As we had not had enough of each other, a bunch of us from Taka went out on our first night back in Cairns. The Japanese guys were all catching up on the news of the earthquake and tsunami and ensuring that all was fine with their friends and family (which, thankfully it all seemed to be). Things got a little bit messy in the Irish Bar with the pole dancing competition!!! Photographer Nick and Lukas definately did the boys proud!

Despite being (slightly) hungover the following day Nick, Bettina and I headed out of Cairns to the village of Kurunda. It was rather a "built for tourists" village in the rainforest with lots of markets (that all closed just before the last bus left the village at 3,30pm), a few tourist attractions such as Birdworld and a cafes. We mooched around and had a giggle at some of the products on sale, including a kangaroo skin mankini... and then I had a tarot reading. It seemed like the thing to do in this psuedo-hippy place and the guy doing the readings looked like the right kind of weardy-beardy. Anyway, it was fairly enlightening and predicted great and good things to happen to me in the future and an entrepreneurial career change (we shall see!!!)

On Friday I went up to Port Douglas for a few hours and from there further north into the Daintree rainforest to go horseriding through the rainforest and along the beach. Port reminded me quite a lot of Noosa (except that the sea isn't so inviting with the risk of stingers and salt water crocs!) It doesn't feel like a particuarly "real" town, and again I wonder if there are really any locals there or whether everyone is a tourist or working in the tourist industry. Regardless of which, it's all very tastefully done! The noise of the lorikeets in the trees as the sun was setting in Port was deafening. They may look pretty, but the noise is absolutely incredible!

Horseriding was another highlight of my time in Australia (I am thinking of making a top 10!) At the ranch we were asked to specify our riding ability (beginner, intermediate or expert) so that we could be matched with a horse. Having not ridden in years I put myself down in the intermediate category. (I would never have classed myself as an expert anyway! However, our ride leaders explained that unless we had classed ourselves as at least an I/E, we would not be allowed to do more than trot. A few of us immediately upgraded our levels! I am so pleased that I did, as riding down the beach was incredible. Not quite a "wind in my hair" moment due to the riding hat, but I still felt like I could have been in a movie! Riding through the rainforest was beautiful. As the creeks were all pretty high due to the recent heavy rainfall, the horses were up to their chests a lot of the time. I was slightly scared of crocodiles, especially after seeing one shortly after setting out!

Miraculously the whole time that I riding, and the whole of the following day before I flew down to Sydney, it didn't rain! I spent my last few hours in Cairns making the most of the sunshine at the lagoon in Cairns. Who knows it might be the last sunshine I see for a while!