Cairns

3/4 of an hour north of the boulders we came into Cairns. Its a great city, with a medium town feel. People are laid back and seem to know that they live in paradise - even though its pretty tough to find work I'm told.

We caught up with an old friend from our Auckland days, Sarah Jordaan (Nee Wallace) and her husband Leon and two beautiful kids. It was a great time of catching up!

While In Cairns we of course did all the must do tourist days out, except we are yet to explore Green Island which I am also told is wonderful to snorkel around the jetty. But we will hopefully squeeze that in on the way back down as we need a couple of Tanya's pays to come in first.

One of the special highlights that we did do was the Karanda Sky Train which is a cable car that runs for miles through the rain forest with two stations along the way. It gives you a commanding view and the rain forest is spectacular.

At the top end of the cable car is the township of Karanda which is nestled amongst the rain forest and river. There is a butterfly zoo? in which the breed butterflies for tourists like us to wander amongst. IT WAS FANTASTIC! and Tanya got some (I think) outstanding photos

The ultraviolet coloured Ulysses butterfly catch your eye in bright sunlight as they flutter along. They are very timid however and for every on the move so as not to be eaten by birds. When they eventually do stop, they rest there wings closed almost immediately and the underside colour is quite drab in comparison. Tanya did however manage some shots just as they landed or were just taking off. hence the movement in the pictures.

before we left Cairns we bought a double kayak to add to our kit. We have not used it very much as the further north we travel the further into croc country we go, and after our time in Darwin, I have no intention of messing with those beasts!