We'd certainly hit the start of the wet season travelling up to our final destination. Precipitation was on the cards and we were in for a lot of it as the heavens opened amongst the tropical landscape.

Between Mission Beach and Cairns there wasn't much other than a huge amount of sugar cane and banana farms. However, we did take in one final excursion with the Oz Experience and went to a crocodile farm! The farm was open to tourists and we were greeted by a baby croc we could all hold and grab photos with. Then came the snake, bearded dragon lizard and a black parrot with a red tail. All the animals were magnificent in their own right and it was great to finally get a hands on experience! We then took a wander around the farm and took in more kangaroos, dingo's and a huge variety of crocs. It soon got to feeding time and in true crazy Aussie style the guy jumps straight into the enclosure armed with nothing more than a piece of meat and a bamboo stick... He did come out alive though and we got some fantastic view of the crocs working for their food. The sound of their bite is thunderous and with a jaw strength 30x more than ours it was not hard to hear why. After wandering around the farms grounds a bit more we then got a hands on experience with the dingo's which had been bred to not bite. They're unbelievably like dogs but we were assured that if let off the leash they'd hunt down the nearest animal. We finished up with a taste of the real thing... Crocodile meat is gorgeous and I'd say has the consistency of a joint of ham and the taste of chicken.

On arrival to Cairns I was relieved to be back in another big city and even more pleased that we'd picked a really good hostel (Calypso) for our final 7 nights in Australia. I'll stick to the highlights rather than bore you with the less interesting happenings, but overall I loved the city (which is more the size of a town) as it offers a great mix of commercial and non commercial activity.

One of the highlights of our time there had to be the Cape Tribulation tour which actually turned out to be a waterfall and rainforest tour which then turned out to be fully booked... s***. I wasn't best pleased, but seeing as the tour was thrown in for free I'm not overly disappointed.

And so, the major part of Cairns I loved was the lagoon which sat minutes away from the shopping district. Due to the fact that the ocean houses a number of nasty creatures and there wasn't a beach, the lagoon is a picturesque place to relax, swim and sunbath on the clear days. We were fortunate enough to get a few of those during our stay and we welcomed yet more time watching the world sail by in the heat.

During that time I reflected on our passage through Australia. It certainly has flown by and it's hard to believe that we've only got 7 weeks of travelling left... Eek! I was skeptical of our time here because I personally find it hard to relax on a beach for the day. However, the countries way of life has engrossed me. Not only that but the east coast offers some incredible scenery, activities and is home to some really funny, charismatic locals we've had the pleasure of meeting along the way. My favourite location would have to be on the ocean surrounding the Whitsundays - such a great memory I'll cherish forever.

As an end to our stay in Australia we cooked up a group meal with some of the friends we'd coincidentally travelled with in the previous 3 weeks or so. Kangaroo steaks, some veg and potatoes - as close to a roast as I think we'll come to in the next 7 weeks. Skippy tasted damn good too, such tender meat with not an ounce of fat on it. I'm surprised it's not sold world wide, especially as it's known to be the healthiest meat you can eat!

But anyway, out with the old and in with the exciting, even more foreign, new. Asia is sure to be a culture shock having travelled westernised countries for the past 5 months, but I'm really looking forward to experiencing the difference in lifestyle, language and people.