The forgotten post!

May 7
Cairns
Sunny, pleasant

This is not in the correct order! Sorry about that; I never posted this one. What follows was written when we arrived in Cairns.

It is now the evening; we've been in Cairns a few hours. I have now once more had my very favorite meal in Australia: coral trout, blackened, at Barnacle Bill's on the Esplanade. It has become a bit of a joke on the course that I've planned the entire experience just so that I can get back to Cairns and eat here. I missed it last year, of course, as we did not go in 2007, so it's been two years. It is still a very good meal, cooked exactly right with a wonderful Cajun coating with jerk overtones. If ever you're in Cairns ...

The remainder of our trip north on the train was uneventful. We passed through field after field of crops; mostly sugar cane, but there are banana, pineapple, and pulpwood plantations, along with some citrus orchards. There are a number of sheep and cattle stations along the way, too, as well as open scrubland. I only saw a few kangaroos, but some of the students tell me they saw many.

It is typical to see kangaroos wherever one finds grazing animals, as the conditions favorable for the one are also good for the other. Add to that the fact that the kangaroo is a 'dawn and dusk' animal, just like our deer, and the right times and places for watching for 'skippy' are pretty easy to figure out. I get up very early while in Australia anyway, so I go to the buffet car or the club car and gaze out the window right around dawn just in case.

This far north, the main Bruce Highway has become just one lane in each direction, with rail stops blocking it in some towns. As we passed through Innisfail, one such town, I was struck by how well it has rebounded from the hammering it took from Tropical Cyclone Larry a few years ago. The cyclone had charged ashore with winds around 120 mph, ripping off roofs and flattening cane fields and banana plantations. The estimates at the time were that 80% of the crop was destroyed. Of course, they replanted right away, and the stuff grows very fast, so in 9 months time the fields were full once more.

The land is flat for several hundred kilometers along the rail route, punctuated here and there on the east by hills and small mountains that just rise out of the ground for no apparent reason. Off to the west lie the Great Dividing Range. As the train moves closer to Cairns these two converge, so that by the time the train moves north of Innisfail on the last couple of hours of the trip, the land has become rolling, with high hills on both sides.

Cairns is the place where at least three ecosystems meet: the mountainous tropical rainforest, the Atherton Tablelands, and the Great Barrier Reef. The Tablelands serve as one of the breadbaskets of Australia; there is a lot of cultivated land throughout. Together with the coastal plantations, this entire region sees huge agricultural activity. Runoff from these finds it way into coastal waters and eventually into the ocean, where it has an impact on the Reef. We will no doubt hear more about that tomorrow night at Reef Teach.

We actually arrived a little ahead of schedule. Our driver was waiting nevertheless, and we arrived at the Cairns Queenslander without any problems. All our rooms are on the first floor (you and I would call it the second floor) -- the students were a little grumpy about that, but we should get less patio noise higher up.

After getting settled in, we all met for a few minutes by the pool so that we could go over the lodging rules and the schedule for the next few days. It was pretty clear that the students were already thrilled with the place, and particularly interested in the patio BBQ. Some of the students left with my colleague and me for a guided walk down the Esplanade, while others took off for the nearby IGA for provisions for an evening meal.

After dinner, my colleague and I walked back, stopping to buy a few things for the next couple of days. And a note to my lovely wife: I am able to get back on my healthy diet for awhile.