#3 First Impressions..... it's a bit of Canada in the SouthernHemisphere.

Now, maybe my initial impression is all wrong. And I should say, right away, that we love Australia and Canada. And before I even go into comparing countries, I should probably start with the airport game. In all fairness, I admit Steve does not play or enjoy this game but it is one of my favorites when we travel to a foreign county. As soon as we arrive in the airport, I can't help but trying to guess who is a 'native' and who is perhaps another American or French or German visitor, without cheating and listening to their language. I try to zero in on the 'look'. It might be height, or color hair, or clothing. Sometimes it is a style, or lack of it. Once I get a feel for the local look, I guess and then try to listen to see if I was right. 

Perhaps it's the common British background....and here is where the comparison with Canadians starts. Lots of blondes, kind of tall, casual dress ( no, real casual dress) lots of skin showing regardless of size or shape and lots of tats. But it goes well beyond the look. 

For example, both Aussies and Canadians seem to love having whirlpool tubs or spas in their rooms or on their balconies....they both love to stay in apartments versus hotels when they travel and make their own beds and cook on the barbecue on the terrace. My personal definition of a vacation is sleeping in a hotel and eating all your meals out. They love camper vans. They love beer. 

And they both love the outdoors and will drive a long way to see something not that special. Which brings me to our second day in PD and our trip to Mossman Gorge and Daintree Rain forest - two not to be missed tourist attractions near PD, or so all the guide books say. 

          

Here is how I sum up the day. We drove to Mossman Gorge, which turns out not to really be a gorge at all (Taos Gorge, in New Mexico, is really a gorge) but a $7 shuttle bus ride for 4kms, that you could have walked yourself, just to walk in a hot sweaty forest ,where, if you had worn your swimming costume, you could have had a dip in the crystal clear rocky creek/river and laid out on a rock to dry. And you can walk across a bouncy but safe suspension bridge to an overlook to see the water where the people who wore their bathings suits were swimming. And then you can take the shuttle back. 

                                        

Now once you are back in your cool air conditioned car, you head to Daintree, which is described as a beautiful rain forest with so many things to see and do. The map of the area is full of attractions so maybe we were fooled a bit into thinking there was something cohesive about this adventure. Turns out it was mostly driving on windy forested roads where every so often you would glimpse the water or have a chance to walk another 1 or 2 kilometer boardwalk in....you guessed it... a hot and humid rainforest promising potentially to see a Cassowary crossing the road or a crocodile in the water.  

                     

We saw none of that so we decided to give in and pay to go to the Discovery Center, highly recommended by the hotel concierge. $58 later, we had done another one kilometer walk through a hot, humid boardwalk and up a 23 meter tower....and finally we spotted a couple of beautiful Lorikeets  and some other very interesting but unidentified birds sitting on some very unusual nests.

That was the extent of our wildlife spotting except for that interesting eight inch golden spider at Mossman. Guess we won't be planning a trip to the Amazon anytime soon.

But as always, the best things are those little cultural moments, like breakfast in the town of Mossman before we headed to the Gorge. Just a little spot called Goodies, a few tables and chairs on the sidewalk, it looked perfect for a coffee stop. Steve grabbed a table while I went in to order. Two coffees please, I said. Seemed like a normal request to me. What kind, said the man behind the counter. Well, good coffee I hope, I said. He looked at me a bit strangely so I said..what kind do you have? In rapid succession he offered me a long black, a flat white, a macchiato and a few others with totally unfamiliar names. I said, you pick, anything that is coffee with something white and we wound up with flat whites, which were delicious and will be our standard morning order in Oz.

                                                         

 

AUSTRALIAN BREKKY WRAP ......... DELISH!!!!!!

Next up...getting to the sun, sand, sailing and snorkeling.