Showing posts with label Rainforest. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rainforest. Show all posts

Monday 16 September 2013

Meeting The Amazon Man - Alan Holman - The Record Breaking Kayak Down The Amazon

Ahh life....row row row your boat, gently down the stream, merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, life is but a dream.....not for this guy it wasn't....and it certainly wasn't a stream.....

Last week, I met an incredible Guinness World Record Holder.....my first one too!

Now at 68, British man Alan Holman who in 1982 at the age of 38, is the first and only man on record that has ever kayaked the entire length of the 4,000 mile long Amazon River, you know what he said to me...

'Young lady, nothing ...is 100% impossible, but  
                  nothing is 100% sure'

                            awww.

Friday 18 June 2010

Australia Adventures: 13. Kickin ' up Cairns and Last Train from Kuranda


Last time I was reporting of my adventures in the Land of Oz I was in Port Douglas. Pretty place to hang for a bit....


DSCF4479.jpg

DSCF6005.jpg

Strange things you find in hostels....


Having not spending much time in Cairns when I arrived there the first time back in April, I ventured back there and into the Aboriginal Rainforest Regions of Kuranda on a skyrail flying over the beautiful rainforest. 'The Skyrail Rainforest Cableway' is one of the world's longest cableways stretching 7.5 kms over North Queensland's Tropical Rainforest to the cute village of Kuranda, nestled amongst the cocoon of the tropical rainforest - spectacular!


DSCN0033.jpgDSCN0065.jpg

DSCN0091.jpgDSCN0086.jpg















DSCN0059.jpg

Yeah that little black shadow blob in the middle there....yeah thats me
Upon descending at Kuranda after gliding for 90 minutes over the rainforest, the village itself sprawls out throbbing with quaint, eco market stalls as 'Boots' and I trudged around the aura of friendly locals - but of course very touristy as it provides a great day tripper for travellers from Cairns.  
I then took up a visit to a Rainforestation Park, which again is an enormous tourist park where I got better acquainted with some Aussie Wildlife Locals......

DSCN0128.jpg

DSCN0132.jpg


DSCN0133.jpg

yeah not the smartest idea....

Riding in Army Ducks through the rainforest with a 'true blue' Aussie guide (they're really cool, they drive on land and then plunge into water and drive like a boat)


DSCN0181.jpg


DSCN0197.jpgDSCN0192.jpg


DSCN0203.jpg


The highlight of my trip to Kuranda was witnessing a male Aborigine ceremonial dance performance which was very different to anything I'd seen before, which paid homage to the dream time stories and native Australian animals that different Aborigine skin names hold so sacredly. They even made fire in less than ten seconds...now they know how to survive. They later took us outside to give us a spear throwing, boomerang and primal hunting demonstrations - woowww!!!! watching six boomerangs being thrown at once swivelling through the air was incredible to watch. I decided to take a more adventurous way back into Cairns by walking down to the pretty little Kuranda station to find a traditional old steam train waiting for me how cute!

The Kuranda Scenic Railway took me 34km winding through the tranquil picturesque mountains and rainforest (waterfalls!) back to the cement, iron world of Cairns with the wind rippling through my way as we roared back into the city welcomed by the friendly waves of passer-bys who were all so familiar with the train passing through daily. Great Train Journey - highly recommend it. 

I was taken by the reef so much after visiting it off Cape Tribulation that I attended a marine school for a day back in Cairns being lectured about the World of The Great Barrier Reef (Do you know that Dory is actually a dangerous fish from Finding Nemo? No!)

Until next time....











With Lonely Planet Travel Guide Australia

Saturday 5 June 2010

Australia Adventures: 11. Cape Tribulation and Rainforest Flying


G'day everyone!

Calling from Port Douglas! a swanky coastal town north of Cairns where the Aussie rich folk come to play. Last night I went 'Cane Toad Racing' in one of the bars on the main street, you bid for a cane toad which are Giant Toads which inhabit this part of Australia to place them in the race and then proceed to blow them off a round table, catch them, run across the bar and put them in a bucket - not as easy as it seems! but that was quite an experience dabbling with Aussie quirkiness.


