Trip to Kuranda Village (Cairns)

posted in: Queensland

Look! A cassowary crossing roadsign!!  Southern cassowaries live in a very small region of the Queensland coast, so this was pretty much my only chance to get this one.  We weren’t lucky enough to spot any cassowaries in the wild but we did get to see (and feed!) some when we visited Townsville (post to come!). Kuranda Village | How Many More Minutes? In Kuranda is a placed called BatReach.  We were really hoping to visit but they were closed when we arrived.  Their website (which has now changed designs, they must be upgrading) said they’d be open so we were quite disappointed.  We actually had trouble finding the place.  Most of the attractions had signs pointing the way but this one had none.  We had to go to the visitor information centre for directions.  Though they were closed we were still able to peak through the fence. Kuranda Village | How Many More Minutes? I find bats fascinating.  BatReach cares for both megabats and microbats.  We could see megabats hanging outside, some inside the cages and some on the outside.  These bats looked huge!  So often they are way up in the trees and you don’t get to see them at eye-level. Kuranda Village | How Many More Minutes? Lots of hidden gems in this town.  Did I mention it’s surrounded by rainforest?  We arrived too late in the day for a proper look around the whole town.  There are nature walks, and a waterfall, and plenty of other tourist attractions. Kuranda Village | How Many More Minutes? I fell in love with this artwork.  It was near the toilets in the centre of town so we had the opportunity to view it more than once.  (Kids need toilets every time you pass them!)  There are animals hidden all over in this painting, we gazed at it for awhile exclaiming each time we found another one. Kuranda Village | How Many More Minutes?Kuranda Village | How Many More Minutes?Kuranda Village | How Many More Minutes? Then there was the one of the Mareeba Shire, I hadn’t realised the shire extended this far.  Lots of things hiding in this one also. Kuranda Village | How Many More Minutes?Kuranda Village | How Many More Minutes? A glimpse of the skyrail.  I had really hoped to take the kids on this, but seriously, it would have cost over two hundred dollars to ride the skyrail up and down, or more than three hundred to do the skyrail one way and the train the other way.  Really?  I’m sure it’s a memorable experience but for that price the tickets should be gold.  So we gazed at it from the car and I assured the kids we’d find another one to ride someday. Kuranda Village | How Many More Minutes? One more stop in Kuranda…

Australian Butterfly Sanctuary in Kuranda (Cairns)

posted in: Queensland

While we were in Cairns we drove up to Kuranda.  Actually I should say we drove back up to Kuranda, since we’d driven by on our way into town.  It’s up in the mountains and it’s a gorgeous little tourist town.  The big attraction is taking a skyrail or train up to the town, but unfortunately that was too pricey for us.  (We decided to spend our money on visiting the Great Barrier Reef instead!)  Because of the skyrail, Kuranda is quite the destination and all sorts of people visit the little town everyday.  There are a number of different attractions.  We were able to visit a few and our favourite was the Australian Butterfly Sanctuary. Australian Butterfly Sanctuary | How Many More Minutes? So many beautiful butterflies! Australian Butterfly Sanctuary | How Many More Minutes?Australian Butterfly Sanctuary | How Many More Minutes?Australian Butterfly Sanctuary | How Many More Minutes? Australian Butterfly Sanctuary | How Many More Minutes? Of course, everyone’s hope when visiting is to have a butterfly land on them. Australian Butterfly Sanctuary | How Many More Minutes? LadyBug latched onto a couple of girls and they taught her how to get the butterflies to crawl onto her fingers.  She wore bright pink on purpose with the hopes of attracting more butterflies. Australian Butterfly Sanctuary | How Many More Minutes?Australian Butterfly Sanctuary | How Many More Minutes? TurboBug kept jumping at the butterflies, trying to touch them.  They weren’t too impressed with him.  With a little help he did get to hold some. Australian Butterfly Sanctuary | How Many More Minutes?Australian Butterfly Sanctuary | How Many More Minutes? There are several different types of butterflies at the sanctuary, but I don’t remember seeing all of these when we were there. Australian Butterfly Sanctuary | How Many More Minutes? It’s strange to think most of the butterflies we saw there wouldn’t be there anymore.  Such beautiful creatures with such short lives. Australian Butterfly Sanctuary | How Many More Minutes? We had a walk over to the breeding nursery.  There was a microscope set up to have a closer look at the butterflies. Australian Butterfly Sanctuary | How Many More Minutes?Australian Butterfly Sanctuary | How Many More Minutes? We could see some of the caterpillars and they were amazing.  We watched them preparing food for the caterpillars, carefully washing all the leaves. Australian Butterfly Sanctuary | How Many More Minutes?Australian Butterfly Sanctuary | How Many More Minutes? They had heaps and heaps of butterflies in various stages of emergence. We happened to be in the right place at the right time, so we even got to see them release some butterflies! Australian Butterfly Sanctuary | How Many More Minutes? There was also this interesting display on how butterflies see differently from us.  They can see ultraviolet patches on flowers and on each other. Australian Butterfly Sanctuary | How Many More Minutes? But really, this was the best part. Australian Butterfly Sanctuary | How Many More Minutes?Australian Butterfly Sanctuary | How Many More Minutes? Australian Butterfly Sanctuary | How Many More Minutes? Australian Butterfly Sanctuary | How Many More Minutes? TurboBug looks so satisfied, doesn’t he?  It takes a lot of holding still which is difficult when you are two! Australian Butterfly Sanctuary | How Many More Minutes? Australian Butterfly Sanctuary | How Many More Minutes? Look!  There’s one of those beautiful Ulysses butterflies in flight.  We’d actually seen some of these on a nature walk and didn’t know what they were called.  They are such a striking blue and quite large. Australian Butterfly Sanctuary | How Many More Minutes? These are Common Eggfly butterflies.  They absolutely loved JitterBug’s yellow hat. Australian Butterfly Sanctuary | How Many More Minutes?Australian Butterfly Sanctuary | How Many More Minutes? The difference between butterflies and moths. Australian Butterfly Sanctuary | How Many More Minutes? On the way out there is a room with all sorts of butterfly and moth specimens on display.  According to a sign in this room there are 385 different species of butterflies in Australia.  It also said that in Greek, the word for ‘butterfly’ is the same as the word used for ‘soul’.  How lovely is that? Australian Butterfly Sanctuary | How Many More Minutes? Australian Butterfly Sanctuary | How Many More Minutes? Australian Butterfly Sanctuary | How Many More Minutes? Australian Butterfly Sanctuary | How Many More Minutes? My four little butterflies.  What fun! Australian Butterfly Sanctuary | How Many More Minutes? Australian Butterfly Sanctuary | How Many More Minutes?

