Cairns was a much nicer climate, still real hot but it was dry heat so you didnt sweat like crazy within 2 seconds. We had arranged to meet with Tuan and Iva (the 2 people we met back in darwin) and check into a hostel. Another friend we also met in Darwin had also arrived, Cornell. We met up with everyone and went to the lagoon for a swim and some food.

I was really looking forward to a swim at last but again we were told it was stinger (jellyfish) season so couldnt go in the water, which is why we had to swim in the lagoon. I took some time to actually learn about the stingers that were around to see how dangerous they really were and decided it was best not to go in the water for one main reason...among other jellyfish the one that gets your attention is the Irukandji. This jellyfish is about 1cm wide and if you cant get to hospital within 2 hours (depending where your stung) your in serious touble...dead pretty much. So yeah, we avoiding the water.

Cairns itself does not have that much to do but around cairns is lots. We had a party night first and then decided to go white water rafting the next day. Our hostel had a flying fox which was cool so we had a go on that before hitting the bar. This wasnt planned but Tuan is a rafting instructor and had a friend call him and offer him some cheap spots so at 2am in the morning over a pint we decided we would be up at 6am to drive 2 hours to Tully where we would spend the whole day on the water of the Tully river, a grade 4 spot! Bearing in mind grade 6 comes with warning of "danger to life" it was pretty exciting :)