After Townsville we headed north again, this time to tropical Mission Beach where the looong beaches are lined with palm trees, heaps of dense rainforest has just been left lying around left right and centre - and the insects are HUGE. The hostel we stayed at had a good pool so we spent most of our time in town (just two nights) hanging by it so that we could dowse ourselves whenever we felt we were in danger of combusting, which was quite frequently.

We went for a couple of walks in the evening as that's when the wallabies come out to play and, like the stereotypical tourists that we are, we like to stand by the side of the road and point and exclaim at them jumping around and feeding and just generally doing what wallabies do. It's so strange to see them bouncing about town. On the second night a guy that worked at the hostel drove us down to South Mission Beach where we saw a cassowary - a giant black bird about a metre high that looks like a cross between an ostrich, an emu and a turkey. Neither of us had even heard of a cassowary before coming to Australia! The guy from the hotel also pointed out some large ants with bright green bums that taste incredibly citrusy. He MADE us lick them (honestly, he did) and I can safely say that they are the most sour insects I have ever tasted, if my memory of being a toddler serves me correctly. It was like a teeny weeny but very concentrated apple sour shot poured onto the tip of the tongue.

The next day we travelled on up to Cairns. We booked a couple of trips for our time here, including a trip out to the great barrier reef, and then had a wander through town, ending up at the shopping mall (finally, proper shops!) It must have been fate as the cinema in the mall was showing 'Breaking Dawn' and they had seats left even though the Twilight film had only come out that day. I twisted Jak's arm and bent his ear until finally we found ourselves sitting down to watch the film surrounded by literally hundreds of near-hysterical 13 year old girls. And it was good :-) Apart from the screams and gasps that everyone let out whenever Jakob appeared on the screen, I am so Team Edward.

Today we have spent the day peoplewatching by the Cairns lagoon and not really doing very much :-) but tomorrow we are diving and snorkelling the Great Barrier Reef *dun dun dun* <---- excited music.