Cairns Esplanade & The Fig Tree Playground

posted in: Queensland

Cairns was lovely.  The weather was perfect.  A tropical paradise to us Victorians.  They even have a free swimming lagoon which we had to visit.  We started all the way at one end of the esplanade.  Cairns Esplanade & The Fig Tree Playground | How Many More Minutes? Because we also had to visit the fig tree playground.  A playground built around a huge tree?  Definitely worth a visit. Cairns Esplanade & The Fig Tree Playground | How Many More Minutes? Some perspective.  See that bit of yellow and red and blue?  That’s my kids. Cairns Esplanade & The Fig Tree Playground | How Many More Minutes? There.  There they are. Cairns Esplanade & The Fig Tree Playground | How Many More Minutes? Heaps of playing and climbing and exploring to be done. Cairns Esplanade & The Fig Tree Playground | How Many More Minutes? Cairns Esplanade & The Fig Tree Playground | How Many More Minutes? TurboBug was not convinced he wanted to go down this slide.  It was long enough to be dark inside.  Once he did, of course, there was no stopping him. Cairns Esplanade & The Fig Tree Playground | How Many More Minutes? Cairns Esplanade & The Fig Tree Playground | How Many More Minutes? Way up here in far north Queensland you don’t meet as many footy fans.  It’s all about the rugby here.  I saw a couple of boys wearing footy hats; one Blues and one Bombers.  I laughed to the mum about it, since we have four different teams in our family.  I’m officially neutral but I’m often tempted to choose a fifth team just to drive my kids crazy. Cairns Esplanade & The Fig Tree Playground | How Many More Minutes?Cairns Esplanade & The Fig Tree Playground | How Many More Minutes? Cairns Esplanade & The Fig Tree Playground | How Many More Minutes? Then we started our walk toward the lagoon.   Cairns Esplanade & The Fig Tree Playground | How Many More Minutes? Have I mentioned Cairns is lovely? Cairns Esplanade & The Fig Tree Playground | How Many More Minutes? The lagoon was a bit of a strange experience.  There were people everywhere, but very few in the water.  Many sunbathers who seemed university aged.  But the strange part was how quiet it was with that many people around.  It seemed that everyone was gathered to watch each other rather than swim.  Not many families. Cairns Esplanade & The Fig Tree Playground | How Many More Minutes? Cairns Esplanade & The Fig Tree Playground | How Many More Minutes? Cairns Esplanade & The Fig Tree Playground | How Many More Minutes? I was a little grossed out by the sand in and around the lagoon.  Sand in a swimming pool feels strange.  It didn’t feel like beach sand and it didn’t seem that clean around the pool.  Cairns Esplanade & The Fig Tree Playground | How Many More Minutes? So we stayed for awhile but then walked down to Muddy’s Playground.  We’d heard it was an interactive water playground, so we were thinking water park.  We walked and walked and walked.  We hadn’t realised how far it would be.  It turned out to be much more playground than water park.   The kids loved it anyway, there were several play structures to choose from.  And then poor Dad had to walk all the way back to the car by himself and bring it closer.  Dads are great that way, aren’t they? Cairns Esplanade & The Fig Tree Playground | How Many More Minutes? I have pictures of this little guy but not much else since the others had run off to play.  We watched a baby crawling around in the water and pushing himself up to take some steps.  So cute. Cairns Esplanade & The Fig Tree Playground | How Many More Minutes? As we walked up the boardwalk from one end of the esplanade to the other I wondered why no one was at the beach.  There are stingers in the water here, but since it is winter there aren’t as many so you’d think some of those sunbathers would choose the beach rather than the lagoon.  Then as we got closer I saw croc warning signs which said no one was allowed on the beach.  The entire walkway was a raised boardwalk, so it was safe.  Not exactly a sunbathing beach! Cairns Esplanade & The Fig Tree Playground | How Many More Minutes? And then, when we were walking to our car, I looked up and saw this.  Cairns Esplanade & The Fig Tree Playground | How Many More Minutes? It looks so soft and fuzzy.   I just wanted to climb the tree and touch them.  Did I mention Cairns is lovely?

