Where I’m staying, just outside the town of Cairns, may look like an ordinary neighborhood, but it’s surrounded by hills covered in rainforest. A short drive away you can catch a cablecar that goes above and through it, or stop and see the giant curtain fig tree. It doesn’t always rain in the rainforest, there’s a dry and a rainy season, or, like now, a relatively dry rainy season. A short jaunt and you’re in the...

Woke to a symphony of birds calling thru my open window, then the gentle whoosh of a brief rainfall (they call this the rainforest for a reason). Lindsey called me out on the deck to see three big white cockatoos in the tree, amazing! I’ve only ever seen them in captivity. A pair of Rainbow Lorikeets swooped by and a tiny yellow sunbird landed on a branch right in front of me. Tried to take photos but they were much too fast. We headed up...