Last week I left the water logged streets of Sydney and headed for sunny Cairns. Last time I was here it was a week before a cyclone wiped out the areas Banana plantations in 2005 making the price per kg sore to $19. So after some careful planning, weather watching, scheduling and nanny bookings I was off. It wasnt hard leaving Sydney’s 10 degrees and landing in Cairn’s 24 degrees. On the plane I had the fortune to sit next to a Lions supporter who had an all nighter and thought it would be a great idea to go from the pub to the airport and buy a ticket to see his girlfriend who lives 1.5 hours out of Cairns. Must have seemed great at the time, but when it came time to land he was soberish and couldn’t believe what he was doing. At least he didn’t have to wait for his luggage as he only had what he was wearing…. classic.
Anyway the aim of this trip like most of them of late was basically to shoot the local area from Port Douglas to Cairns and places in between including the local rain forest to boost my collection of another high tourist area. I really couldn’t have asked for better weather, except for my chopper flight over the Great Barrier Reef that was plagued by overcast skies at times, but I prevailed and returned with a nice range of shots. Certainly a great learning experience that comes at a cost as a private a charter of a helicopter isn’t light on the wallet.
When I arrived the weather was semi overcast so I headed up to Mossman Gorge and the place was packed. Getting the shots I wanted was impossible as the local river was now a swimming pool and all the feeling of serenity and peacefulness was lost in a sea of semi naked bodies that hadn’t seen the sun for quite some time. I returned the next day at 8am and pretty much had the place to myself and some local tourist groups and things were perfect. The rest of my time was spent exploring places like Palm Cove, the Cairns Foreshore and the popular Lagoon Pool. I did a day trip to Fitzroy Island and shot Nudey Beach. No nudes obviously just a name or I was there on the wrong day. 🙂
Like all trips they are never without something happening. The morning of my chopper flight the shutter on one of my film cameras started to play up. My hire car a little Hyundai i20 had some issue with being in Park, so each time I got out of it I had to push it physically a bit to free it up so I could put it into drive. Other than those few things the trip was a success, I was able to fill my online Tropical North Quensland gallery and create a new Great Barrier Reef one, expanding my range of images even further for my customers.
