Cairns, Australia- January 3, 2008

Arrived early this morning to a harbor filled with sailboats and surrounded by many green hills.

The town of Cairns- pronounced Cans- is in the North Queensland Territory and has a population about 130,000 people. Australia itself only has a population of 20 million people so it is no wonder that we lots of open land.

The tour bus had seatbelts and a flashing light. The law makes you buckle your seat belt. There were also customs dogs and agricultural officers carefully watching people as we left. No food could be taken off the ship. Very careful these folks.

We drove on the Captain Cook Highway. He discovered most of this area in 1770 and his charts were so correct that they are still current. 

The education system  is both state run and private-mostly Catholic schools. The Health Care is- according to our guide- the best in the world.

Our first stop was the Skyrail across the tops of the trees in the rainforest. This trip when it was built had to get approval from 65 different agencies in the government. The ecologist and environmentalist were not happy at all. It was a great ride featuring amazing views. We saw the biggest ferns we have ever seen. 

We got off the Skyrail at three ranger stations and took a walk  in the rainforest. We saw a white cockatiel bird and some beautiful orange butterflies. We also heard some very loud chirping creatures.

We saw field and fields of Sugar Cane. Takes 7 tons of sugar cane to make 1 ton of refined sugar. This region supplies 90% of the sugar for Australia. 

Our next stop for The Australian Buttterfly Sanctuary. We learned how they carefully raise only butterflies from Australia. There were more varieties of butterflies flying around than I have ever seen...or imagined could be. We tried for good photos of the large blue Ulysses and the even bigger Cairns Birdwing beautiful green butterfly but they were too fast for our cameras. The butterflies were everywhere and even landed on our shoulders and heads. We had a great day on shore and are looking forward to a good night.