Back in March, Mark and I visited his parents who live in Tully, about a month after cyclone Yasi hit the area. His parents own a cane farm up there and have seen many cyclones in their time. They were lucky and the only damage was to their many sheds and crops (I say lucky because the house and they were ok). We arrived in Cairns but were unable to get to Tully due to rain and flooding for a couple of days.
On their property, there is a very old dwelling, referred to as the barracks, that Mark's dad Joe actually grew up in. Everyone was sure that it would go during the cyclone but to our surprise, it was still standing when we got there. It is an interesting place with parts of it (actually, most of it) looking like it was straight out of a horror movie.
I couldn't help but take photos of this old place. I especially love the 4th shot from the left of the old iron that covers the stairs.
The weather wasn't the best while we were up there so I didn't get to take my big camera everywhere with me but I always had my waterproof happy snap ready to go. Thankfully I did on this day when his dad took us out in the boat. We were on our way home when Joe did a big U-turn in the boat and slowly cruised back toward some mangroves on the shore. It took me a while to realise what we were seeing but when I saw it, I nearly filled my pants. In front of our 12 foot little boat was a 14 foot croc, sunning himself with a huge full belly on him. He wasn't fazed by us and didn't move while I was shaking like a leaf, trying to get a shot of the hiding croc. This was about as good as I got....
It was the first croc I've seen in the wild and he definitely took my breath away. We did see some smaller ones as well but none quite like this old boy. I had a great time in the boat, cruising around, trying to spot crocs!!
This was from another day when the weather was a bit better.
I LOVE frogs and I was in my element as every night, a big green frog would come and make camp in the toilet and every morning, we would take the little guys out onto the farm, far from the house and release them, hoping they wouldn't come back. This was the last frog from our visit and we placed him on some cane. He was the perfect model for me and stayed right where we put him and let me snap away. He was sooooo beautiful and so content in the cane....
We visited some family friends who lived at Mission Beach and this fella was the welcome wagon. These are the stairs that led up to the house and I couldn't believe how comfortable he was there, it looked like he was going to head up stairs and join us for morning tea. I hadn't seen a casswary the wild before either so this was a real treat for me. He wasn't all that happy to be having his photo taken but stayed long enough for me to get a few beauties.
This is probably my favourite photo from our trip, I'm not sure why but I just love the composition, the colours and the old feel. This is already up on my wall as a massive print in an old wooden frame and I can say it looks FABulous!!
I also love this one showing the stretch of the cane....
We had an afternoon where we were trying to catch some mud cod as bait to use to catch barramundi. We were lucky to get lots of mud cod (even yours truly caught a couple) but unfortunately we were unlucky when it came to the barra but this is a couple of Mark and his dad that I just love.
On our drive back to Cairns, this was the view. All I can say is that it was spectacular, the cloud formations, the colours from the sunset and the glorious big mountain....... SPECTACULAR!!
We had a wonderful time away and spent a great night, just the two of us, in Cairns for our last night away from home. Mark and I went to a wonderful seafood restaurant before a stroll through the streets and a wonder through the night markets. I put this little series together from that night and love the randomness of them all but love that we can still be dags and laugh and have fun together.
I love you husband:)
A huge and special thanks to Pam an Joe for taking such wonderful care of us while we were there. We throughly enjoyed our time up north and are looking forward to taking another trip up there soon xx
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