I arrived in Brisbane after a seven hour flight from Singapore where I tried, and failed, to watch The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Slumdog Millionnaire. Once I landed, I had to catch a train to the domestic terminal to catch my connecting flight to Cairns. After waiting at the station for half an hour, there was an announcement that the train was delayed by five minutes, then ten, then an hour... It turns out the train had actually derailed, so that was a good start. It's nice to know that it's not just England that has rubbish trains!

I eventually made it to the terminal after getting a taxi with some other people, and boarded my two-hour flight to Cairns. While we were coming down to land you could see the Barrier Reef really clearly, it looked so nice.

Once I got to my hostel, I booked a couple of trips for the next day and the day after, then went and unpacked, showered etc. There was a BBQ at the hostel that night and I got to try the local delicacies of Kangaroo, Crocodile and Emu. They were pretty good. Crocodile just tastes like chicken!

The next morning I went on a trip to Cape Tribulation and the Daintree River. It was a really early start, and our first stop was at Mossman Gorge for swimming. We weren't there very long though, and the water was freezing, so I just sat on a rock and took photographs. Next we went to the Daintree Mangrove Animal Sanctuary and saw a Cassowary, Amesthestine Python and the Crocodiles being fed, then on to the Daintree Forest and crossed over the river on the car ferry. It was raining at this point so when we got to Alexandra Range Lookout the view wasn't that great. We walked through the forest on the Marrdja Boardwalk and the our guide, Matty, pointed out different plants and told us how the aborigines used them for hunting, fishing etc, then it was time for lunch and a wander on Cape Tribulation Beach. It got it's name when Captain Cook was sailing round Oz following the reef and came across a beach he wanted to moor at. He crashed into the reef and punched a hole in his boat. He knew it needed repairing pretty soon so he moored at the next beach (Cooktown). He sent some men into the forest to get supplies but only half of them came back and a lot of other bad things happened. In his diary he wrote that it was when he hit the reef that all his "trials and tribulations started" hence Cape Tribulation. There's also a Mount Sorrow and Misery Beach nearyby...

After lunch we went on a cruise up the Daintree River to see if we could spot some wild crocs. We managed to see three, and the guide was telling us that a little boy was playing in the water, and got taken by one of them a couple of months ago. After the cruise it was back to Cairns and an early night for ANOTHER early morning.

Another day - another tour. This time it was on "Gus the Wonder Bus" for a Fun, Falls and Forests tour. We went to Babinda, the wettest town in Austrailia, and had a bit of a swim near the Babinda Boulders, then on to Josephine Falls, a two tier waterfall with a natural rock slide. That was really fun, but I couldn't believe how strong the current was. It was raining the whole time and, for the half hour we were there, the current rose five inches. It was too dangerous to carry on swimming so we had to leave. Next stop was an AMAZING lunch at this little tea house in the Atherton Tablelands, then onto Millaa Millaa falls. Easily the most amazing waterfall ever, and the one where Peter Andre filmed the "Mysterious Girl" video. The Timotei shampoo advert was filmed here as well, cue lots of imitation, flicking hair back out of the water, photographs. Last stop was Lake Eacham, a sixty meter deep crater lake that felt like getting into a bath compared with the other places. We managed to spot some turtles and fish as well. Even though it poured down all day I had such a fun time!

The next day, my last day in Cairns, I had a bit of a look round the town. It was raining, again, so I didn't bother going to the lagoon or anywhere like that. There wasn't really much to do in Cairns itself if you weren't going on a tour. That night I went to the Woolshed for tea with a girl I'd met on the tour the previous day. $10 got you a drink, a MASSIVE meal AND a dessert! Bargain! After that I was stuffed and, as I had yet ANOTHER early start the next day, I went back to the hostel for bed, so I could be up bright and early at 5:45 to get ready to catch the bus to Mission Beach.