Beyond the Rhetoric

As you may already know, I’m in Australia for my honeymoon. While here, we plan on taking in the sights and sounds, experiencing as much of the Land Down Under as we can. Our first stop is in Cairns, in the northern part of Queensland. It’s quite different here than what you’d picture as “the Outback,” since this is more akin to a tropical rainforest. In fact, the tropical rainforest that surrounds Kuranda, just 15 minutes outside of Cairns, is thought to be the world’s oldest.

Yes, I’ve had the opportunity to hear (and use) some Australian slang, but it’s really the stark contrast in the fauna and flora that is striking me. We have urban wildlife in Vancouver, but that consists mostly of squirrels, pigeons and crows, as well as the occasional skunk, coyote, and raccoon. In Cairns, however, things are quite different. They have bats. Or more specifically, there is a huge colony of bats that happens to live right in the middle of the downtown core.

We stumbled across this city park by accident, walking between Cairns Central shopping mall and the esplanade waterfront area. We saw one bat and thought that was interesting. Then, we saw another. And another. All of a sudden, we were surrounded by dozens, hundreds, or maybe even thousands of giant fruit bats. Also known as flying foxes, these bats are mostly harmless, but they can be unsettling for the uninitiated. They do have wingspans of up to five feet, after all. Here are a couple of short videos.

There will be lots of new photos and videos from my Australia trip; check up on my Flickr and YouTube channels for updates. My Internet access will likely be intermittent for the rest of my journey, so some of this content might have to wait until I come back. And yes, I’ve already eaten bugs, roo, and croc.

Tags: australia, video, wildlife

Filed under Travel.