By Erik Skye

January 5, 2011:

When I boarded the plane this morning, the window seat I thought I had was actually an emergency exit door. I had no view and therefor had to trust they were actually taking me to Cairns. But when I finally got a peak after landing, I could have sworn I was in Hawaii.

Just like Hawaii, there are rugged mountains, sugar cane, palm trees, beautiful beaches, little towns, and a small highway lacing it all together. As I drove north out of Cairns (you pronounce it “cans” by the way), I kept thinking of different places in the Hawaiian Islands that looked like where I was.

I stopped for food in Cairns and was immediately impressed by the quantity and quality of it all. There was a sushi bar with a very long conveyor belt that you took your choices from, and then paid the lady based on the color of the plates. There was a fresh produce market with everything imaginable. There was a bakery with fresh bread and when you ordered your loaves, they would ask “how thick”, and then put it through a slicing machine. I took a lot of pictures and made everyone nervous. “I’m blogging” I’d tell them, when I saw whispering about my camera (as if that was justification for such an intrusion).

I took a walk through Mossman Gorge NP, which is part of the famous Daintree NP. There were more butterflies, and I got a photo. But there was an electric blue species that zipped around, flashing brilliantly in the sunlight. It was gorgeous, but I couldn’t get a photo of one. I’ll keep trying.

Further north at Wonga Beach is a horseback riding company. I stopped in to check on making a reservation for tomorrow. That’s when I found some original-looking Australian Cowboys. I hope to spend some time in their mob in the morning, riding one of their brumbies on the beach.

My last stop for the day was Port Douglas, which is about an hour north of Cairns. It seems to be about tourism and selling charters and excursions on the Great Barrier Reef and in Daintree NP. It’s upscale too (i.e. Tommy Bahama), and there are some nice specialty shops.

No swimming in the ocean here – box jellyfish season.

My taxi driver in Cairns said the tourism is drying up. I asked him if it was the strong Australian dollar, and he surprised me with his answer. He said it started happening long before that. He linked the decline to 9/11 (he said 7/11, but I knew he wasn’t referring to the convenience store chain in the U.S.).

I saw an aborigine community along Mossman NP. They were operating a business in tourism. A group of aboriginal men were out repairing a tractor, and they were probably managing some of that sugar cane in the area. Good to see.

Cairns is half an hour (time zone) ahead of Darwin.

The cicadas roar in the jungle. It’s really a neat sound.

Everywhere I’ve been in Australia, the government provides the propane at the public grills of the parks.

Here's another song for me mates: Strange Talk - Climbing Walls

I don’t know what day of the week it is anymore.