New Destination Daintree Website

Hi,
 check it out
www.destinationdaintree.com
brand new website, all done with volunteer work by our cooperative: Daintree Marketing Cooperative and of course a specialist from Cairns.
Please comment!

Our Driveway- please enter!

Hi,
 recently guests became scared about our driveway.
When you arrive the first time, it is a little unusual already to have driven all the way from Cairns, to take the Daintree River Ferry and then to experience for the first time this magnificent part of FNQ = Far North Queensland.
Lush forest, enormous trees, vines everywhere.
From the turn off in Cow Bay, Buchanan Creek Road, it takes ca 5 km to Wattle Close on the right Drive into Wattle Close, 2 minutes, and our sign, " Cow Bay Homestay B&B " is on the left. You will see that you can go into the driveway behind the sign.
NOW:
First gear, take it easy, follow the path/driveway and over the bridge, yes!,  and then up the other side. Now that wasn't so bad, right !!! Most cars are front-wheel-drive, and this driveway is just what they are very good at.
Beep the car horn, please.
A lot of the new hire cars are so quiet, that I can't hear your arrival even just in the backyard,...I do use the waiting for a spot of gardening...
So, there.
Shall I make a cup of coffee or tea for you, or a glass of our fantastic water? Then I'll tell you a little what you can do while visiting us here in the Daintree rainforest.
Have a great day. Marion

Milestone at the Daintree River Ferry

Hi,
 from today you can use your credit/debit card at the ferry!!! Prior you had to have cash money, which in the year 2014 is not always in everyone's wallet.
Great change for this area.

Cassowary close ups

Good morning there,
 well, we have a number of Cassowaries doing the rounds on the garden of Cow Bay Homestay B&B and being pretty cheeky about it too. Yesterday I was given passionfruit by a neighbour, which then disappeared from a box I had put them on before taking them into the kitchen. Then early this morning a Cassowary was right next to this box, checking if more were placed there? We do have the feeling, this one is being fed by someone in the area, and I wish they wouldn't do this. Meanwhile I am trying to keep count of papayas and passionfruit on vines, but so far I am loosing out. One of the guest sprinted across the lawn this morning trying to take a photo of a Cassowary and just managed. They are a bit shy, which is good, but then also just 'pop' up out of nowhere.

 

Butterflies in photos and ATE 2014

Good morning,
 now I finally have some photos of the Ulysee, blue, and Cairns Birdwing Butterflies, green; this is a 'hard' job, as they move constantly.

After a lovely dry spell we now have a bit more rain. ATE -Australian Tourism Exchange in Cairns has finished and I had hoped the weather would improve for all the visitors, but... some delegates were here before ATE started and enjoyed the sun and wind. Thank you for your visit and hopefully sending us lovely visitors.

 

Ulysses and Cairns Birdwing Butterflies

Hi,
 well,....for the last 2 weeks we have had big numbers of Ulysee, the bright blue, butterflies and Cairns Birdwing, black and red for the girls, bright green for the boys, butterflies absolutely everywhere. It is an amazing sights seeing both buzzing around flowering bushes and plants. One even took a detour through the lounge area in the Garden House the other day. As a result, I suppose, we have now found their lava on a kaffir lime tree on the back deck of the B&B, both types, ..had to Google them to determine who is who....
A 'little' more rain and our guests are coping very well, as they say: " It is a rainforest! "
Yesterday a nearly dry day, with sun and wind. Today I hope we have the same, I have lots to do in the garden. Wishing everyone a great day.

Cyclone Ita

Hi,
 on Friday night, Cyclone Ita gave us all a big scare with category 5 and 300km/h winds on the forecast, but then it was not so bad at all. Some places had fallen trees and damage from that. Some roads and bridges are closed, all temporary and hopefully the Daintree Ferry will be back in action this morning. So, the North is ready for our Easter visitors !
But such a cyclone makes everyone tidy up and lock up the houses and we  fitted shutters  to our Garden House. The veranda has to be cleared: where to with all the plants, pots, BBQ, chairs, benches? We live more out- than indoors, so there is a lot to be moved. Then after the cyclone is gone, rearrange everything again. We are very happy though, how it all went and now we can go into the dry season!

 

New tours in the area

Hi,
 here are links to new tours, one Sky Rail from Cairns to Kuranda
http://www.skyrail.com.au/experience/canopy-glider
and this one for 'foodies' and only for adults
http://www.kurandatours.com.au/australia_outback_tasting_tour.htm
I hope this gives you more ideas of things to do up here in the North; is may mean you have to exstend your visit!!!
Enjoy.
 

Air Cons are in !!!

