The humidity here seems to have been between 99% and 100%. The 100% moments have been wonderfully intense thunderstorms which for many have achieved a drenching effect. You may want to ask Zelynne and Corrin how that felt. Our winning activity to beat the heat was hands down snorkeling at a few sites along the outer GREAT BARRIER REEF! At our final site the snorkel guides picked up a few things for us to check out. There was a mushroom coral, a sea cuke, and a feather star which had impressive adhesive abilities. I'm sure that the guides planned this in hopes of detouring tourists from touching and potentially harming the reef and the inhabiting creatures. Personally I was too afraid to touch anything for fear of instant death or at least, lots and lots of pain but it was really neat to handle a few creatures. (If you haven't heard, Australia is home to a huge amount of critters that will end you, most importantly the box jellies which are keeping us from cooling off in the beach surf) While the ocean is off limits for shore entrance, I think that the crew successfully found ways to explore Port Douglas.
At the Tjapukai Aboriginal Cultural Center we got a lot of hands on experience after some theatrical representations of aboriginal history and culture. We learned about and held different culturally important plants and tools and even got to fling spears and throw boomerangs. J-MO was the ultimate warrior of us all, just missing the kangaroo target while Corrin rocked the boomerang throw. I think that this experience gave us a greater perspective on an important part of Australia which for me at least conjured up a greater respect for the land and its creatures because they are so influential in the aboriginal stories and way of life.
Later that afternoon was the Hartley Crocodile farm where we got to pet koalas. While this was awesome, overall a handful of us left Hartley's feeling a bit disheartened. I highly recommend reading Emily Bishops blog for further information about our experience here.
During todays free day I was able to rouse Preston and Emily for sunrise on the beach complete with digging through the cool, fine, sand making sand castles/sponge bobs. This adventure was followed by a morning dip in the pool- So refreshing! After a lovely nap, we rented a MANUAL car and headed north. Driving here certainly felt different. I think this ties nicely in with the theme of habits which we have visited throughout the course. In the case of driving in Australia, as with the case of making sustainable lifestyle changes, habits may be hard to break, but sheesh are they necessary! While eventually the left side of the road felt mostly normal, I personally (and I'm pretty sure Preston and anyone else who got to drive this day) never quite made the transition of differentiating between the blinker and window wiper controls.
Since we couldn't go swimming, handmade ice cream in the middle of this adventure was our way of cooling down. The dish came with four flavours: raspberry, mango, wattleseed-which was coffee hazelnut-esc, and soursop which was described as lemony goat cheese...but don't doubt the goodness.
Towards the end of our adventure in the Daintree National Park the car-full of us came to a jolting halt in response to a cassowary crossing the road (A cassowary is a large endangered bird which is central to the creation story of AU Aboriginals). I had a momentary desire to pick through the pile of cassowary poo/shit in the middle of the road but Preston and Emily wouldn't have it. While that was kind of a bummer, overall this moment was awesome because I missed seeing the cassowary at the croc farm but thankfully I had this awesome opportunity to see one in the wild, albeit in the middle of the road. The multitude of cassowary crossing signs were no joke and strikingly presents the threat of human impact on this magnificent creature. Of course the rainforest is home to an immense range of biodiversity and while there may not be sign-age every few kilometres, the protection of all the magnificent creatures and plants in these beautiful places is just as pressing as ever.
While our time in Port Douglas was short, I feel like we made the most of it.
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