The Crystal Cascades in Cairns

posted in: Queensland

Our first view of Cairns was from a lookout on the Kennedy Highway.  It may have been love at first sight.  Cairns | How Many More Minutes? We felt like we were back in Tassie on this road!  Mountainous and curvy.  Towing a caravan is never more fun. 🙂 Cairns | How Many More Minutes? We stayed at the best caravan park near the Crystal Cascades.  Cairns is in tropical far north Queensland.  These stats are amazing! Crystal Cascades | How Many More Minutes? We walked up to see the Crystal Cascades waterfall first. Crystal Cascades | How Many More Minutes? Crystal Cascades | How Many More Minutes?Crystal Cascades | How Many More Minutes?Crystal Cascades | How Many More Minutes? We took in the view and the kids started climbing and exploring and throwing rocks in the water, as kids do.  We read that this area is popular with locals during the summer since the ocean is full of stingers.  We saw plenty of tourists that day. Crystal Cascades | How Many More Minutes?Crystal Cascades | How Many More Minutes?Crystal Cascades | How Many More Minutes?Crystal Cascades | How Many More Minutes? Crystal Cascades | How Many More Minutes? Crystal Cascades | How Many More Minutes?Crystal Cascades | How Many More Minutes? Crystal Cascades | How Many More Minutes? I love these pictures of JitterBug, he has such a satisfied expression on his face after throwing that rock in. Crystal Cascades | How Many More Minutes? Crystal Cascades | How Many More Minutes? Then, of course, we had to play a round of Freak Mama Out. Crystal Cascades | How Many More Minutes?Crystal Cascades | How Many More Minutes? Some of us were told we were too little to climb the waterfall so we consoled each other the best we could. (I looove seeing sibling hugs!) Crystal Cascades | How Many More Minutes? We spent a good amount of time here, so we had a yummy snack before we headed back down the trail for a swim in one of the waterholes. Crystal Cascades | How Many More Minutes? Crystal Cascades | How Many More Minutes? The water was cold.  Quite cold. Crystal Cascades | How Many More Minutes? Some of us were more crazy adventurous than others. Crystal Cascades | How Many More Minutes? Crystal Cascades | How Many More Minutes? Crystal Cascades | How Many More Minutes? Crystal Cascades | How Many More Minutes? We don’t get many family pictures with all of us, we need to do it more often! Crystal Cascades | How Many More Minutes? My little pharaoh! Crystal Cascades | How Many More Minutes? Crystal Cascades | How Many More Minutes? Crystal Cascades | How Many More Minutes? Cairns is lovely!  More to come…

