From Sydney, we flew to Cairns in the north to explore the reef and rainforest for a couple of days. This was also where I would have to get acclamated to driving on the left side of the road, with round-abouts. It turned out not to be that difficult, since when you are sitting on the opposite side of the car, you tend to drive on the opposite side of the road. At least the pedals were arranged the same, and my right foot didn't need to learn how to clutch.
We stayed in a northern 'suburb' of Cairns called Palm Cove. A lovely little
community on the shores of the Coral Sea. This is the Esplanade, a pavered
street running along the beach. What few stores and restaurants there are,
are located on this street.
And there are lots of palms and ferns. Would have been postcard perfect,
if it weren't late in the day and overcast.
The beach was nice. Certainly unpopulated. The sand was dark colored, and
rather heavy, but nice and soft. The water, however, was off limits. They
have box jellyfish in the waters here. You had to swim within the special
stinger net, because these things can kill you.
Even with the weather being uncooperative, this is a nice photo. It's the
Coral Sea at sunset. The sun had set over the mountain behind me, thus
making the water dark, but the sky was still illuminated.
Another neat photo.
I call this "Sunrise over the Coral Sea".