How're you going?

We chilled out in Cairns for a day or so before heading up to Cape Tribulation where rainforest meets the beach. In Cairns I got bitten by sandflies a ridiculous number of times (28 on one arm) so heading to the rainforest in some respects was rather foolish. I got bitten lots more. But they've calmed down now and they're picking on Jo. Meanies.

We did a short cruise down the Daintree River and saw a tree snake and baby crocodile. We spent the rest of our time by the pool and walking along the beach. Unfortunately along most of the coast in Queensland you can't swim in the sea at the moment because of "The Stingers". Some people were risking it, but we don't fancy getting stung and still feeling the pain 9 months later. No thank you.

We left Cairns on Wednesday on the OZ Experience. There were 2 buses heading south and fortunately our one was only half full so we had loads of room. We went to the Cairns bunjy site and I managed to resist. Then we stopped at a rainwater lake for a swim and a barbie. On our way to Mission Beach we stopped at a Crocodile farm/sanctuary thing where we met some crocodile keepers to rival Steve Irwin. They brought one on the bus which made us jump. We saw all shapes and sizes of crocodile from babies to lean fighters to absolute bloaters. They didn't like being poked in the face with a rake much either. At the end we got to hold a baby croc (with mouth taped shut) and a snake. We opted out of the chance to provoke a snake to bite us. A free bottle of water was not enough to tempt us. We ate crocodile satay which was interesting.

To be honest we didn't see much of Mission Beach because we arrived there quite late, had dinner straight away (kangaroo) and then got involved in the scavenger hunt game that was going on.

We left really early the next day to head to Townsville to take the ferry across to Magnetic Island, where we are now. We are staying at a lush hostel right on the beach (thanks Hannah!). That night I won the Killer Pool (35 people entered, I rock) and won more drinks that I didn't need but obviously I ended up drinking them anyway.

We've got a couple of days to chillax here before heading further south to go out to the Whitsunday Islands and Fraser Island. We've booked a combo tour of both and our boat is called Spank Me. Make of that what you will. Jo is hoping the sea doesn't get the better of her.

We're in another crap internet cafe so sorry for the lack of photos. That means there's going to be hundreds in our next update.

Lots of love Jo & Mike xxx