I'm blogging this year from Australia's east coast, a magical part of the world. One of the most diverse stretches of coastline anywhere on the planet, you can tramp through dense rainforest, dive the Great Barrier Reef, play Robinson Crusoe on any number of seemingly deserted islands, unwind in epic beach towns to suit any taste, surf amongst the Vegas meets Daytona glitz of the Gold Coast, explore the world class cities of Brisbane and Sydney, and - perhaps most significantly - have your picture taken at the world's largest man made banana, right outside of Coffs Harbour on the northern New South Wales coast.
After a few days of Aussie Specialist refueling in Adelaide at Corroboree, Tourism Australia's annual conference for travel agents smitten with the land Down Under like me, I'll be off to Far North Queensland and the Daintree Rainforest, a World Heritage-listed spot as large as the Amazon, and filled with ferns the size of houses, saltwater crocodiles, and the elusive cassowary, a giant ostrich-sized bird with a blue face and a huge horn-like thing on its head. They're spotted rarely and reputed to be shy, but you don't want to catch a cassowary by surprise; apparently, they can disembowel you with one well placed swipe of their claw. This purportedly happens to one or two joggers a year in the parks around Cairns, unfortunate souls who cross paths with a cassowary unexpectedly while out for a morning run. One of my missions is to find out if this really happens or if it's the stuff of urban legend (though it's not urban at all up there), and to see a cassowary for myself...from a distance.
To be continued...
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