Needless to say, we immediately took the trail back to the parking lot and got into the car. Three signs that basically told us to go back now and we listened. While in the car, I read the Daintree Park information sheet that I probably should have read before we started on the trail! The sheet informed us that while driving in the park, we may want to take care of the 20 foot pythons that like to sun themselves on the road. My immediate image that came to mind was that I would run over one of these and its head would come into the window to bite my head off! Several months before our trip, there was a story that came on the news that spoke of a young couple and their toddler that was camping in the Daintree Park in a lean-to( a camp structure that is open on one side). The Mom had woke up in the middle of the night to see a python that was devouring the toddler and the Mom quickly pulled it out and saved its life.
We went back to the doctors office the next day to have Mimi’ s knee drained again as the swelling had come back. The doctor had the lab report that said Mimi may be septic but the doctor challenged the pathologist and said that this was NOT the case.
There was no diagnosis yet but we kept on pushing forward with our vacation activities using the wheelchair. We were very close to the Great Barrier Reef and we spoke to several of the tour operators regarding this adventure that we wound up declining for several reasons. Firstly, this was the time of the year for the killer jellyfish and we would have to swim with full wetsuits and hood although it left some facial areas exposed and there was still other risk. Besides Mimi’ s knee would also be problematic in getting up and down on the boat. Additionally, the waters were not too calm during our visit and it was a 5 hour return visit plus a couple of hours snorkeling. Mimi and I are not good on boats so we had to say no to this despite some very aggressive selling by the tour operators who were having a tough time convincing people to go
Palm Trees, Port Douglas, QLD Photo by Barry Epstein
out to the reef. We felt that we would just have to return at a more opportune and safe time in the future to see the reef. In retrospect we firmly believe we made the right decision.
Our drive the next day was back to Cairns as we had booked ourselves on the train( Kuranda Scenic Rail) that traverses up over a mountain pass in the one of the oldest and most pristine tropical rainforest. They had to load Mimi into the well preserved 85 year old railway carriage via a forklift under her wheelchair and she and I were the only ones in this special train carriage. The nearly 2 hour ride up was stunning as we saw several waterfalls, dense forest, tunnels and rivers. At the top of the mountain was a heritage rainforest village( Kuranda) that had restaurants, shops, art galleries and gardens. The next step after having lunch and exploring this beautiful village was to take the sky-rail back down. This was a bit of a challenge as it only slowed down a bit to get on and the wheel chair had to be put onto the next sky-rail. We were directly over the canopy of this incredible rainforest and it was picturesque. Sometimes we could see right through to the streams and lush undergrowth. We were able to get off at the midway point to see information about the rainforest and see more more warning signs for Cassowary’ s that we laughed about.
Back in Port Douglas I was able to have a game of golf in a most pleasant tropical Links course right in the rainforest and I did go looking for a ball if I hit it off the fairway. Although my game was quite average, the experience was sensational.
The next part of our trip was to fly from Cairns to Brisbane. This was a bit of a challenge as Mimi was still in the wheelchair. As it was Christmas, the airport was very busy and negotiating through it with a wheel chair and the luggage proved to be interesting. But we did it and flew down to Brisbane and into a car rental where they asked us
BARRY STEVEN EPSTEIN- PhotoAutobiography DRAFT 98 of 156