We are frequent users of the bus that runs along Lake Street by our hotel and into downtown Cairns, even though it is just seven or eight large city blocks. It is just too hot and humid to walk that far.
We went out to Fitzroy Island today, officially Fitzroy Island National Park.
The island lies offshore from Cape Grafton, 29 km (18 mi) southeast of Cairns.
Our catamaran vessel set out at 8 am, and we were back early afternoon.
It was overcast at our arrival, and windy. The wind only worsened, and soon we learned that our planned glass-bottomed boat trip out to one of the reefs had to be cancelled. (The wind makes the water choppy and murky).
The walk through the forest to Nudey Beach was nice enough, though— and it was the first time that I had set foot on an entire beach of dead coral.
These pictures are all from Roma Street Parkland.
We entered it by stepping off the No 66 bus at the Roma Street stop, and then walking through the Roma Street train station (first picture). The statue is of Mahatma Ghandi.
Roma Street Parkland offers designer gardens and sprawling lawns winding around 16 hectares of spectacular parklands. It is said to be well-known by garden and plant enthusiasts for its exceptional horticultural standards.
It was time for me to make a run out to the Pacific Ocean*. (My brother’s car from Perth has arrived, and we will drive up north to the Sunshine Coast as soon as we have a sunny day).
*Technically, I was looking out over Moreton Bay and the Coral Sea, but it’s all connected to the Pacific Ocean.
There was more rain today, and so we checked into the Queensland Museum and the Queensland Art Gallery/Gallery of Modern Art.
Both of these are free to the public.
We drove north for an hour or so today, to get to the Australia Zoo.
The zoo was founded in 1970 by Bob and Lyn Irwin (parents of ‘Crocodile Hunter’ Steve Irwin of television fame) and is still owned by the Irwin family.
There was a little rain on the ground this morning.
It’s Labor Day weekend, which means that summer is over— unofficially.
Hopefully there are still enough bugs buzzing about for Mr. Spider to catch in his web.
My uncle sent me these images of nocturnal animals.
They were captured by a LtlAcorn® camera trap he had set up in 2009 at the Shalimpo camp in Botswana.
Today my brothers and I did a short hike up to the buff in Torrey Pines State Park, and then made our way down to the beach and back to the parking lot.
Balboa Park is a 1,200-acre historic and urban, cultural park in San Diego.
The park was originally called ‘City Park’, but was renamed after Spanish explorer Vasco Núñez de Balboa, in honor of the 1915 Panama-California Exposition, held in the park that year.
The architecture of the buildings in Balboa Park are a mix of Mediterranean and Spanish Colonial Revival style.
Here is Kato the caracal from the Wild Cat Conservation Centre in Wilber, New South Wales, Australia.
The caracal is a medium-sized wild cat (weight is 30-40 lbs) native to Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia, and arid areas of Pakistan and northwestern India.
Our stretch of warm weather continues, with a high of 95 °F (35 °C) today.
The meteorologists assure us we will have much cooler weather on Monday— something civilized like 79°F (26 °C).
My little rosebush has produced its first bloom for the summer.
Is there any flower more famous than a rose?
Roses were probably cultivated in Asia first, some 5,000 years ago.
The Chinese philosopher Confucius wrote of growing roses in the Imperial Gardens about 500 BCE and mentioned that the emperor’s library contained hundreds of books on the subject of roses.
The pair of woodpeckers that I see around here in summer, were at my house late afternoon (they are Northern flickers).
One of them was rolling around in the dirt, taking a dust bath.
Dust baths are part of a bird’s preening and plumage maintenance routine.
The dust that is worked into the bird’s feathers, absorb excess oil, which can then be shed so that the feathers don’t become too greasy or matted.
The dust can also bring relief from lice, feather mites or parasites.