Day 11: Tuesday, Feb 19, Cairns

Today we headed up to Kuranda, a site in a rainforest outside of Cairns. We got there by 45-minute cable car trip, though there were two optional stops along the way to break things up. I had seen some of the vegetation elsewhere, but we tagged along with a ranger tour here and I learned a lot about what I had seen. There are these things called basket ferns that – you guessed it – grow like baskets. They are epiphytes, meaning they live on a host plant (in this case on a tree trunk) but don’t take any nutrients. Basket ferns use their basket to trap falling matter and taking nutrients from it, in essence creating an elevated compost pile. The result is that other things can grow and live in there as well. One of these is the strangler fig. One we saw had actually grown from the top down – it sprouted in a basket fern, grew roots down to the ground some 30 ft below, and then proceeded to thicken its roots and grow outwards. In doing so it grows roots around the host tree, eventually strangling and killing it. Long-term this means a hollow tree (since the fig grew around a tree that dies and rots) and a living place animals. There is also a “lawyer cane,” a type of vine that has hooks everywhere and uses them to latch onto tall plants and grow up toward the sunlight. Our ranger said that they were so named because once they latch onto something “it can’t get away, just like a lawyer.” If you cut it, pure rainwater pours out from the inside of the stalk. I don’t know if the story about the name this is true or not, but a lawyer in the group joked after hearing about the water that “at least their good for something,” upon which someone else commented that they were, but “only after cut in half.”

A lone tree growing on a rock belies Barren Falls' name.

Another highlight was Barren Falls. It isn’t nearly as big as Niagara or the like, but it was the most ferocious falls I have ever seen. Muddy water in the flooded river crashed like breakers over rocks in the middle of the falls. Torrents of water hit these rocks and actually splashed up a good 15 ft before plunging into the gorge. From some angles all you could see was a brown mist created by the water.

At the base there was an aboriginal culture center we visited. It advertised that it was the only approved cultural center of the tribe, etc. Basically it’s run by the tribe for profit. It was mostly interesting and I learned a lot.

I found a paper lying around tonight and read it. Another big bank in Australia is taking a loss due to involvement in the U.S. subprime market. It’s interesting to see the ripple effect from this end.

Australian lingo for the day: “licensed” and “BYO.” On our first day we ate at a restaurant that had a sign that simply said BYO. We couldn’t figure out what it was you were supposed to bring, so we asked. Here in Australia places that don’t have liquor licenses usually say BYO somewhere, meaning you can bring your own beer or wine. There is sometimes a “corking fee” that you pay to use restaurant glasses. If a restaurant says it is licensed that means it has a liquor license and therefore does not welcome outside alcohol. Usually a restaurant’s licensed vs. BYO status is at the top of the menu or on a sign outside the door.