The Crystal Caves in Atherton, QLD

posted in: Queensland

After Cooktown our plan is to make our way down the coast as far as Mackay and then head inland.  After we saw the rock art in Laura we went to Mareeba for a few days.  We had spent a night here on our way north.  The town has a rodeo grounds you can camp at and these usually charge less than caravan parks which is good for our family.  The amenities are never as nice at show grounds but we can deal with that.  When we’d spent the night here previously there was a family in a bus that the kids had enjoyed playing with.  When we came back through they were there again.  They had also left and returned, so it was funny that we ran into them again.  We didn’t know it then, but Mareeba wasn’t the last place we’d see them. Mostly we rested in Mareeba.  It’s essential to have down days.  You can’t go everywhere and see everything, it’s just too exhausting.  We did drive down to Atherton to see the Crystal Caves.  It seemed as though it would be unique, unlike anything else we’ll see on our journey, and I knew the kids would enjoy it.  We’d all have to wear hard hats with lights in the caves, so that alone pretty much guarantees the kids will love it. On the way to Atherton we drove by the Big Peanut.  It counts as a Big Thing.  Some of the Big Things are bigger than others.  Some are also more impressive than others.  😉 The Big Peanut | How Many More Minutes? The Crystal Caves are not real caves.  And thus they are able to be located right in the CBD.  This creative car on the main road is your first taste of the caves. The Crystal Caves | How Many More Minutes? Outside the door is a random dinosaur.  Thank goodness this was before we watched Jurassic Park for the first time or some of my children might have refused to go inside! The Crystal Caves | How Many More Minutes? When you enter you find yourself in a shop with all sorts of beautiful crystal items.  You can even crack your own geode open which we saw some kids doing when we got there.  At the back is the entrance to the caves.  Some parts of the caves have a low ceiling so you are required to wear hard hats equipped with lights.  TurboBug’s was a little big but he managed.  The caves were created as a way to showcase the collection.  The cave walls don’t look real, but the lights are dim and the effect is good enough to highlight the crystals. The Crystal Caves | How Many More Minutes? Each crystal is identified with a name and where it came from.  This one is from Arkansas which is where our family started.  The best part about the caves is that you are welcomed to touch everything.  Some of the more delicate items are in glass cases, but most of the crystals can be touched which makes it great for families.  There were crystals at all different heights so it was lovely for all ages. The Crystal Caves | How Many More Minutes? LadyBug had the camera at one point and of course she loved these pink, glittery pieces from India. The Crystal Caves | How Many More Minutes? There was heaps to see.  This one is from Madagascar. The Crystal Caves | How Many More Minutes? TurboBug is learning his colours and blue is one he gets right every time!  (Can you believe he’s old enough to learn his colours?  Crazy!) The Crystal Caves | How Many More Minutes? The Crystal Caves | How Many More Minutes? Some parts of the caves were darker than others.  All the hats had lights that we could turn on and off as needed. The Crystal Caves | How Many More Minutes?The Crystal Caves | How Many More Minutes? The Crystal Caves | How Many More Minutes? The Crystal Caves | How Many More Minutes? The Crystal Caves | How Many More Minutes? There was a small room with a domed roof that you literally had to crawl into (unless you are two!) with beautiful agates all over the walls.  The lighting behind them made all the colours so clear.  It was like being in a small planetarium with stars all over the ceiling. The Crystal Caves | How Many More Minutes? This is the Crystal Fountain of Love.  Really.  TurboBug loved it, but he loves all things water. The Crystal Caves | How Many More Minutes? But the huge attraction was this giant geode.  Giant.  The world’s largest amethyst geode.  It’s called the Empress of Uruguay.  It’s over three metres tall (eleven feet) and weighs two and a half tonnes.  It is breathtakingly beautiful. The Crystal Caves | How Many More Minutes? The Crystal Caves | How Many More Minutes? The Crystal Caves | How Many More Minutes? They had to crane it into place and then built the room around it.  You can read more about it here. The Crystal Caves | How Many More Minutes? The colour is so beautiful.  The other half of the geode was removed in small sections and they have slowly sold the pieces.  The crystals are jewellery quality and the geode sparkles beautifully under the light.  A picture does not do it justice.  There’s a video on this page, but it’s blurry and doesn’t do it justice either! The Crystal Caves | How Many More Minutes? Onto the rest of the place! The Crystal Caves | How Many More Minutes? The Crystal Caves | How Many More Minutes? The Crystal Caves | How Many More Minutes? The Crystal Caves | How Many More Minutes? The Crystal Caves | How Many More Minutes?The Crystal Caves | How Many More Minutes? A large room just for us! The Crystal Caves | How Many More Minutes? This is a petrified tree slice from Arizona in the USA.  There’s a Petrified Forest National Park there (I’ve even been there!), which makes me wonder how this piece came to be in Australia! The Crystal Caves | How Many More Minutes? Some things were behind glass, not sure if it was the value or the delicacy or both. The Crystal Caves | How Many More Minutes? The Crystal Caves | How Many More Minutes? There was a dark room with Magic Spheres in it.  Crystals that glowed under ultraviolet light.  They’d set them up on rotating arms under black lights.  Under regular light they look white.  You were supposed to get the feel of these colourful spheres moving around in space, but I don’t think the effect was quite as good as they describe.  Still neat to see. The Crystal Caves | How Many More Minutes? The Crystal Caves | How Many More Minutes? The Death Star.  Right?  That’s what we thought it was! The Crystal Caves | How Many More Minutes? The Crystal Caves | How Many More Minutes? The Crystal Caves | How Many More Minutes?The Crystal Caves | How Many More Minutes? This is the amethyst room in the shop where we oooh’d and ahhhh’d over all the geodes. The Crystal Caves | How Many More Minutes? Such a unique experience.  The kids loved trying the rock candy from the shop (chocolates shaped and coloured like rocks), funny how that’s what they mention when we talk about the caves.  We purchased some magnetic singing rocks which you can throw up in the air and they will cling together and ‘sing’.  A good family outing in Atherton!

