Cairns Tropical Zoo:

When you are in Oz you have to see the natives, so a few hours was spent wandering around the Zoo, where we met, and Lynne got to touch some of them. We couldn't talk her into handling the snakes or the crocodiles, but she was more than happy to cuddle a koala and feed the kangaroos.

After the zoo we stopped at Palm Cove beach for a swim and a little sun soaking, as it was the first and so far, only sunny day we have had.
Fingers crossed for more.

 Jungle Surfing:

And for a change someone took a picture of me sitting  and hanging out there over the canopy.What fun it was.

We had a long drive up to Cape Tribulation situated in the magnificent Daintree rainforest - the only place in the world where World Heritage listed rainforest meets World Heritage listed barrier reef. It such a magic place, with the rainforest literally meeting the ocean, and to zip line over and through the canopy was a wonderful experience. There was a little rain, enough to ensure we all had wet bums, as it's necessary to sit to leave the platform, but it was great fun,

The staff managed to get all but one to hang upside down and go down the last  one. I won't mention names, but that's me in the picture, and Pam is fearless!
But we all did it and enjoyed.

Almost a week has flown past and I am way behind on these posts, such a busy week we had. Now my sister has gone home things have slowed down a little. Mind you, being a tourist here is certainly NOT cheap and the credit cards are taking a beating, so slowing down is a great idea. Being a tourist is also very tiring, and as the driver, I need a little re-coup time.

 RARE bags

RARE - Reuse and Recycle Everything.

We all bought ourselves a Rare Bag at the Port Douglas market yesterday. These guys produce the most amazing bags from reused and recycles goods. The bags are beautifully made and are all about saving the planet and all the inhabitants. They encourage photos to be taken and are so friendly that you have to buy a bag. They put part of the money back to save endangered species and are very passionate about their cause, and great fun to chat to even if you don't buy a bag.

Check them out on

www.rarebags.com.au

 Cairns Botanical Gardens

 A delightful way to spend some time wandering. So far we have only seen part of it, but there is so much to see.

The plants are amazing, and so big. Things we grow that are minute in the cooler climates and need protection from the cold, here grow outside and enormous and almost grow as you watch them.

Lynn can't get over the size and colours of the flowers and is pretty good at nicking bits to bring home and put in a vase! she managed to keep that urge under control in the gardens, though the fingers were twitching.

                                                                 This was her favourite tree.

Unfortunately, I m not a great deal of help when it comes to the botanical names although most plants in the gardens are labelled thank goodness.



Lynn has suggested that any time I need time to myself to just drop her at the gate to the gardens and she will happily spend a few hours.

 The Cain Train

We had been seeing sugar cane growing and being harvested throughout the region as we traveled, and the stacked trucks ready for transport to the processing plant. but as we were having lunch in South Johnstone, we heard to whistle of the train outside. So out we went and watched the train travel down the middle of the road to the plant.

Everything stops for the cane train.

Lunch Stop

On our way to Paronella, and after a few wrong turns, we decided to stop for lunch in a little town by the name of South Johnstone and discovered this amazing café, Off the Rails. It is a café/gallery and houses the most amazing eclectic collection of works and served beautiful vegetarian food to boot.
The owners travel frequently in Mexico and just love everything Frida Kahlo, so had little prints if her work in every corner - the colour scheme was also a little give away. They also bring back and sell all sorts of trinkets from Mexico, from beautiful silver work to day of the dead paper mache dolls. There is also a collection of works from throughout the South Pacific and some beautiful paintings by a local artist. She had actually just delivered some paintings when we arrived and gave us her table.

Her works included a beautiful picture of a tree kangaroo, a fabulous echidna and some amazing bird studies.

A great lunch stop.

 Paronella Park

Another day, another trip, this time we did the loop from Cairns to Paronella Park via Atherton - not a good choice as the road over the range was very windy and when we got to the waterfall circuit, the rain and mist was so heavy that it was impossible to see anything.
We stopped at an enormous curtain fig, which dwarfed Lynn and Pam then headed to Milanda to see the falls there.

