Where to stick the tube?

One of the age-old questions of medicine is "If you want to give the Earth an enema, where do you insert the tube?".  Based on this day, I'd nominate Cairns as a leading candidate.

Before getting down to that topic, I'll thank my friend Alison for her advice (from the UK) about plant ID: most of my suggested names were wrong and she recognised a few where I hadn't tried.

We began with a walk along the second half of Peterson's Creek.  Very pleasant including this Grevillea

 ... and a Pale-headed Robin.  The look into Frawleys Pool was very rustic.

 The drive down to Cairns was interesting plus.  Where the Gillies Highway goes down the escarpment there are - according to something I read - 263 bends in 19km.  It was also drizzling most of the time.  We headed more or less straight for the Esplanade where the main War Memorial is located.

 The reason for going there was the mud flats.

Thus far the marina developers have been kept at bay.  This meant we scored a few waders such as this Eastern Curlew.

Had the tide been in we'd probably have got a lot more.  Also, a lifer in the form of this Scaly-breasted Munia (which used to be called Nutmeg Mannikin).

 A crab was waving its claws at us.

 No idea what this was but it was very popular with Lorikeets.

 So was this Melaleuca at the Centenary Lakes!

It was astonishing that just about all the young folk on the Esplanade were like this mob, walking along constantly looking at their phones.  Perhaps they were playing Pokemon Go?

Why not save energy by staying home if you're not going to look at the scenery?  The group are unusual in that they are all Anglo and of mixed sex.  It was also annoying that all the seats were on the land side of the path so that one couldn't sit and look at the birds because the dweets were walking in front of you.  Add to that the poxy drizzle and not a pleasant time.

We then failed to spot a supermarket or liquor store in time to pull in, and headed off back up the Gillies Highway.  After about 20 bends a Police 4x4 came up behind with its cherry lights on so I let it by (although I suspected he was just going off shift and using the lights to clear the rabble).  That turns out to have been wrong: about 100 bends later he was parked beside a car which had gone over the edge backwards and (fortunately) stuck on the kerb with a front wheel in the air.  Had it not stuck I suspect it would have gone a very long way down.  We then crossed with 2 more plodmobiles an ambulance and a fire truck.

Getting to the top we went into Atherton where I could remember where the supermarket was located.  Drizzle was the name of the game.

• Bird of the Day: Radjah Shelduck for the individual tick and Australian White Ibis for the flock
• Vegetation of the day:  The rain forest at the start of the descent of escarpment.
• Memorable moment: The car hanging off the edge of the Gillies Highway.
• Comment of the day: After I whacked a stroppy boxer with my tripod, and drew the dogs owner to the presence of an unused lead in her hand, she asked "Is that a weapon in your hand?" .Which it obviously was - see the opening of this point.
• Pie of the day: No sample.
• Troppo moment of the day.  Just about anything in Cairns.

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