CAIRNS, AUSTRALIA February17th

Spent the day with our "mates," Joyce & David and Stella & Lionel. Stella & Lionel are from theGold Coast in Queensland, Australia. We have been here before and just walked around the town. Cairns dates back to 1876 and originally served as a port for shipping gold & tin mined inland. It is located near the largest living organism in the world, The Great Barrier Reef and is also the gateway to one of the worlds ancient rainforests with the largest concentration of ancient flowering plants in the world. Out of 19 families recognized as primitive, 13 are found here. It's vegetation is just as impressive as the Amazon. The last time we were here we took the Kuranda railway to the Aboriginal town of Kuranda. The train connects the coast & the tablelands and offers one of the most dramatic train rides in the world. We took the skyrail back soaring over the rainforest - some of the time we were in the clouds.
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We had a great lunch in town then stopped at the Yacht Club. Gary tried to play the Didgeridoo (a 5' long hollow wooden tube) and almost broke a blood vessel. People on the street were hysterical. The temperature was around 90 with 85-90% humidity. Really unbearable