Leaving Cairns

Our last day in Cairns, we spent in our locale. We went to a Saturday morning Asian market, where there were so many fruits and vegetables we didn't know. Bought a mango and some lychee nuts because we saw them growing the day before. We then had to go take some pictures of the bats. There is a street with several trees where the fruit bats stay during the day. They are huge, compared to our bats, with tawny beige bodies and dark wings. There are hundreds, no maybe thousands of them, slowly fanning their wings to cool themselves. There is a definite odour to the area, not particularly pleasing, and the locals walk out on the street so as not to walk under them on the sidewalk.They apparently feed off the numerous mangoes on the trees around.
The other thing we tried to get pictures of were the beautiful Rainbow Lorikeets who roost every night just next to our apartment building. They are in the parrot family and there are hundreds of them there, making quite a racket in their screechy way. But oh so pretty!!Read more