After the thrill of visiting Kuranda (see here - http://masomusing.joeuser.com/article/327190/The_Far_North), we decided to have a day lounging by the pool, reading holiday books (my choice was an awesome story by Stephanie Meyer called 'Host' - I strongly recommend it to anyone who likes scifi thrillers) and exploring the township. Here is a shot of the pool area. It will give you a good idea of just how hard we had it while staying there.

 Here is a shot of the outside of the resort where we stayed. It kind of reminded me of some of the buildings I remember from when I lived in Malaysia as a child. The main reception had a huge punka fan overhead and the whole place was light and airy. I don't know who the bloke in the shot is but he turns up in a few of them.

Below is a shot from one of the lookouts in Port Douglas with some magnificent Bouganvillia in the foreground. We were stunned by the variety of colours the Bouganvillia has. To be honest, most of the tropical flora was quite stunning and very colourful.

Here is a shot of another flower, although we never found out what sort it was. But it was huge, as big as a dinner plate. This photo, unfortunately, doesn't do it any justice.

The biggest attraction for us was the fauna. The bird life in the area is absolutely spectacular and we were fortunate enough to be close to a particularly good Rainforest Habitat zoo. We hired bikes from a shop across the road from the resort and delighted in riding along the beautifully gardened bike paths in the area. The Habitat itself proved to be so good, we went twice. I took so many photos of all the birds and animals there but don't want to bore everyone with them, so here are a select few. First up, a beautiful example of a local native; the Figbird. This lovely boy was sitting in a tree outside a shop in Kuranda and was singing up a storm.

Next up is a ubiquitous bird, found every where in Australia: this is the Sulfur-crested Cockatoo.

Next is a native Heron or Jabiru, as the Aboriginals call them. The Habitat has the only captive breeding pair of these birds in the world. They are quite large and very beautiful. They build large nest, kind of like a Stork and both parents sit on the eggs. We were fortunate enough to see the eggs at one point, although I couldn't get a photo. This is one of the offspring of the breeding pair.

The Habitat has a special lunch offer where visitors can sit in the shade, eat a great BBQ lunch and share some quality time with some of the local birds. In this next shot, I am being hassled by a very friendly Magpie Goose, a local who proved rather insistent, first demanding to be fed, then pecking at me until I gave him something. We also had lorikeets, egrets and other assorted birds visit our table while eating too. It was well worth the extra expense.

Of all the birds we befriended, one of our favourites is the Apostle bird, so called because in the wild, these very social birds hang out in groups of 12 or so. In captivity, they will 'adopt' other birds as surrogate family and cosy up to them. Of course, a lot of the other birds don't take too kindly to this and the poor Apostle bird ends up being chased away or totally ignored. But they are chatty, friendly and absolutely beautiful, although fairly plain next to some of the bright feathered parrots. Below is a shot of an Apostle bird being chastised by a Rainbow Lorikeet.

The next few shots are of some of the other beautiful birds we saw at the Habitat.

A Plumed Whistling Duck

A Tawny Frogmouth Owl

A Kookaburra

A Rose-Crowned Fruit Dove

A Bush Stone Curlew

A mating pair of Eclectus parrots, unusual because they look like two different types of parrots

A Bush Turkey (my father used to hunt these when he was a lad)

A Satin Bower Bird

A pair of Rainbow Lorikeets

And finally, a Sunbird. We were particularly fortunate to see this bird as they are rare and tiny. This photo was taken in the open gardens around the Habitat.

Next, we come to the animals. The Habitat featured a few different varities of local wallabies. But first up is a photo of Toni feeding the one and only Red Kangaroo in the park. This big boy didn't even stand up to be fed, merely lifting his head and letting Toni put the food in his mouth, almost.

Next is a shot of me feeding a beautiful Nail-tailed Wallaby, so called because at the end of its tail is a small, hard nail-like bone. Scientists are still unsure exactly what it is used for. This particular wallaby had a Joey in its pouch but wasn't shy about grabbing my hand and having a feed.

Here is another shot of the same wallaby with a better view of the Joey

We also saw many Swamp Wallabys. These grow to be about as large as a small dog. While we were there, they spent most of their time lying in the shade ignoring us. This little one, however, was more interested in a free feed.

The main attraction for tourists to the area is the Great Barrier Reef. No holiday to the region would be complete without at least one visit to this heritage-listed natural wonder. We took a fast boat out to the Low Islands and spent a couple of hours snorkling around the edges of the reef there. In was nothing short of spectacular. My camera is waterproof and I took a lot of shots, but the reef was sporing so the water was quite cloudy. I was a bit disappoiinted most of the shots didn't come out as well as I'd hoped. We saw so many different fish, I can't begin to name them all. We also saw some brilliantly-coloured giant clams, a decent sized Stingray and I was also fortunate enough to catch a good look at a White-tipped Reef Shark. The water here is so warm and inviting, I could have spent all day just floating around looking at the reef. When we got back to the boat, the tour operator had been feeding a few large Bat Fish and some Remora. Here is a photo of one of the Remora coming in for a free feed. He was about 1.5 metres long, so quite a big fish.

Next is a photo of the only sort of Junk I like to see on the water. This is just off the Low Islands.

We had an amazing holiday and packed in a lot in the 6 days we were there. What was more telling for us was how much we both felt like the area was home. My family has a lot of history in the area (there is even a large bridge named after my Great Grandfather which spans the Barron River going into Cairns). We both came back to Sydney changed people. I still can't get over just how much of an impact the area had on me. I felt so at home, so in tune with the surroundings. This is something I didn't know I was looking for until I found it. It also helped make a big decision for us but more of that in the near future. I am going to end this with a few random shots. Thanks for having a read. I hope you've enjoyed this.

Alternate Cable Car view

T on the beach, doing her 'Stayin' Alive' impersonation.

Me on the beach, doing my 'pensive writer' impersonation.

Another sunset shot over Port Douglas

And finally, a shot of the coastline from the plane just after takeoff to go home.