Alice to Douglas

We are still on our trip around Australia and have traveled from Alice Springs, to Cairns and now we are in Port Douglas.

Port Douglas is one point of access for the Great Barrier Reef. We have not gone out on the boat since it has been rough and the woman at the travel centre recommended against it. So we went on a tour to the rainforest today.

In Alice Springs the local paper had articles on the “Pine Gap Four.” These four Christian activists were arrested breaking into Pine Gap, near Alice Springs. Pine Gap is the US military base and has 2-3000 US troops stationed there for two year assignments. In Alice Springs there were many indigenous Australians, but only white people worked in the establishments we went to. There were a lot of indigenous art galleries, with some interesting pieces. This picture is of Simpson's Gap, which is nearby.

Next we went to Cairns and it is a pretty town and stayed at a place on the beach. It was very relaxing. They had a lovely botanic garden there with lots of cool plants that would be fun to grow. We went to the market and they had lots of fresh food there; pineapples, avocados (five for $2.00), tomatoes, and exotic fruits.

Now we are in Port Douglas and unfortunately it is rainy. We did see some crocodiles on the river and they were big. Here is a picture of one.