The Next Level: Granite Gorge, Kuranda and Cairns

13/7/2015

Granite Gorge to Kuranda

Early morning, delicious breakfast in the sun – it cooled down to about 10 degrees and was way too cold in the shade. Went for another photo-shoot in the morning and found some turtles in the gorge. They are easily scared and as soon as they see or sense you, even when you're 20 meters away, they jump off the rocks and hide in the water. Two different species, a very small one and considerably larger ones.

Rock Wallaby on the 'couch'

What does that piece of wood remind you of?

On the way to Kuranda I stopped at Coffee Works again to have a late morning coffee. They have “Coffee Vienna” on the menu, which I tried out. The double shot espresso with the darkly roasted Australian coffee and the freshly whipped cream went down nicely.

Breakfast in the sun

Coffee 'Vienna'

The main event for the day was visiting the Australian Butterfly Sanctuary in Kuranda. Finally a chance to use the 100mm macro lens for its main purpose. Spent a long time in the aviary and watched and photographed the thousands of butterflies. Met an Australian semi-professional photographer there and bumped into her quite a few times. She is currently house sitting close by and has a multi day pass for the Sanctuary. Coming in every day to fill up a whole memory card and trying different lenses and settings. She said she submits photos to contests regularly and has won some. Judging from what I could see, she definitely knows what she is doing!

The butterflies in the aviary are very used to the visitors and frequently land on peoples hands, heads or garments. Quite funny at times. The only species I couldn't get a satisfactory shot from is the beautiful, blue Ulysses. Amazingly beautiful to look at but constantly sitting with the wings closed (and then they are just grey!) and with very irregular flying patterns – at least for a first time butterfly photographer like me.

The hard part is always sorting through the hundreds of photos and selecting just a few to publish and keep! But I was quite pleased with a lot of the shots, definitely pays to have quality equipment.

Ulysses closed, but you can see the amazing blue a bit


Cheating!

That one landed while I was taking a picture!

I went to the famous Kuranda heritage market and found most of the stalls closed, but with a generally arty and crafty atmosphere. Afterwards I moved on to the famous Barron Falls – only to find out that they only trickle in the dry season like now, but are a gushing torrent in the wet season. Oh well, still a nice look out.

Created by water!

Praying mantis

Timing!!!

Kuranda is quite a hippie place and I stayed in the Rainforest Campground. Met some interesting characters there and by pure chance, bumped into the lovely New Zealand couple, that I met at Flying Fish Point a week ago. Shared the dinner table with them and had a long chat about many more things.

Distance traveled: 59km

14/7/2015

Kuranda to Cairns

It cooled down a lot over night, only 8 degrees in the morning which is way too cold for this place here. Most people complained in the camp kitchen over breakfast. First morning where I had to put on a jumper in a long while. Met Richard and his wife again for breakfasts and we exchanged email addresses – definitely need to meet them should I make it to New Zealand in the future. They are both around 75 years already but enjoy their camping trip (tent & car only) in Australia. Great to do it while you can!

Reminded me of a saying I read on a camper van parked alongside the road some days ago. It said “Adventure before dementia”. I found that both hilarious and seriously a good idea.

Today I read another one:

Leaving the Atherton Tablelands behind, the road wound down to the coast. Beautiful lookout spot for a photo was promptly taken:

Getting back into Cairns is a slight shock of civilization. Strolling along the esplanade, visiting the lagoon (awesome!), walking along the marina with the nicely designed BBQ stations, I ended up at Black Bird Espresso again. And loved it!

I found out that Rusty's market is unfortunately closed today, only open Friday to Sunday (where I bought all the organic goodies) and that the accommodation options for campers are quite limited and rather expensive in Cairns as they declared winter as their high season.

Checked into the park nearest to the center of town where my dive course will take place the next two days, so it is in walking distance (but just!). Very compact setup, but big open kitchen, lovely pool and almost booked out.