Since the COVID outbreak last year, Australia was alert with lockdown for a few months. Afterward, with many preventive measures such as facemask, hand sanitising, and safe distancing, the Health Authorities curtailed the spread of COVID for a short period. In the Year 2021, a new delta strain variant is spreading like wildfire in the community. It is very contagious and Authorities are doing their best to minimise its transmission. It has resulted in an extended lockdown in NSW.
Gyms are closed and the only exercise available to the Public is walking. My husband and I decided to go for a walk in the neighbourhood. We walked up and down and along winding footpaths in many streets. We came across the Lakes of Cherrybrook loop. This particular loop is near a retirement village and is in a peaceful area. Ducks in the lake swim gracefully on the lookout for food. You may see a mother duck paddling along with her ducklings in water or the surrounding area if you are lucky. It is a small lake surrounded by tall trees, and the reflection on the water projects a different picture in the camera. It looks as though you have taken the picture upside down. The viewing platform extended to the lake provides a lovely view across the lake. The nearby shopping centre has good cafes and eateries.
It is a fantastic place to sit, relax and watch the ducks in the lake; You can observe nature at her best; imagine what she would have been millions of years ago. Geologists say that Australia was a canopy of countless tropical rainforests millions of years ago. Over time with arid weather conditions, most of the rainforests disappeared, except for the Daintree Rainforest.
The belief is that the Daintree Rainforest is 135 million years old. This forest covers a total of 1200 square kilometers – the size of 25,000 football fields. The rainforest extends out to the coast, where it meets the Great Barrier Reef. This forest is home to many unique plants and animals, one of Sir David Attenborough’s favourite destinations on earth.
Ten years ago, we flew to Cairns with my sister, who came for a holiday from the UK. We rented a service apartment for a few days in Cairns. The unforgettable and captivating experience was the travel by train and Skyrail in the Daintree Rainforest. The first leg of our journey through the rain forest was by the Kuranda Scenic Railway train. It started from Freshwater station, going uphill in a winding railway track. The view of the Australian natural landscape was breathtaking. You can see the front and rear of the train at the same time at certain bends. It was an exciting and unforgettable journey. The building of the railway track is an engineering marvel. A tour guide gave a superb narration of the trip and the railway. Quite a few workers died building the railway and of diseases afterward. The final destination was Kuranda village. We roamed about the village and, after a meal, rested for a while, enjoying a peaceful environment.
The return to the city by Skyrail was spectacular. The Skyrail glided through and over the densely grown trees. Some species grow up to 50 meters in height and 2.7 meters in diameter. Trees of all shapes and sizes stretch throughout the forest. I read an article in a Readers Digest where a caretaker of a European forest said that the trees in his forest survived many thousand years due to the community spirit of the roots. The roots intertwined beneath the earth in bizarre knots and supported each other for sturdy growth. The Skyrail Gondola cabin, safely closed and secured, moved along smoothly. The floor appeared to be glass, and when you look underneath, you feel that you are almost falling into the dense forest. This mode of travel is not for Acrophobic people. It was like travelling through Jurassic Park.
We spent some time at the Great Barrier Reef. I took plenty of photos of the coral reef system at different locations, but I lost the pictures with the phone upgrade.
Travel and Food with Yoga 