Travel Maven Blog ...... David Molyneaux posts from TheTravelMavens.com

Australia's island retreat for lizards and wealthy sailors

Fourth and last in a series from Queensland, Australia

Lizard Island, a beachy piece of the 1,200-mile Great Barrier Reef, is named for its primary inhabitants. They are joined, especially in Australia’s winter, by sailors, fishermen, campers, and other world travelers drawn by the reef's bounty.

Beach at Lizard Island Resort, Australia (Photos by David G. Molyneaux, TheTravelMavens.com)

Most of Lizard Island is a national park. Swimmers and sunbathers head to secluded beaches, divers to the inner and outer reefs. The island’s Cod Hole is a dive site known for a dazzling array of tropical fish and the massive Potato Cod.

Two types of island accommodations are worlds apart.

Overnighters -- those without a boat for sleeping -- must carry all their gear to the camping area, which is 3/4s of a mile from the small plane airstrip. No supplies are available to the public. Click for park info.

Where the wealthy gather for a while

Or, if you have some serious folding money in your bank account, you may book a cottage at the famed Lizard Island Resort, which will pick you up at the airstrip, and transport the minimal amount of clothing that you will need, contained in the overnight bag that the plane will allow.

From Daintree to Cooktown, Australia's history and tropical treasures

third in a series from Queensland, Australia

Daintree National Park in Queensland, Australia, is a world treasure. Most of the huge park is tropical rainforest, some of which has existed continuously for more than 110 million years. It may be the oldest rainforest on Earth. Some plant and animal species have been found nowhere else on the planet.

Protecting cassowaries

You can book a ride (or rental car) into Daintree from Port Douglas, north of Cairns, but you won’t get through it, toward Cooktown, without a four-wheel drive vehicle, such as those operated by guides from Adventure North.

Over rutted road, through crocodile-infested streams, and across one river on a cable-drawn ferry, an Adventure North guide carefully drove me  and my partner Fran Golden along a coastal road that is impassable in the wettest season.

Cairns, Australia, where crocs keep the beaches empty

second in a series from Queensland, Australia

Much of the land accessible to travelers along the coast in northern Queensland, Australia, lies between Cairns and Cooktown. From Sydney, I flew into Cairns, then made my way north through Daintree National Park.

Ballooning out of Cairns, Australia (Photos by David G. Molyneaux, TheTravelMavens.com)

The primary reason to go to Cairns is to book a snorkeling or diving boat to the Great Barrier Reef, either out of Cairns or nearby Port Douglas to the north, where I ate my first spangled emperor for dinner (look it up). The Reef, at 1,200 miles long, is the world’s largest living organism.

Getting to the outer reef and back by boat takes a full, long day, though there are shorter snorkeling and glass-bottom boat trips to inner portions of the reef. Prices are $80 and up.

Reef, Queensland’s history, lure cruisers north in Australia

First in series from Queensland, Australia

A giant clam, which is a mollusk as big as a bear, opens wide to catch the sunlight. It sits on the shallow ocean floor at the Great Barrier Reef, where famed explorer Captain Cook scraped some serious wood off the bottom of his ship, the Endeavour, trying to squeeze through the coral in 1770.

Marina at Cairns, Queensland, Australia (Photo by David G. Molyneaux, TheTravelMavens.com)

Nearby, along the coast of Queensland, Australia’s northeastern state, rain drips from the fronds of prehistoric ferns; cave drawings and paintings describe ancient birthing procedures, and, in a town named for Cook, a local museum and annual reenactments celebrate the exploits of sailors from Europe nearly 250 years ago.

If you are among the many travelers from the Americas headed for cruises around Australia (remember that winters here are summers there), consider a pre- or post-trip of at least several days to Queensland.

Cruising, making hay in the Carnival Sunshine

Older ship sparkles after a $155 million makeover

When I boarded the new(ly renovated) Carnival Sunshine for a week’s cruise out of New Orleans, my mission was to find out whether the 182 cabins that were added to the ship -- now housing at least 364 additional passengers -- made life onboard more crowded.

Sunshine ropes course

Larger, more dense crowds are a major concern for cruisers contemplating a vacation on the new ships, and a worry, as well, on older ships that add cabins to increase a cruise line’s revenue.

Most of what I heard from passengers about the $155 million transformation of the Carnival Destiny into the Carnival Sunshine was strongly positive.

The cruise line has significantly expanded top deck recreation, with the water park and activities such as a ropes course. New dining choices include a full-service Asian restaurant, a Mexican-themed cantina, a sushi bar, and the popular Guy’s Burger Joint (from TV personality Guy Fieri). Carnival also shoehorned onto the Sunshine a pharmacy-themed Alchemy Bar, an EA Sports Bar, the largest RedFrog Pub in the fleet, a Latin-themed Havana Bar, and two new poolside watering holes, the RedFrog Rum Bar and BlueIguana Tequila Bar.

But what about the density of the ship? Enough deck chairs? Restaurant seats? Bar stools? And for the trim and fit, would the gym be even tighter at peak times?

All good. Fans of Carnival will be pleased with the 3,006-passenger Sunshine, which cruises with one of company's best passenger flows and with new nooks and crannies for getting away from the crowd.

Cruising on Disney Magic, an Iron Man makeover

Teaching an old dog new tricks is an expensive proposition for cruise lines. But it’s a lot cheaper and quicker than building a new cruise ship from scratch.

These days, with the speed that technology and innovative designs are changing the cruise experiences for passengers aboard new ships -- and the corporate need for increased onboard revenue to pay for them -- refurbishing older vessels is more complicated.

Disney's Magical makeover

Some cruise lines -- among them, Disney on the Magic and Carnival on the Sunshine -- are spending millions on a different kind of renovation, much more than a nip-and-tuck.

They are transforming their lesser equipped, older ships, sending them to drydock to add activities, restaurants, and the latest innovations, some of which have yet to be introduced on their newest ships.

Which is how I found myself transformed into Iron Man on Disney Magic, which is sailing out of Port Canaveral, Fla.