Hello,
 right-- after some delays the guest rooms are now air conditioned. YES.
This is a huge thing for us, as we run on solar and generator power and had to make some changes to our system. The government is promising us to 'look into' mains power to this area. It seems we are too small, too remote and even though we are the Tourism Icon: Daintree Rainforest somehow not in line. They also have no money.... We decided to set ourselves up for the future and when the mains power arrives here we can connect anyway, but waiting 18 years takes its toll.
So:::: guest can now choose to turn the air conditioners on in the wet season. The first guests who tried it out, loved it. It is very quiet and fast. They had promptly not had it on the next night, as it was quiet cool, 23 C and the fan was enough. The air con will be great though on those hot, humid, still days when one gets out of the shower, to dry off  and is wet immediately. Maybe go to sleep with is on for another hour and then have it turned off automatically. I am sure people get the idea.
Meanwhile we have had some rain!
There are 2 cyclones in FNQ right now. One off to our west, one off to our south and we seem to have a 'convergence', which had brought us non-stop heavy rain  last night. Result: 390 mm in Cow Bay. That is even called rain here. There is a bit more to come we are told, well we'll see...
But it is 29 C during the day, all very relaxed.
Check the website for vacant rooms and come to stay to see/feel/experience it all.

30 December 2013

Hi,
 nearly the end of this year, looking forward to 2014 and more good experiences here in FNQ of Australia and the beautiful area we live in.
Here are some pages from a wonderful photo album special people made for us as a Christmas present. We think it does capture our place perfectly. Thank you to D&K

It looks much better than these photos do.
Christmas is gone, with lovely visitors and guests, lots of presents and yummy food and drinks, even some non alcoholic..... Perfect weather even though on the day it rained so we didn't 'do' the usual thing on the beach. Good for a long walk along the beach though for some.
More perfect weather since and after listening to guests raving about their reef trip with our locally run boat yesterday I have booked in for tomorrow !!!! Yes,...3km/h wind, it should be flat as and great visibility. Just air out the stinger suit, so I don't have to use all that sunscreen and off I go......
For today there is lots of washing and some mowing on the list. Not bad, yes??!!!!!
Wishing everyone a great time on New Year Eve so 2014 is properly started and hopefully bring great times and prosperity.

 

Now in November

Hi,
 wow time is flying... we must have had fun.
Here are a couple of photos

 

Now, this is a little historic:

These chairs are called 'sqatters chairs' and were usually home build, way back during the pioneer days, when furniture was not bought in shops, why ?: no shops yet! These chairs I bought maybe 30 years ago in a garage sale in Rockhampton and they were our pride and joy on the veranda there for years. They finally made their way to Cow Bay and I restored them  6 years ago. Most recently they were in front of the Garden House, as they are a little bulky. Well, the other day Brian sat in one and on getting up: the whole thing fell apart into all its bits, due to wood rott. It looked that somehow they were set out to be assembled, however the opposite was the case. The End!

 

 

 

 

 

Now this little guy sat in front of the sliding doors this morning obviously had hit the plexi glass and got himself stunned. I gave him a little rescue remedy and sat him on the cloth, where he seemed fine. Not flying off, I was worried that it may be a baby bird waiting for the parents to come to pick him up, but eventually he took off into the mandarin tree and then flew off later. The bird book says, it is a mistle toe bird, much to my surprise. Not that I know what they look like but I didn't know that they are so tiny, ca. 85mm. Cute as!!!

 

 

Half way through November now and it is a little warmer and tropical and we all wishing for some serious rain to flush the creeks out, which are very dry now. Hopefully this  will be soon, so we can go cooling off in all the waterholes afterwards.

 

Right,..... guest rooms to prepare, mangoes and papaya to freeze and busy keeping cool over noon.

 

Tips === online bookings

Hi,
 for your online booking the best you can do is book direct on my website. This will give you direct, up to date availability and full benefit of our follow up confirmation and info sheet, we have prepared for you. There are now numerous sites who compete and rather stymie the small B&B's, plus we have no contacts for guests to advice them of any particular info to assist with their arrival and visit here.
Just a tip.
Marion
 

Fresh local Durian for breakfast !!!

Hi,
 our local Durian growers are happy that flowers are on the trees, meaning we should be able to have fresh Cow Bay Durian for breakfast during February/.March . Durian, the King of the tropical fruits is fairly unusual in shape and taste. People all over Asia love this fruit. Well: you know the 'drill' online bookings are on the website. www.cowbayhomestay.com

 

Spring time now

Hi, yes well it didn't take long and the next thing we knew,: Spring and the weather to go with it..meaning just beautiful. Still a little cool but no jumpers until later in the evening and the Happy Plants are flowering so think it nearly knocks you over, very sweet scent, a little like jasmine or Elder==Flieder== for the Germans. I love it. The lowers come out at night time, and close during the day, so the evenings are very tropical.

