Great Barrier Reef

The Great Barrier Reef lies to the east of the far north Queensland coast. We chose a dedicated snorkelling boat (rather than a dive / snorkel boat) and went out to the reef on a perfect day.

Okay, it wasn't absolutely perfect ... there was a bit of a wind going out. It was a choppy 40 km to our first snorkel site.

But once we were next to the reef, the wind dropped. The air temperature was 30 degrees and the water temperature was 29 degrees. Bliss.

Lee and Suz were staying with us in Port Douglas. We had a memorable day on the reef together. We stopped at three snorkel sites during the day: the tide was going out, so at the last site the coral was very close to the surface. Water visibility was very good. On large outcrops, we hovered on the surface of the water and could see layers and layers of sea life: shimmering schools of small fluorescent fish, velvety clams, soft and spongy coral, spiky and stripy coral, bright yellow angel fish, some Moorish idols (for a lucky few) -- and we could hear as well as see big blue parrot fish chomping noisily on the reef.

At the second snorkel site, we were startled to see a HUGE fish swimming to the boat and lurking ferociously around us as we all swam off the boat. This was a Maori wrasse, advertised as Marvin in the brochure. Apparently 'Marvin' is a large territorial male, who challenges the boat (and snorkellers) every day as it enters his territory. Anyway, he was all bluster. But very brazen -- at one point, he swam above the snorkelling platform, which is lowered into the water to allow easy access.

Late in the afternoon, we headed back to Port Douglas. Here we are entering the marina, full of sea and salt and sun.

Queensland: Daintree forests

The Daintree Rainforest in the oldest continually surviving tropical rainforest on earth. It's been a World Heritage Site since 1988 and is well conserved. Apparently some of the plant species have survived unchanged for 40 million years (and I bet the mosquitoes were just as annoying then too).

The Daintree is a beautiful place to visit. There are a number of walks that have been set up in the park, on boardwalks above the ground, so that walkers don't damage the environment but also (in my view) so that walkers don't step on unpleasant things.

The Daintree Discovery Centre has aerial walkways, about 4 metres above the ground, and audioguides that describe the trees and plants as you walk along the walkways. It also has a 23 metre tall tower, on five storeys. As you walk up the tower, you're able to see the different levels of the rainforest and the plants and animals that live at each level. From the top of the tower, you can see over the rainforest canopy -- well, most of it, as some of the trees are 30 metres tall. You can see the bright iridescent blue butterflies that flutter over the treetops, which are not visible from below.

This is one of my favourite spots. A very large spider had spun a very large web between these two trees and was waiting, poised on its web, to catch some dinner. We waited a while to see whether anything happened, but the blue forest butterflies simply danced around the web ...

Queensland: Daintree beaches

We explored every beach from north of Cape Tribulation (Emmagen Beach), southwards through the Daintree. They are all beautiful, pristine, clean and deserted (or almost deserted). What is striking is that the rainforest stretches from the hills all the way down to the beach. There's a mixture of palms, ferns, eucalypts ... and mangroves, always mangroves. (And with mangroves come crocodiles and drat! mosquitoes.)

We swam at the last beach (Cow Bay) and chatted to the friendly locals, who arrived at the beach after work for a spot of fishing and dog walking. Honestly, I don't know where to start (or end) with these photographs. I have hundreds of photos of beautiful (different) beaches. So all I will say is: if you like beaches, this is a part of the world worth visiting.

Far north Queensland

The last time we flew in to Cairns airport was in 2000, but tropical north Queensland is just as lush and green as we remember, with sweeps of turquoise bays. The second map below shows the Great Barrier Reef on the coast.

From Cairns, we drove north, about 90 minutes, then we crossed the Daintree River on a ferry ...

... and drove into the Daintree National Park. The Daintree is a tropical rainforest and a World Heritage Site. This is the view from one of the look-out spots between the river and our lodge. (That's the Daintree River mouth.)

We're staying at the Daintree Wilderness Lodge, one of the eco-lodges in the park. This is our cabin, and the view looking up from the walkway at our front door into the rainforest canopy.

The central part of the roof of our cabin is a clear plastic strip, so we look up into the canopy from bed. There is a constant pattering of leaves, fruits and seeds falling onto the vegetation and our cabin below -- it sounds like rain, but it's not. (We're also giving our bug repellants a good workout.)

And finally (for today), we couldn't be in the north without ... crocodile warnings.

Jersey Boys Johannesburg

What a great way to spend a Friday evening watching the Jersey Boys at Monte Casino.
It's impossible to have lived in the 20th century and remain unaware of the Four Seasons who propelled themselves into fame by singing about a girl called Sherry.

And Tennille was at school with Daniel Buys who plays Tommy DeVito

So what happened in South Africa in the 1960s?

• Cliff Richard visited Johannesburg
• South Africa became a republic
• Nelson Mandela was sentenced to life imprisonment
• Gary Player made his mark by winning top international golf tournaments
• Prime Minister Verwoerd was assassinated
• World's first heart transplant
• Films shown at bioscopes were a regular form of entertainment
• Shops closed at 1 pm on Saturdays and Sunday trading was prohibited
• Squad Cars and Men from the Ministry were popular radio programmes
• The mini skirt revolutionised fashion trends

... and Heidi-Lee and Julie-Anne started school!!!!!

Turner exhibition

We popped across to Adelaide on Easter Sunday to see an exhibition of Turner paintings from the Tate Gallery in London. Sadly the exhibition is only going to Adelaide and Canberra, and not to Melbourne. We love Turner and couldn't bear to miss seeing some of his paintings, so Adelaide it was! We last saw these paintings at the Tate in (gasp) 1983.

Adelaide was a bit grey and drizzly but that didn't matter for a flying trip. We've been to the Adelaide Art Gallery before and it is always a treat. (One of the recently acquired modern pieces is two half-horses -- real, stuffed -- joined into one strange beast and hung from the ceiling.)

But back to the romance and beauty of Turner.

In Turner's day (late 1700s, early 1800s), many of the critics and much of the public were critical of his lack of detail, of the 'impression' of light he created, rather than a literal depiction. Turner was a romantic artist -- long before the Impressionists -- but the Impressionists stand on his giant shoulders.

We own some high-quality art reproductions of Turner's works, including some beautiful books. But no reproduction captures the extraordinary quality of light in the original paintings. It's impossible to convey the way that light seems to emanate from the original paintings unless you see them. The paintings look as though there is a light source in the paintings themselves. They are astoundingly brilliant (in the real sense of the word).

Most of Turner's early work is in watercolour. He used layers and layers of translucent colour to achieve the clarity of the water and the light shining through hazy mist. Later paintings are in oils: brilliant, golden, creamy light exploding from the canvas. Here are some photos that I took at the exhibition. Obviously no flash is allowed, and there are reflections from some of the glass covering the paintings, but these photos give you some idea of what we saw.

The last photograph is a close-up detail of the preceding painting (the left-hand corner).

We loved this exhibition. It was a great way to spend Easter! (Monet's garden paintings are coming to Melbourne in May. Can't wait ...)