We now had our own masks/ snorkels, purchased the previous evening at "Rebel Sports" in Cairns, that were far superior to the ones used at Green Island. This was fortunate, because Fitzroy had magnificent "coral gardens" right off the beaches, with a variety of corals and fish in all sizes, shapes, and colors. One such garden was a mile north of the boat dock (in the area shown here);
another was half a mile south of the boat dock (in the distance, below). Next time we'll take an underwater camera so we can show you some photos.
There was a cabin on the beach (visible at left, above) where you could rent various types of boats and rafts, or even a huge floating trampoline. Some people brought their own boats.
Six hours after our arrival on Fitzroy, the catamaran returned, and we headed back to Cairns.
Next day: Having had enough of expensive packaged tours, we decided to take a local bus to the series of beach communities north of Cairns. Note: These buses (see Sunbus web site) were small and often jammed with people. Riding them to and from our hotel was an adventure. Cairns-area traffic designers put "roundabouts" at many intersections, to slow things down, but the bus drivers liked to whip through these at high speed.
Anyway, we arrived at the northernmost of the beaches, Palm Cove. There are thousands of tourists from Japan in the Cairns area, and we happened to encounter a wedding party at the Palm Cove dock.
We proceeded to stroll up and down the beautiful beach.
Taking the bus to the next town (Clifton Beach) to the south, we strolled some more. Actually, each of the beaches in this area is pretty much continuous with the next -- they just go on for mile after mile. The density of people is low because there is so much beach area.
Next day: Time to see some animals. We took the same bus as yesterday to the Cairns Tropical Zoo (see zoo web site), located near Palm Cove. Nicely-designed zoo, with lots of "shows" throughout the day and opportunity to get up close to the animals. Some of our favorites were the red pandas (from China),
peacock,
rare white kangaroo,
a foot-high marsupial (no sign on the pen, but I'm guessing some kind of wallaby),
gray kangaroo,
monitor lizards,
cassowary -- unusual (and endangered) "prehistoric" bird found only in this part of Australia,
kookaburra,
wombat (Note: this is "Molly". The zookeeper here told me that I was not allowed to hold her myself because she might "turn aggressive". Chris and I had previously observed Molly several times in her pen, lying on her back, never changing position. This became another of our running jokes.)
and Australian crocodile (note that this guy's mouth is taped shut to ensure my safety).
Click here to return to page 1.