 Luckily, when we arrived there, there was a Park Ranger who pointed out this wonderful Tree Kangaroo, browsing in the trees. We had just told Lynn that the chances of seeing this elusive kangaroo were very slim and there he was. Such a great treat. We hardly looked at the falls!

Then it was on to the amazing Paronella Park. I had visited here in '98 and remembered just how special it was then, and it still is. Built by a Spanish dreamer it is just a magic place, with wonderful gardens and an amazing story behind it all. Underneath this waterfall is a Queenland's first hydro electricity plant that produced power years before the local towns had any and his "castle" was a centre for many local activities including movies, wedding receptions, dances with refreshment rooms and changing cubicles for those who wanted to swim. His dream was to build a "theme park" for the local people. After several catastrophic cyclones a fire and floods, the owners now are working to restore many of the features, and the hydro scheme is again operational and powers the whole complex including the caravan park. Really a place worth visiting!  Check it out on www.paronellapark.com.au

 Kuranda

Is a vibrant, colourful village in the rainforest above and behind Cairns, and wouldn't you know it, we picked the busiest day so far this year to make the trip. Three States, school holidays overlap this week, and according to our transfer driver there wasn't an empty seat on the scenic railway on our journey up. The trip is a little tedious; it takes about 1 1/2 hours but the scenery is spectacular as the train winds it's way up through switchbacks, 180 degree turns and many tunnels. When we stopped at the viewing platform at Barron Falls, it was amazing just how many people poured out of the 15 carriages. At Kuranda we wandered the shops and markets, losing Lynn at every turn as she wandered off in a world of her own. I needed one of those long straps they sold in Mexico to keep the kids in tow!

After a long wait we were loaded into the cable car for the trip down on the rainforest skyrail. A great journey over the canopy of the rainforest and back down, with two stations on the way at various levels of the rainforest. I thought Lynn was going to hide under the seat for a while, but there wasn't room. She was very nervous as the cabin rattled over the wheels at the poles and nearly had a fit when I stood to take a photo, but we reached the ground safely after a great day.

 Lynn Makes Friends with Some Locals

 It's amazing what you see when you are out and about, an Lynn just has to chat to everyone!
As you can see these guys were waiting in the tray of the truck at Bunnings. We had gone to buy a barby, as these fish and meat eaters are banned to outdoor cooking when I am around and when we came out here they were attracting all sorts of attention.
The wild pig looked a bit ferocious, but Lynn tells me he was approachable.

 But the Queensland blue was very approachable and would have come home with us with a little tempting.

And these two guys were just happy to be out and about in the Cairns sunshine.

 Cairns, Far North Queensland

Next house sit, and quite a change from the bustling Mexico City. After freezing in Melbourne for a week or so, I headed here last Thursday for another month of house sitting. The weather is certainly better than Melbourne, but the breeze is pretty fresh and I am under dressed. Don't know about the swimming and snorkeling either!!!
The house is an old Queenslander with lots of lovely air flow and lots of outdoor space, including a pool, although the pool is shaded by lots of trees, so ..........thinking cold.

The permanent residents and my reason for being here are Manni, the beautiful curly headed retriever, with big brown sorrowful eyes. A bit naughty sometimes as he is prone to escaping, but he comes back. And Kedi, the black cat, who so far  hasn't sat still for a photo. Also in residence a present, besides me that is, are Lynn, the neighbour from my house sit in Canada, in Oz for the first time and a little overwhelmed at present, but it is a looooong trip, and my sister Pam is here for the first 2 weeks. We have been busy planning and booking.

More to follow.

Home Again:

After 30+ hours in the air and on the road, I arrived back in a very chilly Melbourne, it's taking a bit of getting used to. The furry ones were very welcoming and have me back under the paw with early morning walks and a 2nd walk later, so back to the old routine. They are going to get a bit of a shock next week when I head off again to Cairns for another month house sit, but I will be very happy to head for the warmer weather again.

