Cairns.  December 27,2011
    This is a smallish city in the north east is the gateway to the Great Barrier Reef and to the many rainforest areas along the coast. It is very tropical, has large wide streets with palm trees, not many people, clean and safe. I see a pattern with these Oz cities. We rented a Suzuki  car and drove, on the left, to Kuranda, an abörigine settlement in the mountains. We get to stay overnight here which is nice. On the way to Kuranda we got lost but did find the Baron river gorge which was not too different from those I have been to inNH. The difference here is that no one stops you from swimming in the river and playing on the rocks. When we finally found Kuranda most of the tourists had gone home. There is a cable car here and old railroad. By 5PM it was very quiet. We walked along a jungle trail which was fabulous. It was dark and eerie with lots of animal calls and howls We could not see them but they were there. We did see a strange looking turkey with a flaming red head and bright yellow throat.Also saw green parrots. I did think I saw a koala in a tree but cannot be sure. I am still looking for a kangaroo. I may have to go to a zoo. almost the best part of the day was stopping at a McDonald,s which had wifi and I was able to connect to file these blogs and to check messages. Even better Brit was online and we face timed . So cool!