I know, I'm sorry but an English lady I'd talked to over dinner on Saturday night said she'd heard good things and it was easy to get to. Off to the bus place and the nice driver even dropped me between stops and pointed out the way. Cairns Botanic Gardens is more a collection of places rather than one gardens and it was very good. Perhaps it was the boardwalk through the rainforest; the formal botanical collection; the explanation of evolution of Australia; the Tank Arts Centre; the monthly market (you can tell I'm joking?); the lily pond; the giant bamboo or the saltwater and freshwater lakes. It was all rather good and well sign-posted.
The real highlights of the day, however, belong to several small boys. The first two were looking into a bucket of fish by a lake as I walked up. I asked the little one if he'd caught them and he replied "My Dad caught them" in such a lovely little voice. Their parents said it was ok for me to take a couple of pictures, so big brother tried to hold them all in one go (about 5 mullet) and little chap held one by the tail. It was magical.
Further along, there were three boys fishing on a bridge over the freshwater lake. Had they caught anything. No not yet but they'd just had a turtle which got away (oh yeah, trainee fishermen). I stayed and chatted to them for a few minutes, a turtle poked its nose above water! Wow! First time I've ever seen one outside a zoo or aquarium! Then one of the boys landed one but it wriggled violently and got back into the water. Crumbs! Too much going on! Then I saw big fish do the wriggle/escape routine before finally, another turtle was on the deck and unable to escape. The boys didn't actually want to catch turtles, they just liked the bait. They were very careful to release the turtle - "It's only a young one" - and I thanked them for letting me share the experience. They were lovely boys, friendly and willing to chat and explain what they were up to. No cheekiness or being cocky, just honest, polite and great.
After all that excitement, I walked back as it only seemed to be about 3km. I needed to prepare myself for the reef trip.
Some pictures from the park on twitter @runningwomble
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