Cairns travel story ~ Far North Queensland, Australia

Stingers, cane toads, cassowaries, crocodiles . . .

port douglas australia north of cairns Australia , especially tropical Cairns (pronounced KANZ) is one of my favourite places to travell, and my Cairns travel story is one of my favourites. Cairns and Queensland 'natives' are friendly, albeit 'madder than cut snakes', the scenery is fabulous, the beaches are great. And if you have a good sense of humour, and can laugh at yourself, you'll get on just fine in Australia.

Especially in Far North Queensland (pictures), along the north east coast around Cairns. I had been looking forward to some serious beach time when I travelled from Canada to Cairns in late November. This area has its share of Australia's many things that can kill you -- stingers, cane toads, cassowaries and more -- and laughter is a good way to keep your perspective. Traveling to Queensland? Find Queensland hotels. And if your heart is set on long days in the waters off the Queensland beaches, then don't go during stinger season -- November to May. If you must, then take along some pantihose! Read on.

Cairns Travel ~ Having Fun With Tourists in Trinity Beach Australia

End of another work day, time now for that drink, to meet with friends and watch the waves catching the light from the setting sun. Maybe grab a bite to eat at one of the tables out on the covered verandah.

Nothing special, just like any other hot summer night at L'Unico's in Trinity Beach. This being November, though, it's the start of stinger season in this part of the world, and sooner or later, someone is sure to bring up the latest about those unlucky enough to encounter one.

Hard to ignore these venomous jellyfish, especially around here. Up and down the Queensland coast, the waters off the swimming beaches now sport dark blue booms that hold the stinger nets. Warning signs advise swimmers and waders to stay inside these enclosures, or risk a horribly painful, maybe even fatal, sting.

Talking about Stingers . . .

The talk turns to the latest stinger casualty, a young woman who's apparently still in hospital. Of particular note, it seems, is that she'd been stung out on the reef, where the shallow-water loving stingers are rarely found. This talk of stingers seems to have caught the ears of a young couple seated at a table away from the bar. They'd been gazing into each other's eyes, holding hands, and generally acting like all the other honeymooners who frequent this area.

The man asks the group at large, "Are stingers really as bad as they say?"

A voice from the crowd (who had all pegged the couple as newlyweds) shoots back, "Oh, stingers only go after honeymooners. We think they're attracted to the gold."

All earnest and wide-eyed, the man replies, "Oh, we're not married!"
"Ah well, you're all right, then," comes the response. "They won't bother you."

Travelling to Australia . . .

Now if you are planning a trip to Australia, and to Far North Queensland in particular, you must remember that Aussies in general do not take themselves, nor much else, terribly seriously. They are great teases, and baiting hapless visitors is a favourite sport. The truly gullible have no chance of winning an exchange; the sceptical, maybe.

Like a few weeks earlier, when I had called my Australian friend Teena (who's a silk artist) to say I was coming to see her new place in Trinity Beach, expecting it would be an interesting change from her big-city Sydney address, and how I was looking forward to spending some quality time on Queensland's fabled beaches.

"Actually, stinger season just started," Teena had said. "It goes from November to May. I don't go in the ocean then, but we can always swim at the pool."

Well, I don't know about you, but I don't travel halfway around the world to swim in a pool, much less one a few hundred feet from the warm Pacific. "You mean we can't go into the ocean at all?" I asked, aware my voice had a plaintive note.

"Well, they put up stinger nets, but I don't like to take the chance," she said. "You could try pantihose, though. You need two pairs. One pair you put on the regular way; the other you cut out the crotch and pull them on over your head, and put your arms through the legs. Of course, if you do that, I won't be seen in public with you."
.

Pantihose? Oh, no . . .

The thought of wearing a pantihose stinger suit and being all by myself on a strange beach was not appealing, but even as I resigned myself to forgoing the beach scene, I was not absolutely certain Teena wasn't 'having me on', having fun about my ignorance of stingers while chalking up another point on the Tease the Tourist scoreboard. I looked for more information from sterling sources, and learned she was indeed right about the stingers, the pantihose, the nets, the season, and a few other stinger facts as well.

The safety of Queensland beaches is a top priority for all who have a stake in them -- the tourism industry, the government, the communities themselves. Ocean and rivermouth waters are regularly sampled, and the number of stingers moniitored. If there's an upsurge, the warnings go out. The nets go up, effectively making Olympic pool-sized areas just off shore, and the lifeguards make sure visitors know what's going on. And large signs are posted along the beaches saying, basically: Stingers (box jellyfish and irukandji) can kill you, and in the unlikely event they don't, the pain is so bad you will wish they had. We are NOT KIDDING.

Surf life savers at Palm Cove . . .

surf life saver stinger suits palm cove australia queensland Although the number of stingers appears to be up, actual deaths are low, about 61 deaths in the last 61 years. "There are more stingers now than there were 20 years ago," one lifesaver told me, "so whatever was their natural predator must have been depleted."

I had struck up a conversation with him while he was on duty at Palm Cove, maybe 15 miles (24 km) north from Trinity Beach. He seemed like a reliable source: A long time lifesaver, at an official-looking beach kiosk, covered head to toe (only his face, hands and feet were bare) in a red, rubbery-looking cat suit.

"So what's with the suit?' I asked.

"It's a lycra stinger suit." he said, "and a great improvement over the days when we had to use pantihose."

So the pantihose story had merit. "But your hands and feet are bare. What about them?"

"We have booties and mittens," he said, "but we don't use them, because jellyfish don't go for hands and feet."

Right, you teaser, I thought. "What happens if someone gets stung?"

"They're gonna die," he laughs. "I sure ain't goin' in there."

