Sunday


Off to another market/festival billed as a "Taste of the The Tablelands" . Disappointing, perhaps we set our expectations too high? Some music (pipe band!) and many many many food trucks. Interspersed between them some stalls with local produce.


Best of attractions: located on the grounds was the HOU WANG TEMPLE


Temple was built in 1903 and is one of the oldest original Chinese temples in Australasia and one of only two or three temples outside China known to be dedicated to Hou Wang. Only surviving timber and iron temple in Queensland. The temple contains a substantial number of original artifacts. Most were made in China during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, especially for this temple. They include a clapperless bell manufactured about 1895 and numerous intricately carved timber panels.


Respectfully and lovingly restored by the community it is a real gem.



MONDAY:


Quick stop at the unversity bookstore for additions to Ed's natural history library . First bookstore I've visited in which they also sold stethescopes!


An enjoyable walk on the Mangrove boardwalk located near Cairns airport. Mangrove swamps exist at the mouths of rivers and creeks where they enter the sea carrying tons of mud and silt from the hinterland. This part of the world is a hot bed of mangrove species, over 25 in the Cairns area. Like mangrove swamps everywhere around the globe, this swamp is a nursery for many species of fish, many crabs and shrimps, small species of fish called mud skippers (they can live out of water for a period of time and even walk across the mud on their fins) and many other critters.


The mangroves produce seeds that germinate on the branch and after a year of hanging around fall into the soft mud below and rapidly root so as not to be swept away during the rise and fall of the tides. The seedlings establish a new generation and help build up the muddy shoreline . We were walking on a boardwalk that had pilings hand driven over 25 feet into the mud to stabilize the boardwalk. A large grove of mangroves provides great potection against tidal surges during typhoons. Unfortunately a number of towns have trucked in millions of tons of sand to cover the mud and produce a swimming beach. Fortunately the mangroves we visited are protected and continue to do their good work in raising new generations of sea life and protecting the airport and backshore of this section of Cairns


Off to another market/festival billed as a "Taste of the The Tablelands". Disappointing, perhaps we set our expectations too high? Some music (pipe band!) and many many many food trucks. Interspersed between them some stalls with local produce.


Best of attractions: located on the grounds was the HOU WANG TEMPLE


Temple was built in 1903 and is one of the oldest original Chinese temples in Australasia and one of only two or three temples outside China known to be dedicated to Hou Wang. Only surviving timber and iron temple in Queensland. The temple contains a substantial number of original artifacts. Most were made in China during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, especially for this temple. They include a clapperless bell manufactured about 1895 and numerous intricately carved timber panels.


Respectfully and lovingly restored by the community it is a real gem.