wonderland

This colorful bird was waiting to greet us as soon as we started walking around. A great start to our exploration

Cairns definitely won my heart in the few days we were there. I'm enamored with tropical landscapes, where everything is covered in green, with wild things growing from every little scrap of dirt they can find, crawling one of top of the other, covering trees, rocks, buildings, everything in sight. So our trip out to the botanic gardens was a highlight for me. With some manicured areas, mostly green chaos, and a fantastic boardwalk through a patch of rainforest. Gorgeous leaves and shapes everywhere, and brilliant splashes of color here and there with fantastic flowers. Really, truly, remarkably overwhelming in natural beauty.

I loved the exceedingly large scale of everything. From palms, to cascading walls of green, to trees both greatly wide and tall, complete with giant leaves

All the different shapes, patterns and textures were fascinating

One of those extra tall trees covered in what looked to be some type of cactus. Wonderful

And those stunning flowers! Of which I'm sure some are not technically blooms, but that amazing color! So gorgeous

The serene feeling of being completely surrounded and immersed in a green universe, with beautiful creatures like proud little kookaburras just hanging out

 And of course that great boardwalk. Shaded by tall ferns and trees that seemed to twist up and away beyond the sky, wild twists and curls of vines all over everything, and crazy tangles of branches. Just: Wow