22 Jan 2025
Despite my long travel day, I’m actually feeling pretty good, and the best way I’ve found to counter jet lag is to to convert to my new timezone as quickly as possible, which means staying awake when the sun’s out. So…
Welcome to the Cairns Aquarium!
(side note: Cairns is pronounced more like “Cahns”- the ‘r’ isn’t really vocalized)
The Aquarium is laid out in a one-way path:
Starting with freshwater critters, like these Eel-tailed catfish:
These long-neck turtles:
A haughty lizard:
Lots of bugs:
Some of them were seriously chunky:
A snake:
Lots of frogs:
They had just fed this green lizard so he was especially active:
Look at his little curly tail!
I love this chunky lizard with a wood chip on his head!
A little crocodile:
Puffer!
Humphead wrasse:
Not sure what’s wrong with this cowfish:
That does not look like a comfortable place to rest, little puffer!
Sea snake!
Moon jellies:
Razorfish:
and yes, that’s how they swim.
Shark tank:
A few rays:
Undershark:
Definitely glad I visited, though I’m looking forward to getting some better critter pictures when I start my diving.
There was still plenty of daylight left, so I wandered down to the park I spotted from my hotel room where I found this cool sculpture:
Look at the details on this ray!
The tide was out, but there were plenty of birds wandering around, like this egret:
Pelican:
Godwit?
No, this guy is not missing a leg, it’s just an awkward angle:
Ugh, this guy would not turn around for a better shot, but he’s got these weird yellow face-flaps:
Myna:
Metal bird, giving tours of the waterfront:
Then I wandered around town, scoping out fun snacks to bring back for Matt and me to try, like all these varieties of KitKats:
And these sour gummy worms with the best name ever!
I brought a late lunch back to my room, including this fun passionfruit soda, which was just the right balance of sweet and refreshing:
Then wandered back out for desert:
and hit up the night market to scope out more souvenirs:
before settling in for the night:
I wasn’t able to get a clear picture of them, but as the sun set, giant bats started coming out! The internet tells me they were likely flying-foxes and if you know where to look, you can find them in trees during the day.
But that’s a task for tomorrow; today’s been long enough. Time to try to get some sleep and hope my body has converted to Australian time.