DSCF4468.jpgDSCF4459.jpg


Of course I didn't win.


Well quite a change of scene for me since I left the Atherton Tablelands. All 'cashed up' (as the Aussie's say for having money) I hitched a ride with one of the locals from the Kairi pub to head further north to the mystery of the Daintree Rainforest boarding the two minute cable ferry to cross the Daintree River deliciously riddled with tropical crocodiles and word up hear was that some guy actually swam across the Daintree River as a result of a drunken bet...he did live to tell the tale.


DSCF4204.jpgDSCF4211.jpg

I then travelled 34km by sealed road into the ancient thick foliage of the Cape Tribulation rainforest area - indigenously named 'Kulki' but in fact the area was renamed 'Cape Tribulation' by the English Explorer Captain Cook where his ship ran aground causing 'tribulation' right?


It is seriously paradise here and is the only place where the rainforest meets the reef - The Great Barrier Reef that is

Just like a desert island and not replusively crowded like the claustrophic beaches of Sydney - I love it! I was rooming with a girl at a beach lodge who was working as a stripper in Darwin (interesting conversations) and our eco friendly lodge, its electricity powered by generators and solar energy fitting nicely into my earth saving ways.
The lodge also backs onto the beach, I couldn't ask for more. Life is so simple and uncomplicated. I think the photographs say it all.


DSCF4237.jpgDSCF4266.jpg

DSCF4263.jpg

I Love it Here!!!!!!


Exploring the coastal rainforest area on my trusty borrowed bike, the Government are very clued up about the
dangers of crocodiles that may be lurking in the mangroves and caution of marine stingers that inhabit the waters this time of year. Vinegar boxes are laid out on the beach with clear instructions of treating any unfortunate souls who are stung. Cringe. These things can kill you out here. Was funny to notice the signs here are in English and German....mmmmm



DSCF4272.jpgDSCF4270.jpg

Not that this should put you off by any means, the rainforest life is gorgeous and I captured the rare sight of a Lace Monitor strolling around his domain on the sand and took a visit to a voluntary Bat Hat in the Rainforest Village - avoiding throwing caution to the wind of my awareness for wild Cassowarys (remember, the most dangerous birds in the world they say) which you may see on the way as I rode to the village.


DSCF4308.jpg
I never did - but there's plenty of signs telling you what to do if they freak out. The simple rule is, leave them alone and they'll leave you alone. Simple. They do look quite cute though, like big bright blue emus.

Well the Bat House is a local conservation organisation which is a cute nursery for fruit bats, I even met two of the residents themselves 'Joker' and 'Edward'....mmmm wonder what inspired their names. 


DSCF4305.jpg
I signed up for a night walk in the rainforest (highly recommend it) armed with 'Boots' coming in handy yet again with headtorches and was taken deep into the lowland rainforest to see what the night would bring. My guide informed me about the wonders of the Queensland rainforest, things I hadn't even seen out in the Amazonia of South America - pieces of wood that glowed in the dark and a sea of glowing mushrooms on the forest floor, not 'magic mushrooms' by any means. Apparently the Australian Art Producer of 'Avatar' had gathered his inspiration from his travels here. I was also lucky to spy a tree dragon, cleverly trying to disguise itself on a tall slim tree trunk and of course the tree you want to go nowhere near....the stinger tree ahhhhh no really do not go near it.


DSCF4227.jpgDSCF4229.jpg
The next afternoon I had a go at 'jungle surfing' (leads to the imagination) - its a lot of fun. You strap yourself to a flying fox harness and you fly about 25m above the rainforest canopy on a zip wire to a series of towers scattered across the jungle - is awesome you gotta do it, even upside down. Quite rightly I was wearing a helmet saying 'Peter Pan'

DSCF4328.jpgDSCF4330.jpgDSCF4349.jpg

To Leave You with...













With Lonely Planet Guide Australia