Cairns again...

Two really cool things happened last night:

First, Stephen was reading the local paper in a cafe and noticed that Keith McMillan was giving a talk before the launch of a photography exhibit at the Cairns Gallery. Keith McMillan was a former dancer for the Royal Ballet in England and then became a photographer, snapping photos of many of the 60's icons in Britain. His talk was really entertaining and he told several amusing anecdotes about sessions with John Lennon and Yoko Ono and Roy Orbison. He was really entertaining and down to earth. Stephen asked some questions and we chatted with him briefly after the talk. He had photos of several of the principal ballet dancers of the day, the cast from Monty Python, Margaret Thatcher, John and Yoko, Man Ray (the artist) and David Hockney.

We really enjoyed ourselves! We were afraid they wouldn't let us in because everyone was dressed for the champagne reception and we were wearing our 'zip off' hiking trousers and backpacking gear. They did make us check our small backpacks in at reception, but they let us in!

The second interesting activity involved throwing rocks into the marina. Apparently there is a really unusual algae in the water at the moment. So when the rocks hit the water surface it lights up into a really vibrant turquoise blue color, almost as it is has been illuminated by spotlights! I guess the color is due to bioluminescence in the water. It was amazing to watch. We must have spent a good 30 minutes just throwing stones into the water and watching the colorful results. The newspaper articles on the subject attempted to reassure the locals that it is indeed a natural phenomenon and not the result of toxic waste dumped into the water....let's just hope they are right...