Hot and sunny all day today (perfect day for the reef!)Got the bus 11km north of Cairns to Tjapukai; which is an Aboriginal park owned and run by the Tjapukai tribe, who are local to here. This place was fantastic! There was a film about the history of Aboriginals, the subsequent arrival by Europeans and the resulting violence. It was a very moving film, obviously told from the aboriginal point of view. I have had a vague sense of uneasiness in Oz with this ...

After travelling over 4000 kms from Sydney, we spent a few days doing not much around Cairns (apart from going to see the dire Da Vinci Code);the weather was quite cool and rainy so we were putting off a trip to the Barrier Reef until the sun came out. But we were running out of time so today we were on a boat at 8am.The weather was still miserable, and the sea rough, so much so that I and about 10 other passengers were banished to the back deck with sick bags......

Arrived in Cairns yesterday and parked outside a backpacker's hostel in the van. Took advantage of the van for the last time today and went a few km north to Yorkeys Knob, which is a tiny place on the beach. We hung around the beach all day and attempted to play frisbee in the wind, to the amusement of the lifeguard on duty!