About an hour later, I noticed him and his shiftmate, both in stinger suits, heading out on their surfboards to catch some of the rollers whipped up by strong southeast winds that some locals say bring the stingers in to shore. They were both well outside the stinger enclosure.

Off to Cape Trib and Port Douglas

Bright and early and already sweltering the next morning, Teena and I set off for Cape Tribulation, planning to stop at the Sunday market in Port Douglas, about an hour's drive north. From Trinity Beach, the highway hugs the coast, dipping, climbing and making many sweeping curves past perfect beaches lined with palms, the water incredible shades of blue. When the highway passes through a level area of sugar cane fields, she points out a yellow road sign.

'Cane toads," she says. "They're poisonous, too." She goes on, "When I lived at Port Douglas a few years ago -- it was a pretty small place then -- I was walking down the street one Sunday and heard a terrible scream. This lady was trying to get someone to help her husband. A python had landed on him."

Great. It's a Sunday and we are headed for Port Douglas, and stingers and cane toads aren't enough to worry about? "Pythons?"

"Oh yes," she went on. "This guy apparently had been poking at one in a tree and it fell on him.

His own fault. I think he had been drinking."

But, happily, Port Douglas yielded no snakes that day. Its Sunday market was a treat of silk and cotton clothing, handmade soaps, candles, flowers and fruits. That, and the city's many restaurants, coffee shops and idyllic setting make it a wonderful spot for a home or a holiday. But, on to Cape Tribulation.

Our first stop is for lunch at Daintree Village, some excellent fish and chips, then looking around the few shops.

"This used to be the end of the road," said Teena, "unless you had a 4-wheel-drive, which I don't, so this may be as far as we can go."

But no, said the fellow at Mason's Tours, handing us a map of the area while rapidly trading a barrage of one-liners with Teena that had them both in stitches but went over my head. "Head down that road there for the ferry across the river," he said. "The road is paved right up to Cape Trib, another 40 kilometers, but after that, it's four wheel drive only to go the 120 kilometers to Cooktown."

At the Daintree ferry heading to Cape Tribulation . . .

daintree river ferry queensland australia

At the ferry, there's a large scale concrete-enhanced replica of a crocodile, and more warning signs to complement the ones for stingers and cane toads. These signs warn about crocodiles and cassowaries. Crocs I know, and stay in the car rather than wander the riverbank while waiting for the ferry. But cassowaries are new to me. Luckily, the signs explain precisely why I should worry.

It seems cassowaries are reminiscent of Jurassic Park's velociraptors, ostrich-sized birds with, apparently, foul tempers and short fuses. Not hard to understand, given that less-than-winning combination, why they are an endangered species. However, habitat loss is the more likely culprit, not losing battles with humans.

I read the detailed directions on what to do should one encounter a cassowary: Don't make eye contact, back away slowly, slide sideways behind a tree or post or anything that might take the brunt of the cassowary's sharp claws instead of your jugular vein. Helpful stuff like that.

"Sound like miserable creatures for sure," I said to a park ranger manning a nearby information booth. "Maybe extinction is not always a bad thing."

"But they are vital to the ecosystem," came her reply. "Their intestinal tract is large enough to pass large mango seeds whole, so when they roam up the mountains, they distribute the seeds. If the cassowaries weren't around, the mangos would just drop from the trees, and roll down the mountain to the river instead of taking root."

I suggest to her that, given the nasty ways of the cassowaries, and the fact that university students are always needing summer jobs, there just might be a workable alternative arrangement. Not that the students would be asked to ingest 3 inch long mango seeds, much less process them, just to plant them.

Judging from the look of shock on her face, I realize I am starting to pick up the Aussie teasing syndrome, and give myself my first, and most likely last, point in that game.

For the very next day, on a tour boat from Cairns to Green Island for an afternoon of snorkelling, I ask another passenger, an Aussie, some serious question about the reef. Yet again, I get some teasing remark for my troubles.

"My gosh," I laugh, "Is anyone in this entire country ever in a bad mood?"

"Yes," he says, not missing a beat. "Everyone in Sydney of a Monday!"

And it occurs to me there's another local hazards warning sign that's needed:

Caution :Locals may tease you to death.

###

More on Cane Toads From the Sydney Morning Herald Sept 2006 :: Liquid fertiliser made from cane toads sounds like a brilliant feat of recycling. Take hundreds of thousands of slimy toad cadavers, mulch them into sludge, and scatter the muck across the fields to encourage mangoes, paw paws and bananas to flourish while also ridding the country of an introduced pest. Neat.

Unfortunately the fertiliser, called ToadJus and created by a Northern Territory group, FrogWatch, has a few teething problems. The Northern Territory News reports that the first batch of ToadJus has been exploding in buyer's sheds and kitchens, covering them and their houses in a sticky, vile-smelling liquid. Like a fine wine, it seems, toad sludge needs time to mature, and the first batch was sold far too early.

FrogWatch said the gruel was experiencing residual fermentation and recommended users unscrew the cap half a turn to release the pressure. From now on, the group added, the liquid would be stored in vats for two months before being sold.
.

More Australia Travel Information, Pictures & Stories

Australia beach in Cairns Queensland with stinger net.

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Mooshie - November 9, 2007, 2:40 am
Hi Karen,

I love all your travel stories! Apart the crocodiles, cassowaries and the cane toads, did you meet any other Australian wildlife?
Karen - November 16, 2007, 4:43 pm
Hi Mooshie!

When I was down south, on Kangaroo Island, I had the chance to see lots of wildlife.

Birds, sea lions, seals, wallabies and kangaroos.

I even got to hold a 'joey' -- a baby kangaroo.

That was the best!

Check the Kangaroo Island pages for pictures and another travel story.

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