Jo and I successfully found one another in Cairns...not quite as planned. I was just walking past a cafe when I heard someone shout 'Alice!' and there she was! After catching up on each others accounts of the last few weeks, we settled into Cairns and began organising ourselves for the next 5 and a half weeks we'd be spending travelling down to Sydney. We started by going north for the day to Cape Tribulation. This included going on the Daintree river where we saw snakes and crocodiles in their natural environment. Then we went for a rainforest walk and some of the facinating plants explained to us before being layed out a spread of exotic fruits to try...we were assured that none were toxic! Then we saw Cape Tribulation itself just as the sun was about to set, accommpanied by a rather large yet friendly lizard, Our next stop down the coast was Townsville. Nothing too special about the place itself but just 8km off the coast lies Magnetic Island or Maggie Island as known by the locals. Without too much effort you can find a bit of beach or a whole bay to yourself. Typical tropical paradise! Just out of Townsville is the Billabong Sanctuary where you can get close and personal with the cute, and the not so cute! I held a koala, python and crocodile-all great experiences. The koalas being the cutest were incredibly tame and as such I took far too many photos of them. We also saw some (massive!) crocodiles being fed. Being so close to such formidable creatures is quite a nerve wracking experience...especially when the keeper leaves the gate open! We're now a bit further south i a place called Arlie Beach. Some may know it's the doorway to the Whitsunday Islands. We've booked ourselves a sailing trip around them and we leave tomorrow. Very excited as we get a free dive thrown in as well! (On the condition that we wear our stinger suits as killer jellyfish are still around, oh er!)