Mon Repos Turtle Centre

posted in: Queensland

Before we started on our trip around Australia I heard about the Mon Repos Turtle Centre, where you can go to watch sea turtles laying eggs on the beach.  That sounds absolutely magical!  It made my list of things we had to see on our trip.  I was so glad we ended up nearby and could visit.  Mon Repos is near Bundaberg, and we stayed in nearby Elliott Heads.  Unfortunately for us, it was the wrong time of year to see the turtles but the centre is still open for viewing. Mon Repos Turtle Centre | How Many More Minutes? The centre was unstaffed because it was winter when we visited.  But the building was open and there are heaps of displays to peruse. Mon Repos Turtle Centre | How Many More Minutes?Mon Repos Turtle Centre | How Many More Minutes? Look how big they are!  Do you see the eggs down under the sand? Mon Repos Turtle Centre | How Many More Minutes? Mon Repos Turtle Centre | How Many More Minutes? And look how little the babies are!  They hatch from the eggs under the sand and crawl to the sea, a harrowing journey.  Males never return to land.  Females will return to the same beach to lay their eggs.  The same beach.  How incredible is that?  At Mon Repos you can see the adults laying their eggs early in the season.  If you come later in the season you can see the babies crawling out of the sand.  They take you out to the beach in small groups.  There are no guarantees as to what you might see on a given night since the turtles don’t hatch on cue.  🙂 Mon Repos Turtle Centre | How Many More Minutes? On this side of the turtle they have little hatchlings in the sand. Mon Repos Turtle Centre | How Many More Minutes? Lots to learn about turtles.  Mon Repos Turtle Centre | How Many More Minutes? If I remember correctly, five different types of sea turtles can be found in Australia.  They had info on each type, even skeletons and bones to look at. Mon Repos Turtle Centre | How Many More Minutes? The centre was gorgeous.  We have been to all kinds of museums now, this one is well cared for.  And it’s amazing that it’s open all year round and free. Mon Repos Turtle Centre | How Many More Minutes? I don’t know if they tag all of the turtles that come in to lay eggs, but they have tagged many of them.  I read a story that one of the rangers tagged groups of babies when he first started at the centre and it was 27 years before one of them returned to lay eggs.  The survival rate is only 1 in 1000 for those little baby turtles.  Mon Repos Turtle Centre | How Many More Minutes? Turtle soup.  That sounds so wrong, but it was real. Mon Repos Turtle Centre | How Many More Minutes? Though it was the wrong time of year for seeing the turtles, you could still walk down to the beach via the boardwalks.  Mon Repos Turtle Centre | How Many More Minutes? Straight ahead were heaps of black rocks.  Not exactly turtle friendly. Mon Repos Turtle Centre | How Many More Minutes? Mon Repos Turtle Centre | How Many More Minutes? But just up the beach looks perfect.  Just imagine you’re out for an evening stroll and suddenly a huge sea turtle comes lumbering out of the water.  Wow. Mon Repos Turtle Centre | How Many More Minutes? The kids explored and played and explored and didn’t want to leave. Mon Repos Turtle Centre | How Many More Minutes? Mon Repos Turtle Centre | How Many More Minutes?Mon Repos Turtle Centre | How Many More Minutes?Mon Repos Turtle Centre | How Many More Minutes? Mon Repos Turtle Centre | How Many More Minutes? I didn’t want to leave either! Mon Repos Turtle Centre | How Many More Minutes? The beach behind the rocks was made up of lovely shells.  We had a great time examining them all. Mon Repos Turtle Centre | How Many More Minutes? We are (seriously) already planning a trip back up here just to see the turtles. 

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