
the path I took a shot of a butterfly in flight, and was then turned
around by some wild pigs. On my return to this water, the dragonfly
made a single struggling motion - he was alive! I carefully picked
him up on my finger, and waited while he preened the water from his
face, flapped the water from his wings, warmed up his body by
vigorously flapping, smiled at me, and then took off up to the sky. A
heartwarming adventure.

Here he is in the water.
Here he is rescued: Here he is flapping his wings free of the water.

And here he is dry, about to fly away to live another day.


We emerged from our rain drenched week in the Daintree happily having
visited a permaculture exotic fruit farm, an insect museum, a yoga/
meditation retreat, and plenty of waterfalls, swimming holes and
rainy beach walks. We headed inland, towards the sun and away from
the crocodiles that threatened Julia's peace. Both of us were happy
to get out of the campervan, which was forcing us to chant 'Om' at
the top of our lungs any time the refrigerator kicked in, or the sink
pump screamed, just so that our sanity wasn't blasted from our minds.
Free from the threat of crocodiles, Julia had the courage to venture
outdoors, only to be chased inside by 'Lady', a Major Mitchell (Pink)
Cockatoo that grew quite amorous with me, and chased Julia back into
the van by attacking her toenails (the hostage is seen here praying
for her release).



Inland, we visited a granite gorge - where the strangler figs even
attempt to kill granite boulders, a volcanic lake that was crawling
with life and hungry bottom-breathing turtles, and the paradisiacal
home of a friend, perched on the bank of a crystal clear river, two
doors down from national park. The rain managed to find us, obscuring
waterfalls in mist so that it looked (and felt) like a waterfall was
streaming directly from heavens. For all the rain - the daintree
receiving 3.8m a year, Cairns 2m versus Melbourne's 500mm - this
experience of an ancient rainforest and jewel of Australia was
thoroughly enjoyed by Julia , myself
, and our travelling companions



In other news, Julia has moved in with me, and I've taken a new job
as a renewable energy consultant/manager, working from home (and
hopefully frequently from Lorne), for 4 days/week, with 50% pay rise.
The company's name is Climate Managers - for my first job I'll see
what I can do about managing Melbourne's climate (Cairns' is beyond
control).

Peace,
Warwick Johnston

More at http://flickr.com/photos/beautifulworld/sets/72157600540965045/