John Baird: Canada's freedom agenda - Diplomat Magazine

destinations|DELIGHTSindividual farmer is affected by daily priceincreases and decreases. Also, local farmersare planning to grow cocoa, vanillaand sugar cane, a combination they saymakes this area unique as the only one togrow the main ingredients for purely locallymade chocolate.After a day at the reef, or fishing, dryoff and go visit the other natural wondersin the area, such as Daintree NationalPark. Take a look at the many pamphlets,which seemingly are on every flat surfacein the town, or just sign up with BTSTours. They’re flexible (I called at 6 p.m.for a tour for the next day at 8 a.m. withouta problem.) Their Daintree Rainforesttour starts off with a very informativejungle walk which takes you past ancienttrees. Tour guides place the age of one ofthem at somewhere between 600 and 1,200years. Aside from just being in the rainforest,hearing the silence (many of the animalsare nocturnal) and feeling small andawestruck, keep your eye out for giganticspiders — and take in babbling brooksheading down into deep valleys, toweredover by the huge sun-stealing trees thatform the rainforest’s canopy.The Daintree National Park is aUNESCO World Heritage site and hascertainly earned this honour as the world’soldest continuously living rainforest.Locals and tourists take good care of it,including those few residents who live(without electricity connections and usingonly generators) on the Daintree side ofthe Daintree River, which you reach onlyby ferry.After a jungle walk, BTS took us to seeAl, the operator of the only Daintree Riverboat cruise. The cruise was a lovely opportunityto put on more bug spray and enjoyDaintree National Park, a UNESCO WorldHeritage site.The entire city of Sydney is peppered with amazing shopping and dining.the breeze coming off the ocean.Al talked mostly about the importanceof the mangroves (around 30 of theworld’s 60 varieties exist in the Daintreearea) and why preservation of this uniquetree is necessary to the ecosystem in thearea. He also spoke quite a bit aboutcrocodiles, which seems to be a commonpastime in Australia’s north. All of thelocals have at least one story about theirpet being eaten, seeing one while out fishingor warning tourists to take the threatseriously. On the cruise, Al pointed outseveral logs which turned out to be fourmetercrocodiles. Used to the sound of hisboat (a glorified tin can), they would swishtheir gigantic tails and swim alongside usfor a few minutes before heading back tothe river’s edge to wait for an unsuspectingpet, tourist or wild pig.After the boat tour, we headed to theBTS campsite. With a small natural clearwater pond at hand, we canoed and swam(“don’t worry about the eels, they’re morescared of you than you are of them”)while our guide prepared lunch – fantasticbarbecued Australian lamb (and fish andvegetarian alternatives) with several otherside dishes, including coconut rice and afresh fruit salad.After lunch, we toured Cape Tribulation(“Cape Trib”), Cow Bay and, ofcourse, a gelato shop. The beach at CapeTrib is a large, gorgeous semi-circle of palesand and a very shallow decline into theocean. At the very least, take your shoesoff and walk along the surf (being mindfulof the crabs that are hidden just below thesand’s surface).Sydney: Days 10-14Sydney is like a more-southern Vancouverbut bigger (population: 4.5million) with more varied neighborhoodsand crazy, crazy driving.There is so much to do that you needat least two weeks to see it all. In my fivedays, I managed a sort of “must see” list,but did miss a few.Downtown Sydney is divided into sections.Circular Quay is a harbour-frontregion. Its ferries will take you to wellknownManley and other ocean-side suburbsof Sydney. The ferry is a cheap andfantastic way to get views of the city, thefamous Opera House and Harbour Bridge.Darling Harbour contains the downtownskyscrapers and much of the dining andnightlife in the city. The Rocks, the firstsettled area in Sydney, has many historicalbuildings and higher-end artisan stores.Kings Cross is the city’s red light districtwhich, during the day, at least, is interesting.Further afield are Manley and Bondi,the latter of which boasts the worldfamoussurfing beach.The entire city is peppered with amazingshopping and dining. At Sushi Rio inDarling Harbour, the chefs stand in themiddle of a bar fitted with an electronicsushi train. They’ll tell you what’s in eachroll that makes its way past you and willalso make sushi to order. It was fantasticdiplomat and international canada 91