Had the best day here...started of with a ride on the worlds longest cable car-7.4km in all, over tropical forest. The views were amazing, you could see over Cairns to the reef-very pretty. There were a couple of stops along the way where you could get off to walk in the forest and look at Barron Gorge, where they have built a power station. At the end of the line is a very touristy but picturesque village of Kuranda. My priority there was the koala village. So ...

Managed to avoid bumping into the pope on my way out of Sydney...and arrive to a wet yet muggy Cairns! The hostel-Cairns City Backpackers- is pretty nice and am sharing with four other girls, three of whom have just come back ffom a great dive trip-things are looking up here already! The Cairns show (like the East of England Show) is on at the minute and its just down the road-got given a free ticket by one of the guys that works here. After my stint in port D...