21 - Australia

I see that we're on day 21.....that means we're at the halfway point!

Got a really good night's rest after all the diving.  I think I slept 9 hours without moving!

The typical grocery store run for supplies for the coming week before heading out of Cairns north to the rainforest areas.

First trail of the day was to see the Kuranda National Park.  Long windy road to the mountain top.

Walk thru a rainforest with lots of huge vines growing.

Saw several of these birds - looked it up later - it's an Australian Brush Turkey.

Beautiful view from the trail.

End of the trail is the lovely Barron Falls.  It's dry season here, so the falls are not as active.  Still pretty!

Next we hiked a couple of miles to Surprise Creek....a lovely spot but the trail was really steep!

Traveling north, the coastline is amazing!  We're driving on a a winding road maybe 500 feet above sealevel.   There is a pullout marked ahead, so I ask Duane to stop.

At that pullout, there is a person giving hang gliding rides.  This person is doing their flight solo.  She's going to simply run and jump off the side of the hill!

Watch her do it!

It's very windy - she soars up easily.

We're not in a rush, so we sit and watch for maybe 20 minutes.

Another girl gets ready for a "tandem" ride with an instructor.  All for $175!  Duane offered to pay for my flight.....I thanked him and offered to pay for his flight!  Hmmm, we got in the car and drove away....

Checked into a nice motel in Port Douglas - the Lazy Lizard!  They have bikes they loan customers, so we took a leisurely ride (10 minutes) into the town.  Beautiful marina just a block from town.

Saw this neat bird - it's a Australian Ibis.

And the last thing we did was walk up a very steep hill to the "lookout" over the Port Douglas shoreline.  Enough for one day!