Australia – Cairns First Day

I have visited Australia before, 20 years ago. My best friend Trish was living in Sydney then so, I got to see some interesting places and we had some adventures. We once lost our horses on a trail ride in the Blue Mountains but that’s a whole different story!
Anyway there is a very specific purpose to this visit and its to take my Dad ( from Scotland ) Bird Watching. He has a very specific itinerary for us and we are only visiting Queensland. I never got to Queensland before so its new to me too.My Dad is a seasoned traveller having travelled to India, The Artic and the Atacama Desert to name a few. He normally has a bird watching companion Anne who is a good birdwatcher (my mum doesn’t like to travel quite as far or as remotely). So I’m the travel companion this time because Anne is broken at the moment (Dad didn’t do it, I don’t think!) I arrived in sweltering Cairns, Australia at 1030 hours in the morning. I met dad at the hotel which is a bit run down but it will do (Lee would hate it).

Very pleased to see my dad so chipper after over 24 hours of flying yesterday. My Dad is 81 and fit as a fiddle and just to start as we mean to go on, he’d already been out bird watching around the town and along the coast. Now first thing we had to do was a temporary repair on one of Dads boots and headed to a cycle shop for some super glue before he tripped and broke something. That worked and we went to the beach, or should I say mud, which was heaving with some not so little crabs scuttling over every square inch. Just look at the kit we’re carrying? We also look like Harold and Hilda on the hat front which is disturbing!

The esplanade is rather smart, with trees and picnic areas, swimming pools and gym areas. Needless to say there were lots of beautiful golden bodies either swimming, sunbathing or excercising (the latter being very toned men). Obviously because they are not feathered so I’m not looking!
You cannot swim in the sea here, there are to many things that bite or sting so in Cairns there is a man made lagoon with sand for the kids (a lido in effect).
Anyway off to a good start with the birds over the mud, Azure kingfisher, Pelicans which is my favourite bird so far, a great white heron, yellow bellied sunbird, silver gull, magpie lark, sparrow, spotted turtle dove and welcome swallow, and a Willie Wagtail (not made up!)

There are masses of butterflies, and we saw a glass wing I think but, don’t quote me. It’s a bit blurry but you get the gist. So far the others have been too quick to capture.

I wasn’t sure how good I was going to be at bird watching but actually I’m going to be useful as I can see distance where my dad can’t, so I’ll be the spotter (not as good as Anne), he’ll be the identifier. I’m also the driver when we pick up our car.We managed to find a outdoor pursuits shop to get Dad some new boots. As his old boots lasted 15 years he thinks this is probably his last pair!
We stopped for coffee at the only open place as it’s a bank holiday weekend and had Vietnamese style coffee, Dads was hot and mine was iced, both a bit different but really good. I’m not much of a coffee drinker but I thought it delicious.