Entries about cairns

When I arrived in Cairns it was great to catch up with my friend Macca I'd met whilst in Innisfail. We went to explore the nearby water dam:

Copperlode Dam
The Wet Tropics World Heritage Area lies between Townsville and Cooktown on the north-east coast of Queensland and covers an area of 894,420 hectares.
The Wet tropics is renowned for scenic panoramas of rainforest canopy from mountain lookouts, rivers that carve through rugged gorges and cascade into freshwater swimming holes, giant trees and ferns from ancient eras and curiosities from the animal kingdom. It has Australia’s greatest diversity of animals and plants within a area just 0.26% of the continent. Many plant and animal species in the Wet Tropics are found nowhere else in the world. The diverse range of vegetation communities are habitat to numerous rare and threatened species.
The Wet Tropics has the oldest continuously surviving tropical rainforests on earth. They are a living museum of how land plants have evolved since the breakup of Gondwana 40 million years ago, from ancient ferns, conifers and cycads to the more highly evolved flowering plants. The Wet Topics is also a living record of the evolutionary history of animals – being home to some species that have changed little since ancient times such as the musky rat-kangaroo and the chowchilla.

Freshwater Creek was the original source of Cairns’ water supply. Population growth led to the need for another water source. In 1935, former Cairns City Engineer Mr E.R. Morris discovered what he regarded as a suitable site for a dam to store water. Subsequent surveys confirmed his estimation. Eventually government approval for the construction of an earth and rock fill dam was estimated as $3,000,000 but by completion on March 25th 1976, the actual cost had risen to approximately $6,400,000.
The total area cleared was 336 hectares. The rock and earth fill dam impounds 37,000 megaliters of water and has a rainforest catchment area of 44km2.

The dam was officially named Lake Morris in honour of the man who located the site and had the foresight to see its water storage potential for Cairn. Additional water supply is now provided from Behana Creek with investigations into another water supply for Cairns’ increasing population in progress.

Copperlode Falls Dam
The dam comprises a 45m high zoned earth and rock fill dam 122m in length. The embankment has a crest level of 403.84m AHD and a width of 604m and took 3 years to construct.
It was great to see signs to the nearby town with the same name as my hometown of Redlynch ... albeit on the other side of the world

Redlynch was named after Mr Lynch, who had red hair and was nicknamed 'Red Lnych'

Heading back down the mountain we were treated to great views over Cairns city

and Macca couldn't resist turning into the local Karting track for a bit of competition - nevermind the fact I was wearing a strapless dress!

Apparently my face was priceless!

but my driving exceeded expectations! ... you can take the tom boy out of the jeans, but...!!

Cairns is the main centre of Northern Queensland.

Despite its beachfront esplanade,

it has a city atmosphere

and instead of sandy beaches there are mud-flats, abundant with native birdlife.
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It's main attraction is its base for exploring the Great Barrier Reef, the Daintree Rainforest and the Atherton Tablelands.

Most boats leave from the marina

where you can buy freshly caught seafood from the 'Pawn Star'

or see the sites from the air

and there's always a reminder of just how close the airport is, only 8km out of the CBD

One of the biggest attraction is the lagoon on the promenade

I had so many laughs when I ended up joining in with an Aqua Zumba class,

with a mix of all ages and even men! in this beautiful setting

beautiful even as the sunsets

even after the sun had set, the lagoon lights transform it to a peaceful pool

I love to walk a city at night, and see the sites from a different perspective, including these large jelly babies with my friend David

I also came across a great Jazz bar, that entertained me on a few evenings, even when there was an unexpected folk band playing!

and we stopped to talk to some local bikers, one with a CBR900 (like dad's) and one with a newer model of my CB500 (might have to get one of those!)

David's talent is in making and selling flies, for fly fishing.

It was great to learn how to make these, and see that just about anything can be useful, as with most crafts!

I quickly got into the habit of getting up early enough to avoid the heat and go for a run along the esplanade, although the sunsets weren't the best

there was a great track along the length of the promenade, and out to the Botanic Gardens.

running back alongside the river

with some pretty thigns to distract me from the shortness of breath!