We are no longer spring chickens and needed a slow day today between two days of scuba diving and a couple of weeks of intense birding.  As do many visitors to a rain forest we woke up to a shower.  But, it was a warm shower and after breakfast we walked about with an umbrella to catch views of fabulous sqwacking Eclectus Parrots.  Unusual for birds it is the female of this species who wears the fancy clothing.  He is a fabulous lime green with crimson underwings.  She wears a green suit as well but has a bright red head and neck and a golden tail.

Almost dinner time.  We are exhausted after two days of diving and snorkeling.  Tropical fish and corals below the surface; scattered ocean clouds and volcanoes above.  At least a half dozen varieties of both angel fish and butterfly fish entertained us.  No idea how many damselfish we saw.  All a blur.  I distinctly remember the two sharks we encountered.  A matching pair but not together, a white-tip and a black-tip.  The white-tip followed us around a bit; mostly, I believe, to see if we stirred up any food for it.

Long travel day.  Rose early for a ride to airport and then flight to Port Moresby.  We had been briefed on procedures there and did well.  The terminal is new and the international terminal is best.  We stayed there and violated several dietary rules for travelers buying our lunch.  Then, when it was time we exited and entered the more earthy domestic terminal.  We made it through the unusual security procedures and waited for our flight to be announced.  Finally walked across the tarmac to a jet.

We visited the botanical garden.  How do they get the orchids to grow so well?  Enjoyed the palms and the rainforest trail.  Having been told where to look for frogmouths we searched for broken off branches that weren’t and finally found two.  Aptly named, looks as if they could swallow your hand.  During the day they simply sleep.

Visited Botanical Garden this morning.  Lovely and no fee.  We made a small contribution and also patronized the gift shop.  Found strange looking Friarbird and a pair of Tawny Frogmouths.  While in a conservatory we heard the laughing of a Kookabura and went outside to find these giant terrestrial (and arboreal) kingfishers.  

Anne and I returned to the Esplanade at four p.m. to look for birds and birders.  We had heard that the four o’clockers might be there.  In any case we knew that the tide would be in and the sun behind us making for good birding.  We became optomistic finding a sign saying “Welcome the Winter Migrants” at the waterfront.  Seems the local birding club added an event to the Cairns Festival.  It’s members were great help to us identifying the shore birds and suggesting places to find birds.  

We celebrate with Cairns, we know not what, this weekend.  Yesterday morning we walked to the Esplanade stopping for most every bird to identify it as a new one for us.  Was a kilometer to the beach.  There we were greeted by a great mud flat at low tide.  There we found north Asian migrants already arrived, both birds and primates.  Rainbow lorrekeets cackled in the trees along the Esplanade, a walkway and park that extends along the shoreline in this tourist town.  

 It is a laid-back rustic touristy town a little rough around the edges.  Our B&B is just at the edge.  It is in a small apartment house.  An argument woke us up at midnight but stopped when one party threatened to call police.  At three a.m. we woke and could not go to sleep because it was mid-day U.S. time.  Bummer.  We rested and rose early to observe our first flying cockatoos.  Yes, believe that.  Mountains to the west.  Town is jammed in on flat ground along the sea.

After the 15 hour flight we are zombies but continue our travel now north to Cairns in the Australian tropics.  We arrive during the Cairns Festival and will try to join in, if we can stay awake.  It is 3 p.m. and we are still in the air.  In San Francisco it is 10 p.m. and my body seems to think something is amiss.  Oh well.  The question is, can we stay up tonight and wake early in the morning?  Perhaps, but we will still be zombies.

We fly tonight and received notice this afternoon that our flight had been cancelled and that we had been rescheduled on another airline.  Seemed no problem,but it looked like our new seats were on coach.  We had splurged for economy plus seats and were sorely disappointed.  We called Air New Zealand who said they could do noting about that.  My sister called Qantas, the airline to which we had been sent to see about an upgrade.