Australian Natural Adventuresnature travel, wildlife tours, adventure travel and general travel to Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific
BOYD GATLIN & LESLIE BAUMAN and Amanda continues....
Day 11 – Saturday, June 26 - Melbourne Day 12 – Sunday, June 27 - Melbourne Day 13 - Monday, June 28 – Melbourne
/ Cairns Day 14 – Tuesday, June 29 – Cairns
/ Atherton Tablelands Day 15 – Wednesday, June 30 –
Atherton Tablelands Day 16 – Thursday, July 1 – Atherton
Tablelands / Daintree River / Cairns Day 17 – Friday, July 2 – Cairns
/ Great Barrier Reef Days 18 – 20 – Saturday July 3 to Monday July
5 - Great Barrier Reef
Day 21 – Tuesday July 6 – Great Barrier Reef
/ Cairns
continue your Australia tour >>>>
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at
Melbourne airport; it takes about 5 minutes to walk from the drop-off
to the terminal. It is suggested that you take the loop to the terminal,
drop off luggage and one of you, then return the car. On arrival at
Cairns call your
hotel (4051 4611) who will send someone to pick you up. The rest of
the day is free to look around Cairns, it’s an easy walk down
to the Esplanade and along into the town proper. 
park,
and included in the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area. The forests are
home to some of Australia’s rarest and most restricted wildlife,
including the unusual Tree Kangaroo, which has forsaken the ground
for an arboreal life. The Tablelands is also the best place in Australia
to see platypus. Afte
r
checking in to your lodge in the rainforest, you will be picked up
at 4.30pm by Wait-a-While tours, who will take you to find platypus,
see the rainforest, and go spotlighting for the mammals that occur
here. This will be a rich day in terms of wildlife and natural history.
Dinner will be taken while touring, and you will return to your lodge
about 10.30pm. Once again the Lodge is self-catering, so be sure to
pick up some breakfast items before arriving. You can most easily
do this in Cairns before you leave.
host
and information gleaned from your guide last night. Tonight you won’t
need to go out to look for wildlife, as it will come to your door,
in the form of
Pademelons, a small rainforest wallaby, and possibly Sugar Gliders.
During the day Scrub Turkeys, many birds and the tiny and primitive
Musky Rat-kangaroo can be seen about the grounds.
the
coast, continue north to the Daintree River. Take a boat tour here
looking for saltwater crocodiles. The trips operated by Daintree Reef
and River Cruise Centre are recommended, go for the 1½ hour
one. The Centre is about 4km past the Daintree Ferry turnoff, towards
Daintree Village itself, just outside the village. Trips depart every
hour or so. Make sure you are there by 3pm; non-stop drive time from
Chambers is about two hours. Make your way back to Cairns, about 1
½ hours south, afterwards.
and
Osprey Reef in the Coral Sea. Return your rental car today; if you
give Taka a call (4051 8722) they will pick you up from the car drop-off
at about 5pm. Recommended during your time in Cairns is Tjapukai
Aboriginal Cultural Park. Although designed as a tourist venture,
the 16 year old concept began and remains today a means of introducing
non-aboriginal people to the world’s oldest living 
culture,
while at the same time showing by example to the Aboriginal people
themselves that their culture, often ignored and looked down upon
by its own people, is of great value and interest to others throughout
Australia and the world. Through dance and theatre, and traditional
activities including spear and boomerang throwing, food and medicinal
plants identification, and shelter construction, there is much to
learn here about Aboriginal life. D
Continue
your dive trip. B,L,D
dropped off at your hotel.