23rd February 2010
We awoke this morning to more rain, but were determined to take the bus to the Botanical Gardens regardless, after all, as the guy in the hostel said to us, when better to witness a rainforest, than during the rain.
The gardens consist of a collection of tropical plants of both native and exotic origins. Among the attractions are a fernery and orchard house along with palms, bamboo, tropical fruits and flowering trees shrubs and vines. These presented a fantastic display, lush green, dripping with water and quite different from the other botanic gardens we have visited on this trip. We were surrounded by plants which quite often we have seen in greenhouses in other gardens, or houseplants back home.
We moved onto an area in the Gardens dedicated to plants from Gondwanaland and showing through a loop walk the evolution from ancient plants originally found on Gondwanaland thorugh ferns and finally onto flowering trees. It was a fascinating walk, but unfortunately one where we were unable to linger due to the giant mosquitos hanging about. Luckily I had remembered to wear repellent, but Ed suffered quite a few bites (and took out quite a few mozzies in the process).
Next we visited the Mount Whitfield Conservation Park. This is an area of 300 hectares which offers two walking trails with views over the City of Cairns. Due to the weather and insects, we opted for the shorter of the two walks which took us up through the rainforest where we saw some scrub turkeys and scrub hens. We were also lucky enough to come across a shy agile wallaby. As we reached the top of the hill the path opened up into eucalypt grasslands and we had some views over the airport and the bay of Cairns.
On our way back down the hill we were startled by a massive spider, the size of a dinner plate just hanging around on the side of the path. It must have been about a foot from end to end!
The afternoon was spent taking advantage of cut-price cinema tickets and packing ready for our journey tomorrow.