Neil, Lee & the boys at Australian Coffee House. Beutiful views of the surrounding countryside.
Joey & Sam at Emerald Creek - a beautiful spot for a picnic, so we ate and chatted here...
Neil was our tour guide for the day. Excellent day out to Emerald Creek Falls and later the Australian Coffee House near Mareeba.
The boys had a lovely breakfast with someone special - Milli the red heeler! Silly Milli according to Neil!!
Sam on the beach hunting for coconuts. This one had sprouted!!
Jan, Don, & Lee on the beach near Cape Tribulation. A lovely area surrounded by lush rainforest.
Tom & 'the princess' at Bloomfield Falls which is about midway between Cooktown & Cape Tribulation.
Joey & Sam enjoying the view as we cross a creek on route to Cape Tribulation from Cooktown. Beautiful rainforest country that meets the sea along this road. (Didn't see anyone chained to trees!!)
In the Prado Don & Jan crossing a creek on the way south to Cape Tribulation
A monument to the man himself in the main St of town.
The boys sitting outside James Cook Museum - Cooktown. Inside lots of information relating to Cooks arrival and the later Gold mining rush inland. Cooktown was at one stage Qld's 2nd busiest seaport!!
This shows the beautiful view towards Cairns area from the Skyrail - amazing!!
Let Brotherly Love Continue....Joey & Sam....so far so good. 
Leeanne and boys at lookout with Barron Falls in background.
The rainforest canopy underneath the Skyrail - so green and lush. The Skyrail cars carry six people at a pinch, and the cables carrying the load are about 50mm thick. Probably strung by helicopter?
The Barron Falls from lookout at midway point on return trip - excellent views.
Dad and the boys on the Skyrail heading back towards Cairns. In the background is the Barron River. Simply awesome views of one of Australia's prettiest and spectacular areas....
We later found out it was because one of the butterflies favourite colours is red!!
Sam thought he was special (which we think he is!) with all the attention show to him by a variety of butterflies....
This particular butterfly took a liking to Jan's hair...
A Cairns Bird Wing Butterfly at Kuranda Butterfly Sanctuary.
There are thirteen of these hand dug tunnels. A seriously hard job in the tropical heat of Nth QLD.
Inside the train. Some nice timber work beautifully restored. Similar to the Old 'Red Rattlers' in Melbourne.
Stoney Creek Railway Station!!!
A couple of suspect characters on board! Samuel & Joseph.....
One of many bridges required to cross the gorges. The biggest is Barron Gorge. There were 32 lives lost building this rail line. It was built to freight Gold back from an inland mine site. At one stage there were 1500 men working on it. They men working on it had to supply their own pick and shovel to be considered for a job!!
Looking back towards Cairns from the train.
From the window view of Kuranda Train leaving Freshwater Station
This topped off Sam's day!! There was a very talented lady on board who thrilled the nippers with some face painting. Excellent job - no showers for three days!!
Some of the lovely Coral fish life that we snorkelled around. There was a glass bottom boat that cruised around with people who didn't fancy snorkelling
This craft was no 'tinnie'. A whopper that can carry 350 people out to the Great Barrier Reef. This shot is of us on the top deck.
We met up with Ma (Jan) & Pop (Don) Volkmer in Cairns and had the day out on the reef together. It was good fun. They held brekkie down as did we!
Leaving Cairns for the trip out to the reef. A bit bumpy, some folks didn't fare too well with keeping brekky down!! Hee-hee!
Samuel the Coconut Hunter!! (That's as far as he got!)
This little bloke is a Curlew. It has spent the last three weeks guarding the eggs below it. Rotating with the female mate. Since we have been at the caravan park in Cairns we have had heavy showers and cool nights but this guy is undeterred. The racket they make if approached is just awful!!
In the wet Nth Qld 'dry season'. We are at the base of Bartle Frere which is QLD's highest peak closely followed by Bellenden Ker. We read signs telling of up to 10+ metres of rain falling in this area. The record is 12m - amazing to think of that volume of water racing through this spot in summer!!
Sam and Joey on the Big Gumboot at Tully. It shares the highest rainfall in Australia with Babinda which is a little further North. We stopped here on the way to Sth Mission Beach on the way to Cairns from Balgal Beach.
After staying at St Lawrence we stopped at the sandfly capital of Australia - Balgal Beach just North of Townsville. A beautiful beachside spot, but the wee biters come out at dusk & dawn. Here's Sam on the beach collecting some shells
