9th - 10th May. Cairns continued

Tuesday 10th May. Today is Jack's **th birthday. Happy Birthday Jack.
As is the custom in the Perrett family, as many of the clan as possible gather for a birthday breakfast at the Shangri La Hotel at the Cairns Marina. Being a weekday son-in-law Martin nor the two grandsons could be there.
Breakfast is buffet style - eat as much as you can for 24 bucks. I sure did get my money's worth! The food was very good, the coffee great and sitting outside on the boardwalk looking out at the million dollar boats in the warm sunshine was a lovely experience. Thank you Perrett's for allowing me to join you.

We made a detour on the way home via the Lake Placid Recreation Area on the Barron River. In Feb 1999 the river height was up to the White marker
on the tree


And then to the Barron Gorge where there is a big power station. It was lovely there


The day ended with a short drive to one of the several lovely beaches in the area - Palm Cove where a sea eagle was being a bit friendly





Another enjoyable day in this lovely part of the world.

Monday 9th May. This morning Jack and Norma took me into Cairns so I could familiarise myself with the area for when I return with Jacky and Aimee in July.
We spent time around the Marina and I booked a day trip to the Great Barrier Reef for Thursday and for the Crocodile Explorer http://www.crocodileexplorer.com.au/ for this afternoon
We had lunch (great value) in a Club that Jack and Norma belong to and then they took me back to the wharf for me to go see the crocs!
It was a great cruise along the beautiful tidal Trinity Inlet, for an hour and


a half with a most informative and interesting commentary. We did see 2 large crocs on the way to the crocodile farm. This one was about 4m long.


On arrival at the crocodile farm we were met by a coach and driven slowly around, with plenty of stops to look and take photographs. There are 200+ breeding crocs


and over 20,000 farm crocs being raised for their skin and


meat. All the skins are sent to Italy for the upmarket leather trade. This photo shows just one of many tanks.
During the evening I attended, as an onlooker, a house group that Jack and Norma host every Monday. They are committed Christians who belong to the New Frontier Worldwide mission http://www.newfrontierstogether.org/

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