Tuesday 5th of April

Today was planning & booking day!
You wouldn't believe how much time it takes to do all arrangements.
Well, now all is planned for the rest of my stay in Australia. :-)
After this, the reward was reading a good book in the evening, with some cashew nuts and orange juice to it! Mmmm!

Monday 4th of April - Great Barrier Reef

Well, today it was time to snorkle at the Great Barrier Reef!

Time to get in the water!

The reef was only 2 meters below water level, so it was easy to swim to.

A little fish, swimming amoung the corals.

Another one, with lovely colours.

This is one of the corals.

The fish like to swim close to the corals.

Amazing colours!

I love this little yellow/white/black one!

And a striped one.

Another kind of yellow/white/black.

Closeup of one of the corals.

It was quite windy, about 15 m/s. I got a little seasick, but managed to enjoy viewing the reef.

A fish in wonderful green colours.

Sunday 3rd of April

After booking the boat tour to the reef, and renting an underwater camera (yes, there will be pictures!), I decided to drive along the wonderful ocean road from Cairns to Port Douglas, about 60 km and windy roads! Very beautiful views!

Two green islands, just a short distance from the beach. Wonderful!

I love the motion of waves, and the sound they make...

It is 30 degrees in the air, but cloudy, so very few people at the beach... I am one of them!

Found one single flower, but one is all it takes! Lovely!

Saturday 2nd of April

I have decided to take a couple of relaxing days, just wandering around, and reading a good book in the evening.
However, on Monday I am planning a trip to the reef. Stay tuned!

This is the small cabin where I am staying, in White Rock, about 10 km south of Cairns.

This is the beach in central Cairns...

..and the beautiful beach walk next to it.

Friday 1st of April

This morning I arrived with plane to Cairns, in the far north of Queensland.

This view from the road already makes me like it!

So wonderful with the clouds floating above the mountains!

Thursday 31st of March

Today was time for Lichtfield National Park, a huge national park about 100 km south of Darwin. After visiting, it took me more than 1 hour to drive through it on my way home. So it is huge!

This is a termite mound, about 5-6 meters high! There were lots of them, and they had these undefinable mud-looking shapes. They are built by and inhabited by termites.

Here is a closeup.

Even the reads were flooded. Fortunately I know how to drive on the right side of the road, which made it easier to get past. It was 30-40 cm deep at its' deepest.

It was well worth the trip, to see the enormous forces of the Buley Rockhole. Look at this and the picture below. There was a roaring sound from the fall. Amazing, simply amazing!

This is the Florence Falls, another of the majestic falls!

Walking down to it, there was so much water, it had partially flooded the path.

Down at it, there was a pond. It was possible to swim just beneath the waterfall! The water felt warm and pleasant. Since I was alone, I didn't try swimming in it.

This is the most famous waterfall in Litchfield NP, the Wangi Falls. There was a pond here too, and it was easily accessible. However, there were warnings for crocodiles, so the pond was closed. Didn't wanna become crocodile food. At least not yet...

Wednesday 30th of March

Today I decided to visit Howard Springs Nature Park, a small nature park very close to Darwin. It was created during World War II.

This funny looking bird suddenly appeared close to a pond.

The sign says the walk is closed, due to flooding. Fortunately I can't read... :-) I had to find out how far I could walk. It was raining a little, but I had my small umbrella with me.

Another funny bird appeared. It was shy, and kept running away from me.

This is a real rain forest, with great looking palms everywhere!

Now it is really pouring down, and I try to keep my camera under the umbrella as good as I can. Can you see the rain drops on the river? There seems to be a good reason they call this time of year for the wet period. :-) Showers come all the time, and disappear just as quickly.

Such amazing views in this forest! Water flooding very high!

Suddenly the path was flooded too! I had to walk quickly across this newly created water stream. You wouldn't believe how fast I can run across it, if I really want to! :-)

As an extra bonus, after the walk, a few bats were flying between the trees. I thought they were night creatures? Managed to take a photo of this one.