DAY 5 OF 7

TIME OUT FOR R&R!

When we got up on Wednesday morning, April 14, 2010, it was raining so we decided it was a good day to take a breather, sleep in and be lazy for the morning. I took a walk along the beach between rain showers and enjoyed walking barefoot in the sand.

In the afternoon we drove to the Cairns Wildlife Dome, the zoo within the city! It is located in an enclosed 20-meter high glass dome on top of the Reef Hotel Casino. Cairns Wildlife Dome is made up of more than 3,000 plants, 120 tons of earth, 50,000 liters of filtered water, 28 km of shade-cloth thread, all within 26,000 cubic meters of flight space. The Dome opened to the public on December 15, 2003.

The Dome was initially used as a dinner and show venue, complete with meals, cabaret and magician performances in a rainforest Conservatory setting. The venue was disused for almost 2 years before Port Douglas Reef Resorts Ltd committed $2.5 million to the establishment of Cairns Wildlife Dome.

It was quite a surprise to find this spectacular exhibit in the casino! We were immersed in a rainforest environment while birds such as parrots, cockatoos, lorikeets, doves and rosellas flew freely around. Sometimes they really started us as they flew over our heads! We also saw wallabies, kookaburras along with frogs, turtles, pythons, freshwater crocodiles and lizards, among other animals.

I actually had my picture taken holding a koala named Harvey. I was told by the tour guide that Queensland is the only state in Australia where it is legal to hold a koala for picture taking purposes. The Dome has two koalas which are rotated each day for picture taking and they can only be held for a total of 30 minutes per day. The tour guides have to log in/log out the time of each holding session.

We found a Mexican restaurant called Montezuma's located in downtown Cairns and that is where we ate dinner. Then we walked through town until we found the Night Market and I did a little shopping before heading back to Trinity Beach for the night.