The Rainforest and The Ocean

We took a drive up the mountains near Cairns, to the Rainforest Village of Karumba. Karumba Village is located in the Rainforest. This rainforest is considered the oldest Rainforest in the world. We walked a 3km pathway through the rainforest. It's crazy how the canopy really does block out the light (and the rain, as it was sprinkling in the morning).



We then drove to Barron Falls, also located near Karumba. The road back down the mountain, was the narrowest 2 lane road we have been on. Derek didn't have to touch the gas once the whole way down the mountain. He only had to use the break as he navigated around hairpin turns. Once we reached the bottom, we went to check out a golfcourse nearby. It was also so incredibly beautiful (wee may reutrn to try it out).



On the way back to Cairns, I suggested that we go down the road to Trinity Beach. The area down to the Beach was full of Beach homes and apartments. When we made it down to the ocean, it was absolutely beautiful. I suggested parking down near the beach and that we walk along the water. That progressed to taking off our sandals, and finally to my suggesting that we take a swim. We went back to the car, changed into our swimsuits and went back to the water. There are red and yellow flags set up on the beach, indicating where swimming is recommended. We may have wandered outside the flags, but had a great time jumping into the waves. It was pretty windy here today, so we had lots of great waves to enjoy. There were a few saves that were so strong they knocked us down and pulled us along the bottom of the ocean. The sand was soft where it was still dry but in the actual ocean, the grain were far more coarse. Coarse sand plus being dragged along the bottom by waves equals a bathing suit, hair, ears, and every other orifice full of sand. I had 2 large handfulls of gravel-like sand fall out of my bathing suit afterwards, but boy was that spontaneous swim ever worth it. It was amazingly beautiful. The beach curved around to where a small mountain rose next to the ocean.



After showering and removing all the sand, we went for supper on the Esplanade. We parked and started to walk to the restaurant when Derek looked up and saw something flying overhead. It wasn't a bird, it was a bat!!! We looked in the trees and saw them hanging upside down in the tree. When we returned to the car later in the evening the were screaming and swooping overhead, with their nasty, glowing eyes.

As a nice finish to the evening, I had the most wonderful Rhubarb Ice Cream. For those of you who don't know, my favorite types of desserts are Rhubarb dessert, so this little flavor discovery was quite a treat.