Cairns
We had a stupidly early start leaving Melbourne, we had to be up at 4.30am to catch the train – to get to the shuttle bus, to get to the airport for our flight! After all the rushing, and attempt at running (which definitely does NOT work when weighed down with a big rucksack) the flight was actually delayed by 45 mins! At least we managed to have a snooze on the plane before we took off.
On landing into Cairns, it looked suspiciously like we would not touchdown on the runway. The pilot seemed to miss the start of the runway, but made up for it by taking the ‘dumping’ approach to landing – that’s never good.
We were fortunate that the hostel we were staying at have a courtesy shuttle bus....we just had to find the damned thing! After a 40 minute wait and some entertainment in the form of a couple of german lads who had suffered an episode of “exploding sun lotion bottle in bag” – that was one big clean up operation, the bus arrived and we were greeted by American John from the hostel
The hostel was lovely, small and homely with a nice outdoor pool! Our first task was to meet Claire and James, a couple from the UK we had met in Fiji at Oarmans Bay Lodge! We had originally planned to meet them in NZ as they were touring around in a campervan at the same time as us – but our paths never quite crossed. It was great to see some familiar faces, and as they were on the final leg of their oz trip they were a fountain of knowledge of things to do/places to go! After catching up over coffees they set off on their journey back towards Sydney. We’re sure we’ll see them again at some point! Next on the agenda, arranging car hire for 2 days to drive to port douglas and cape tribulation on the recommendation of Colin and Alex. We hadn’t really intended on hiring a car again, Felix was supposed to be our final trip....but we had so many recommendations to go up to Cape Trib. We decided we could manage one more go at driving! Once this was all sorted for our departure the next day, we headed into Cairns to explore. As there is no beach here, there is a large saltwater lagoon which everyone crowds around sun bathing. The water was a very welcome relief from the stifling heat and humidity!
Friday 20th – The Cape
We pick up the car nice and early and begin our journey to Cape Tribulation. We have been tipped off that the beaches along the way are worth a visit, and there are plenty to choose from. Not wanting to miss out – we made a brief stop at all of them. Our favourite had to be Ellis Beach, one of the last ones and we had an extended break here! It is a little hard to relax sometimes as many of the beaches have crocodile warning signs up! Although we know it is unlikely we will encounter a croccy....it still puts you on edge a little. Also, this part of the coastline is now in stinger season, therefore each beach has a lengthy warning sign about jellyfish stings and there is a stinger net set up to swim in. It seems such a waste of beautiful beach/coastline/water!
After passing through all the beautiful beaches we must take a pull-ferry across the Daintree River. Reassuringly there are the now-familiar crocodile warning signs, and a big notice stating “Crossing on the ferry is done at your own risk!”
Whilst driving through the rainforest, there are numerous boardwalks to do. On one of the boardwalks – Jindalba – we are lucky anough to spot a Casowary! Although just a baby, it is already 4 feet tall and we’re quite relieved it is about 20 feet away (again, there are warning signs explaining how they can become aggressive. This is such a volatile environment! For future reference, if you do happen to encounter one...do NOT turn your back on it! Maintain eye contact and back away slowly. Yes, of course thats what you’ll do if faced with a 5 ft aggressive bird!)
Our resting place for the night is Cape trib beach house, set right in the forest. Our 3 person dorm is situated in a wooden hut – very rustic. Our 3rd room mate never appears, so we have the hut to ourselves! Result!
Its an amazing experience to stay right in the rainforest, although walking back from the restaurant late at night is a little unnerving. Thanks to the lack of lighting...every wild sound appears massively amplified....what could be a scurrying possum....sounds like a giant animal! Our fantastic night here is finished off with Little Miss Grumpy (the receptionist when we check out) On asking what the weather forecast is for the next couple of days (which i don’t think is a stupid question) she simply replies “Er, well this IS a rainforest, so what do you think? Rain.” Yes. Thanks for that. She didn’t redeem herself with the next sentence either “yeah, enough of your chat, lets get things moving” Ever so helpful! I guess living in the rainforest does damage your social interaction skills somewhat......

