We have arrived in Cairns

This was how we traveled to Cairns from Brisbane!  Pretty neat, right?  Not really, but this was in the flight magazine and we are hoping for something like this on our return flight to the states. (won't happen!)

We were able to see a small window through the clouds, giving us our first look at the Great Barrier Reef.

 

If you love Miami and the  wonderful tropical climate and the flora and fauna, then you would love it here.  We flew in to the airport in a wicked rain storm that lasted most of the afternoon.  The resulting atmosphere is like a sauna.  I  hope we remember this when we arrive in New Zealand and it is in the 50's.

The persistent rains of the past weeks have played havoc with our travel itineraries.  We have a day trip into the rain forest via the railway and the skyrail gondola later this week. We have been watching the news as the railway was washed out with a mudslide about 10 days ago. As of today, we will not be taking any railroad trip. We will take the skyrail up to Kuranda and back.

Today, we were booking a nice river cruise that included a trip to a crocodile farm. This was a farm where the crocs are raised for their hides and was not a "Crocodile Dundee " tourist attraction. We found out that the crocodile farm has been flooded and is not open for us to tour.  They are promising us that the weather will clear up by Thursday in time for our trip to Green Island and the Great Barrier Reef.

We are fortunate to be able to visit the two World Heritage sites--the Rain Forest and the Great Barrier Reef. This is the only location in the world that has two such sites. The world has watched the past few days as a Chinese freighter deliberately went off-course and cut across the Reef.  His misguided decision has resulted in a massive oil spill that threatens to do irreparable harm to the reef eco systems.  This happened quite a ways farther south than where we are, so most likely won't impact our visit to the reef.