Our first port of call on our Alaska cruise was Ketchikan, and as the banner over Mission Street proudly proclaims, it’s the Salmon Capital of the World. And indeed, salmon created the city. The abundant fish lured entrepreneurs as early as 1885 and in 1890 a wharf and a cannery had been built. In 1900,…
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Photo Gallery: Ketchikan
Our header is a photo of Nob Hill, a large rock covered by upscale homes. Overview of Ketchikan Downtown Panorama of Ketchikan showing Nob Hill. Newtown is to the left of Nob Hill and downtown to the right. Downtown Ketchikan. The main drag, Front Street, goes through the tunnel under Nob Hill. Lower right is…
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Flying over the Rain Forest with Skyrail
Skyrail is a seven and a half kilometer long aerial tramway from the Atherton Tablelands town of Kuranda to the Smithfield ground station just sixteen minutes north of Cairns. You can take the cable cars in both directions for a round trip, or you can combine it with the Kuranda Scenic railway excursion as we…
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A Train Ride Through the Rainforest
The Wet Tropics of Queensland comprises 8,940 square kilometers of territory roughly paralleling the Great Barrier Reef. It “is the oldest continually surviving tropical rainforest in the world.” (Wikipedia) It is also one of the most biologically diverse regions in the world and contains the largest collection of endemic species (native exclusively to the region)…
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Photo Gallery: A Train Ride Through the Rainforest
Here are some more photos of our train ride through the rainforest on the Kuranda Scenic Railway. And that’s it for this post!
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One Winery, Two Giant Fig Trees and a Restaurant in the Middle of Nowhere
In this, the third installment of my look at Cairns, Australia and the surrounding area, we once again visit the tablelands. Heading south from Mossman, we climbed a winding road onto the tablelands and on through miles and miles of tropical forest and wetlands. A curious sight along the way through the long flat stretches…
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Photo Gallery: A Winery and Two Fig Trees
Here are some additional photos for my third post about Cairns and the surrounding area.
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Beaches and Waterfalls Around Cairns and the Tablelands
The Beaches On our recent visit to our friends Ralph and KC in the Cairns suburb of Goldsborough, they took us far and wide to show us some of the magnificent scenery to be found in the region. North of Cairns to Port Douglas is a Mecca for tourists with gorgeous sandy beaches hugging the…
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Photo Gallery: Beaches & Waterfalls Around Cairns
Here are some additional photos of the beaches and waterfalls around Cairns.
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Cane Trains and Brumbies! Oh My!
When my wife and I decided to visit my old friend Ralph and his wife KC in Cairns for a week, I had no idea what this Northern Queensland city was all about. I thought it was some remote town whose only claim to fame was its proximity to the Great Barrier Reef. Boy, did…
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