Then we had a little visitor the other day.

I had just cut the flower and he popped in during the evening.

For anyone who knows our Garden House, things are a changing again,now Brian does the outside cladding and has to start from scratch on some of the walls. This was the ' look ' for several days:

Yes, right we are busy and making progress, which is great.
                      Now, you all have a fantastic day.

I will put another great photo on facebook in a minute
check it out and even like it on
www.facebook.com/cowbayhomestay


 

A little later

Hi,
 yes what is going on here since June.
One Cow Bay Homestay B&B is now on face book. www.facebook/cowbayhomestay check it out and even click on like.....
This it not the reason I haven't 'blogged' anything since June though. We are just busy, how good is this. Lovely visitors from all over Australia and the world, even Hawaii and Guam. Everyone is busy with all the locally guided tours and reef trips, or just wandering on the boardwalks, or even just chilling out on the beaches. Plenty of birds right now, rainbow lorikeets are chattering away up in the top of the trees, and we have had a white breasted sea eagle calling in nearly every afternoon. Just the other day big upset, when 5 cockatoos were chasing !!!! a goanna down a tree. That was something.
The bauhinia tree flowered really well and attracted plenty of Cairns birdwing butterflies. Now the Ulysses are busy and as always orange footed jungle fowls; when do they ever sleep? We had a great full moon last months and big tides to go with it. Brian is busy finishing off the Garden House, which is now nearly cladded on all sides, looking really nice. Well, and I had better finish my jobs for the morning. See ya

 

Right on time

Hi,
 it is June and right on time the fabulous Orange Shrimp plants start to flower. Read back down to last year to find out all about these and the great photo.
even the wind has eased off a bit and a Cairns Birdwing butterflies just came past my window here.
We have 2 cassowaries 'stealing' out papayas; the boat whistle is the first to be tried out to discourage them. I think : as we can't eat the cassowary plums they should not eat the papaya. Deal.
We'll see. Check here for updates
Have a great day

 

Super Reisefuehrer

Guten Tag,
 unser Deutscher Gast Daniel hat uns letztens diesen Natur-Reisefuehrer gezeigt. Daniel hat ihn als hervorragend bezeichnet und oft benutzt.
Kreuzreferenzen sind sehr gut, in Englisch, Deutsch und im Zweifelsfall Latein.
Ueber Amazon zu erwerben oder in der Buchhandlung bestellen.
Autor: Lutz Fehling
"Australien Natur- Reisefuehrer" ISBN 9783932084348
Viel Spass. Ich bin gespannt wer als ertes mit diesem Reisefuehrer bei uns zu Besuch kommt.
Bis dann, schoenen Tag wuenscht Marion, Cow Bay Homestay B&B
... und dann war noch der Kassowar, der ueber die Veranda guckte, um die Gaeste zu betrachten, die lesend auf der Bank sassen. Alle waren ueberrascht.......
...und jeden Tag sitzt der White Breasted Sea Eagle auf einem der Baeume und checks sein Revier.
 

Was der Reisefuehrer nicht erwaehnt

Hallo,
 die Preise in den Restaurants in Australien sind sehr gehoben. Das Essen und Service ist gut allerdings ist es generell um$ 100.00 fuer 2 Personen. Eine gute Alternative ist das Mittagessen in allen Hotels=Pubs. Dort gibt es 'Counterlunch' oder 'Countertea'. Dies bekommt man in der Bar, also ueber die Theke=counter. Jeden Tag frisch gekocht und generell um die $ 10.00.
Alle Clubs : RSL, League, Sports Clubs sind zum Mittag und Abendessen geoeffnet. Man muss kein Mitglied sein, muss sich nur als Besucher einschreiben. Diese Clubs haben Personal am Eingang , die gerne helfen werden. Probieren Sie es aus. Es ist immer gut und man bekommt ein guten Einblick in ein Teil des Australischen Lebens.
Viel Spass und guten Appetit. Marion

" Zane" the last cyclone for this season

HI, no reason to be worried about ' Zane ' in this area; even the watch is cancelled for Cape Tribulation.
We have had a little rain, gusty winds and overcast , nice and cool actually.
Good weather for gardening and for visitors to do the walks in comfort.
Come and do it yourself !!!.
and have a great day now.
Marion

 

This is Good

HI all,
 check out this new tour; not for everyone, you have to be experienced in kayaking and love fishing and all. But it is a great way to explore the reef, see wild life and be active. Great day trip and you will be excited about it. Do click the you tube clip
http://www.capetribpaddletrek.com.au/kayak-fishing-and-sailing-in-north-queensland
Of course pick up from Cow Bay Homestay B&B and you can even book it on our website...soon
Let me knnow, if you like it.
Have a great day
Marion