Masterchef Australia en Español

Can you imagine my surprise when flicking through the channels to see Gary and George chatting away fluently en español. It from from series 2 of Masterchef Australia, where the eventual winner was Adam. They all looked very comfortable speaking Spanish, it was quite a giggle.
I do remember seeing McLeod's Daughters en español when I was in Peru, many of the American shows have subtitles, but maybe the older series are dubbed.

El Museo De Arte Popular:

I made sure I manager a visit to one of my favourite places here in Mexico City. the museum of popular art, it is so vibrant and colourful.
Although this visit there were far fewer articles on display, it was still worth the visit.

 El museo is the major showcase for Mexico's folk arts and traditions and the collections are displayed thematically over three levels in salas around an internal space lit
by an enormous overhead skylight.

Also featured at the moment was a wonderful photographic and art exhibition of the works of Mariana Yampolsky. Her photography is exquisite and are scenes for the life and sceney throughout Mexico. It was worth the visit just for that.

An Unusual Task:

I have done some odd things whilst house sitting, but never before have I been asked to water a cello, yes that's correct water the cello. Judy is a cello player and because the weather is so warm and the humidity low, she asked if I could water the cello whilst they were away, Otherwise the pegs will drop and this causes problems ( I think) so I have been.

Every couple of days I open the case and take out a small container that has obviously has a sponge of some sort inside, this is popped into a cup of water for a while, then placed in behind the neck of the cello, just under the pegs and that's it - cello watered for another day.

It's Official:

I leave the wonderful Mexico City on Saturday and head straight back to Melbourne. Very sad to leave and extremely disappointed to miss out on my stopover in San Francisco. A lot of web crawling told me to change my stopover for this weekend would cost me an arm and a leg - 1 night in an hotel was the equivalent of what I was paying for 3 nights, if you could find one available that is. So I have been busy cancelling all the bookings I had, and hoping for at least a partial refund. Changing airline bookings isn't all that inexpensive either, but at least that didn't prove too difficult and there were seats available. It's going to be a long day and night!

But I haven't finished writing about Mexico City, still have lots to say, so don't give up reading just yet, and I am heading to Cairns for another house sit in a couple of weeks, so shall keep writing.

So many things to say, so little time:

There has been a change of plans, and it looks might I may head home a couple of weeks ahead of time. I still have lots to photograph and say about this wonderful city, but I shall just have to come back!
I still have a couple of days to write some more.

 Frida & Diego

Yesterday I made the trip down to San Angel again, this time to visit the Museo Casa Diego Rivera y Frida Kahlo, and was really disappointed that I had, although all turned out well in the end, as it does! The architect designed building contained a studio and house for each of them, the red for Diego and the blue for Frida. They lived there together for about 6 years before she returned to the Casa Azul in Coyoacán. The museum retains Diego's studio and a little of the memorabilia, but not very exciting, and Frida's house was closed. But as  said things turned out well in the end.

  There was another Aussie, Vanessa, there and we decided to return to the Casa Azul together. It is such a beautiful building and this time I decided to pay the extra and take some photos which was well worth it.

It was lovely to have company wandering through the house and to really look again at the amazing works and photographs displayed there.

I will put the rest of the pics on Flickr, soon.

Typical mexican kitchen

Frida's studio

Frida's studio

A Green City

One thing that I really enjoy about this city is the shady greenery everywhere. Many of the streets are wide and divided down the centre with a treed walkway as in the picture on the left. It's where most people walk their dogs and is a much safer and less broken surface than the footpaths that line the streets. Sometimes you will come across a flower seller or vendors with baskets or craftwork, but I have not seen many food vendors, other than ice cream or fruit stalls.

All the streets and parks are kept meticulously clean, well mostly. The streets and gardens are swept daily by the shop keepers or porters and the leaves and refuse collected with the rubbish. All the gardens are kept trimmed and the leaves all raked away. There is not much grass to be seen, so the ground is very dusty, but it's clean. It is generally a very pleasant city to walk around.