Sat 21st
We begin our drive back down to Port Douglas and about half way along we have torrential rain! Not just a small splattering, but the “windscreen wipers cant go fast enough” type of rain. Our home tonight is Parrot Fish Lodge (another recommendation! Thanks!) and we manage to have a 4 person dorm to ourselves – another great result! Port Douglas has a lovely feel to it, lots of little boutiquey shops and cafes.

On the Sunday morning we had intended on leaving at 7am to ensure we returned the car at 8am as per our contract, unfortunately the workers in this particular hostel were somewhat tardy and didn’t open the kitchen until nearly 8am.. our food was trapped and so were we! By the time we get on the road its 8am and we are a little panicky. We just hope the 1 hours grace period someone had mentioned to us really existed!
Somehow we manage to race back to Cairns in 55 minutes (I manage a convincing act to the hire company when they phone at 8.30 to see where we are....just a small white lie.....and i promise to be back within half an hour) 5 minutes to spare and we make it! Phew – they don’t even seem that bothered! For the rest of the day we relaxed by the Lagoon as the last couple of days had been pretty hectic!
Monday 23rd Nov
We took the Scenic Railway to Kuranda heritage markets. In total a 1 hour 45 min scenic route covering the 37km to Kuranda.
Passing through tunnels, over bridges, and by a number of waterfalls! A beautiful journey – throughout the trip we are given commentary on the history of the railway line, its construction, its uses and all the dramas surrounding it years of use! It got us thinking about all the other railway trips we would love to do...the orient express....the trans Siberian....the Canadian Rockies.....ahh so many places to see!
Kuranda is a quaint little down, pretty much dominated by tourism. There are some lovely market stalls amongst the heritage market. A lovely place to walk around, but a day trip is definitely enough. That evening our hostel put on an ‘all Australian bbq’. Our first opportunity to taste the delights of Kangaroo, Emu, Crocodile and Barramundi! I cant say i would definitely choose to have any of them again....but at least i tried! I’m sure Andy would jump at the chance to have them again!
They also held a Didgeridoo contest, which is very entertaining! Competition is rife between Molly (Just 12 yrs old, from Canada, staying at our hostel with her dad), Rick (from the Netherlands, also at our hostel) and a lad called Nick staying at the sister hostel! Well, Molly is clearly a natural and easily wins!
We end the night with a trip to one of the bar/clubs in town with a load of people from our hostel – great night out! Its very confusing when we seem to be unable to buy 1 drink each....the barmaid insists on giving us 2. Perplexed as to why she doesn’t seem to be understanding us, we start to question whether what is coming out of our mouths is actually English?! It takes a good half an hour to work out – its happy hour, buy one-get one free!! Why didn’t she just say! Even better!
The next day we head out with our dorm mate, Gary (from the USA) in search of the botanical gardens. Now, on the map it doesn’t look THAT far...so off we trundle. Well, the scale on the map must be absolutely rubbish as an hour or so later we are STILL walking!! By the time we reach it, the appeal of visiting it has completely gone and it begins to rain! Great. We stop for a drink at the cafe, then head back out to look at some of the tropical plants.. Its not the best maintained garden we’ve ever seen, and the distance to it isn’t the only detail that’s wrong on the map. It’s about 5 times smaller than we expected! Once we begin to get attacked by the mozzies....we decide to call it a day and start the long walk back! To finish the day off nicely, it begins to pour with rain and by the time we are back in the town, we are soaked right through (the first time we have felt cold in oz)
For our final night in Cairns, we had planned to go to a small Mexican cafe/restaurant round the corner for dinner with a few guys from the hostel. Feeling exhausted from the days activities, i decide to catch some shut eye in the hostel and sent Andy out with the boys! Stefan (a chap from Germany staying at our hostel) introduced Andy to another couple he has met...They are from the UK, Manchester to be more precise, they are around our age, they are in Australia for a month....and they are on their honeymoon too!! Im gutted that I don’t get to meet them....it would have been great to exchange a little wedding banter!

Our time in Cairns has been brilliant, in fact we ended up staying a little longer than we had planned. We’ve met some brilliant people who we are sure we will meet up with again. Onwards with the East Coast adventure!