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 Thursday 21st of July 2016 and I was back in the reception a few minutes before 1 thirty, the pick-up time. I sat down and I was soon discovering not one, but two “Pork mobiles”  in the  reception. So it is obviously not any problem to have too much from the buffet. Hell, they seem to expect it!
But I would suggest that they remove the arm rests from the pork mobiles. Seems to  be a wee bit tight if you would have to squeezes in 3 meters of arse in to the driver's seat. You see these fat mobiles all over USA and I really hope  that I don't need to use one of those.
Anyway, I had been in the reception for 10 minutes when the van from the rainforest tour arrived and I went outside. Let the adventure  begin. And it looked like the van was empty so I was happy.
I discovered 2 girls in the van. One British and one from Finland. And we would pick up 3 more passengers, so 6 passengers in total so it would be OK. We stopped to pick up a couple from Spain on their honeymoon and the last passenger we picked up was a guy from Belgium. We left down town Cairns behind bound for the suburbs to have a look at the Wallabies. Yeah, I was very excited to see the kangaroo when I landed here in Cairns last week.  But now, not so much. So I was very surprised to find this experience very exciting.
We had been on our way for less than 5 minutes when a sunny day turned in to nothing but gloom and grey. We drove through the suburb in South of Cairns. All the lawns and soccer fields etc. was full of Wallabies. We stopped and as I had spotted an Australian White Ibis I went straight for that one. Our Guide called after me and asked where I was going. Well, I think it might have been his first experience of someone on the tour go for the bird instead of the wallabies. But the wallabies will be there for another few minutes but you never know when the brid is taking off. So I started with the bird.  Australian White Ibis - Threskiornis moluccus
 Australian White Ibis - Threskiornis moluccus
  We got back in to the car and we drove for a minute. Out of the van and yet another lawn with a lot of wallabies. And I saw a wallaby with a baby in the pouch, but there was a wire so I could not get any good picture. Never mind, we were her to look at some green ants. Green ants!!! Boring! Who the duck goes to Australia to see ants??!! Well, hold it right there buddy boy! Our Guide took an ant and licked its ass. He asked us to do the same. Careful!!! You don't want to kill the ant. A quick lick and it was a very strong taste of lime. These ants lived in a tree next to the lawn and it was an amazing nest they had made by weaving together leafs and branches in the tree. Want to know more? Google it!  Weaver ant or green ant
 Ant nest in the tree
 The road to the rainforest
We continued towards the rainforest on top of the mountain again. I came down from the mountain returning from the Jabiru Safari Lodge and the Mareeba Tropical Savanna and Wetland Reserve. But now we were going up the mountain south of Cairns. We will make a few stops during this tour and the first stop before we reach the mountain and the rainforest was to have a look at the bats or flying foxes. Stop 1
Bats or flying foxes
         Well, stopping at the flying foxes was yet another excellent experience. And we saw a beautiful Yellow Sunbird, but I never got any pictures. We were soon on our way again and all passengers were happy like people only are after a gorgeous experience in the nature. Next stop will be on top of Cairns Tablelands at the Danbulla State Forest to observe a fascinating 800-year-old, Cathedral Fig Tree with a giant root system. Drive up the scenic Gillies Range climbing up to 800 metres above sea level this is one of Australia’s windiest roads. Yeah, 19km long and more than 230 bend and curves and I swear to God, I was sea sick going up that mountain Stop 2
Cathedral Fig Tree
 It is raining when we get out of the van
 We walk to the Cathedral Fig Tree
 We reach the Cathedral Fig Tree
 The Cathedral Fig Tree is growing from up to down
 We go back to the car
We left the Cathedral Fig Tree and some of the passengers had managed to catch sight of the small musky rat kangaroos. This is the rat the Kangaroos are evaluated from. The only mammal when Australia was covered by rainforest millions of years ago. Or something like that. We were on our way to Lake Eacham, an extinct volcanic lake to look for Saw Shelled Turtles, Archerfish and Eastern Water Dragons. We would have our afternoon tea here and I experienced  my first disappointment.
I had expected a coffee shop but our Guide brought out a pick nick basket. This was not what I  had expected. Well, I was mostly interested  in a bathroom at a clean coffee shop. I was about to piss myself. But pick nick it was.
