Today began the vacation...er...um...I mean research on the northeast Queensland World Heritage Ecosystems known as The Great Barrier Reef and Daintree rainforest. Flight from Brisbane to Cairns was ca. 2 hrs. I rented a car from Alamo (read Europacar). Now, I had specifically requested an automatic since I didn't need the extra hassle of shifting left-handed while trying to remember how to drive on the 'wrong' side of the road all the time. But I shouldn't have been surprised when I got the vehicle for a lower price that it was in fact a manual shift Hyundai Getz (a very small econobox). I swallowed deep and took off into Cairns traffic, heading north toward Port Douglas along the coast. First impression - OK driving on the left is not all that bad - you just have to keep reminding yourself. Second - whoa, this coast is beautiful! Reminds me of Hawaii. Not quite as wild and woolly as the drive to Hana on Maui, but really very nice. Third, the coastal tropical scrub forest was burning in a number of places, sometimes right up to the road. Wow. Here are a couple of pics for ya.
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