After walking off the plane into Cairns airport with my eyes full of tears (I was so sad to be leaving Adelaide!) I brushed myself off and walked into the hot humid air of the tropics.

Cairns is the start of our East Coast Jaunt and it is here where we are meeting Duke and Widdow; our friends from home who are now joining us on this venture.

We head into Central Cairns on our first day here and dangle our feet in the salt water lagoon, the water is cold but it feels lovely against our hot sticky skin. A walk along the Esplanade and a wander around the Marina leaves us feeling peckish, we tuck into our picnic in a park overlooking the lagoon and people watch. We are staying with Toms cousin Mikaela here and that evening she cooks us her Grandmas special Burmese chicken recipe. Mmm mm mm.

On our second day here we head off into the hippy town of Kuranda hidden away in the rainforest up in the Tablelands. Theres a very artsy vibe to Kuranda and there are plenty of markets to wander around. My favourite was Kuranda Original rainforest market; here we sampled local produce and experiemented with various natural anti-mosquito products. However you don't have to look far to see tie dye t-shirts and everyday tourist bric a brac. The skyrail rainforest cableway is by far the best way to get to Kuranda but at $61 our $10 return bus journey wins. We then braved the Jungle Walk which for the majority of the way its fair to say I was not having a nice time. I am so frightened of Caraways and I had my eyes peeled for one. I saw something move in the bushes, no kidding it had legs around an inch thick and long enough so I couldn't see its body over the gap in the trees. I panic and in my head a vision of me kicking a Carways ass flashed before me. A brisk walk later and we then end up at the river walk. My fear of carways has now been replaced by a fear of Crocs. I need to give myself a break. I'm relieved to arrive at the train station and back into society, I look down at my legs and arms to find I have been feasted on, unlucky.

The following day is crazy busy! We meet up with Duke and Widdow and spend the morning negotiating with travel agents trying to get the best deal on a package for our trip down the East Coast. After hours of negotiation (literally) we leave a deposit and shoot off to meet Mikaela and her mum Trudy who has traveled down from the Tablelands and the small town of Millaa Millaa to meet us. We are treated to lunch at a fancy seafood joint on the Esplanade and I tuck into a plate of mussels as big as my head. Brilliant.

After lunch we head back into town and continue with our booking. We seal the deal on $800. We walk away satisfied that we have good deal, for $800 we have ourselves...

Whitsundays Sailing tour

Fraser Island 4WD trip

2 nights on Magnetic Island

A Castaway trip ( This involves us being dumped on an island in the ocean by Seaplane and being left to fend for ourselves for the night. We have to catch our own food and are given a shovel to bury our business in the sand). Im not quite sure how I feel about this trip yet...

Noosa Everglades tour

Plus loads of accomodation and food vouchers to use along the way.

We make the most of our vouchers and have a free dinner that evening of curried sausages and rice.