We finished our tea and we took off to a walk path through the forest. Our Guide told us interesting facts about the forest and the trees and plants we passed. The rain had stopped so it promised to be a nice walk through the rainforest. And I'm just hoping that we won't run in to any “attack” snakes Stop 3
Lake Eacham
 A small bat sleeping when we have our tea
 A tree with the flowers on the trunk
 Walking through the rain forest
 We got to see Boyd’s Forest Dragons
 Boyd’s Forest Dragons
 Boyd’s Forest Dragons
We all got to see the musky rat kangaroo. But I don't count it as HAVING SEEN it as it could as well have been a rock. But the other passengers confirmed that they had seen it move so I guess it was a musky rat kangaroo. But we got to see a Boyd’s Forest Dragons. Yes, we had made 3 stops since we left the Wallabies in the suburbs of Cairns behind us, and all three of them have been excellent. Next stop is to try to see a Tree Kangaroo and there are some of them in the area next to a tea far. So tea farm it is and let's hope we can see any Tree Kangaroos. Stop 4
Tree Kangaroo
 Looking for Tree Kangaroos
 We spot a Tree Kangaroo
 We spot a Tree Kangaroo
 We spot a Tree Kangaroo
 We spot a Tree Kangaroo
 Leaving the Tree Kangaroo area and we run in to some of the local “wild life”
 Leaving the Tree Kangaroo area and we run in to some of the local “wild life”
Well, we spotted a tree kangaroo and we were of course happy. But I call it my second disappointment for today. I don't know about you. But I had expected small kangaroos jumping around in the trees. But as soon as I came over this disappointment it was a very nice experience and we have had 4 good stops out of 4 so far. Now we will go look for Platypus. I have no idea what a Platypus is, but I learned on my way and I had seen them on pictures before. And I think they have them on Kangaroo Island as well. But this was an animal that I had high up on my list of animals I WANTED TO SEE. Mani reason for me to go to Australia was to see a kangaroo and a koala, but the Platypus would be nice to see. But I learned that it was a very small animal, maybe 30 cm long and I had expected a monster. At least a meter long. We stopped at something called Peterson Creek and we crossed the creek over a bridge and then we went down to the creek. We were walking around but nothing. And it was soon getting dark. Stop 5
Platypus
 Looking for Platypus in Peterson Creek
 Looking for Platypus in Peterson Creek
 Looking for Platypus in Peterson Creek
It was getting dar and we returned to the bridge. We will go for dinner at Nick’s restaurant in Yungaburra. Conveniently located just at the bridge, and then we will come back here. We managed to see 2 Platypys but they were to quick so no pictures. But I hope to get another chance after dinner. But now I was hungry as I had have nothing to eat today. They had forgot my breakfast at Jabiru Safari Lodge at Mareeba Tropical Savanna and Wetland Reserve. So yes, I was getting hungry. And some food would be good, and maybe some tea.  Nick’s restaurant in Yungaburra turned out to be a Swiss & Italian restaurant
 Having our dinner before we return to look for the Platypus
 We see a Platypus from the bridge
 We see a Platypus from the bridge
 We see a Platypus from the bridge
We saw a Platypus when we crossed the bridge after the dinner. Much tanks to my flash light. I had to fight with our Guide to get a flash light. I don't want to walk around in mud and slippery leafs etc. when it is pitch dark. Anyway, we were on the bridge and we didn't found anything and our Guide wanted to continue. He left and I was searching down with my small flash light and me and my new friend from Spain spotted the Platypus. I got a picture from distance and this was it. We walked along the creek but no more Platypus and we returned to the van. We will leave for the rainforest where the huge Curtain Fig Tree plays host to various species of nocturnal wildlife. We will do a “night safari” styled trek looking for animals. Our Guide had guaranteed us to see 3 different possums and maybe a white long nosed rat. All of these animals are endemic to Australia. • Common Possum • Copper Possum • Green ring tailed Possum Well, they are named something like that, there are 5 of them, so if we're lucky we will see a black and white possum. But the 5th was not possible to see here, well, something like that. Never mind, let the adventure begin! We drove to a parking lot with signs saying “Curtain Fig Tree” Stop 6
Curtain Fig Tree
 We see a spider
 We pass a spider web
 Walk along the track
 Walk along the track
 The Curtain Fig Tree
 The southern leaf-tailed gecko
 A possum - An Copper Possum?
 A possum - An Copper Possum?
 A possum - An Copper Possum?
 We pass another big spider
 A possum - An Green ring tailed Possum?
 A possum - An Green ring tailed Possum?
 A possum - Another Copper Possum?
 A possum - A Common Possum?
 A possum - A Common Possum?
It was time to return to Cairns, it had been a fantastic evening and we had seen so many animals, much more than expected. I also saw the white long nosed rat but I never got any picture. It had been an excellent tour, well, except for the formula one race I thought I had ended up with. We flew over the roads coming here and when I told him that we don't need to do the tour in 200 he answered that the car could not make 200. And I suggested that he could charge another 20  to 25% and add an hour to the tour so we could do it slowly.
I understand that we can not have a group of passengers wandering off, but at least we could have had a few minutes extra to smell the air. It was a very nice smell in the forest and, yeah, the Guide had to call me every time I was lagging behind exploring the area by my self. We drove back to Cairns and we took a de-tour to go through the suburbs to check out how the wallabies were doing in the night. The streets were full of them and they were running around and we had to drive carefully in order to avoid them. Well, it had been an excellent day. The Guide asked us to recommend his tour on different sites online. Well, if people like it they will recommend it and my last suggestion is for him to stop asking people to recommend his tour. We were at a restaurant in Bangkok, the service had been, well, OK, but we were all not so pleasantly surprise when they asked us to recommend them on line. But if you ever come to Cairns I recommend you to take this tour Well, I was happy with the tour and I will fly to Darwin tomorrow for more adventures in the wilderness. Kakadu National Park. and you just need to click HERE to find out how this works out. 
    
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To www.aladdin.st since December 2005
Visitors from different countries since 26th of September 2011
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Cairns Rainforest Tours
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