Cairns is an odd place, a purpose built tourist city that has very little to offer inside the city itself, instead its a gateway to the Great Barrier Reef and the rainforest - all well and good but it was a bit wet for day trips! We did manage a couple of dry days but that was after we'd paid to bring our flight to Melbourne forward so we couldnt afford trips :-p typical! Anyway, an extra 5 days down south in the big city with the sunshine would be worth it!

We resorted to drinking cheap wine to pass the remaining time with our newly made Swiss/Canadian/American/Australian/British friends. One of these guys, Steve, was on a two week vacation from serving in the US Army in Iraq. Very interesting and mad guy, really knew his politics and all the things surrounding him being in Iraq but also loved a bit of naked bungee jumping. Great fun. Really cool people and it made the whole Cairns experience a lot better!

I'd love to write something witty and original about Cairns the city, but it was pretty uninspiring. At least we had Melbourne to solve that problem....