Hello!!

Well, we made it to Cairns!
It's so nice to be out of the city, although saying that, we did have a great time in Sydney really. Our last night (Tuesday) we met up with Max - for the last time boohoo!!!!! The Dark Restaurant is no longer in Sydney as far as we could tell, so we went to King's Cross for a delicious and much craved curry - it was all you can eat, so it was very much like Homer Simpson had come to town threefold...!
After dins, we went to Darling Harbour (where we seemed to spend ALOT of our time) and settled down with a drink at a bar called Pontoon. We decided to spoil ourselves a little, so the three of us pitched in and got a nice bottle of bubbly - why not leave in style hey...?!
The next day, Sam went to the Wildlife World, which funnily enough is just off Darling Harbour, so Nicky did a bit of shade bathing by the water... followed by lunch at Pontoon (oh yeah, we like to mix it up you know!) Then it was time to get to the airport at head for QUEENSLAND baby!

Upon arriving at our lovely hostel - Calypso, we headed to the bar for a much needed stubby (just dropping in a little Aussie lingo there for you...) we got chatting to Doug, a guy from Chicago, who now lives in LA - making it big as a director... or he will be soon anyway!
The next day, we headed to the big local pool known as the Lagoon, it was great to chill out and swim etc. that night, there was a band playing at the hostel and although Sam had an early start and Nic was feeling a little rough, they toughed it out and had a great night. Pete and Andy were in town for one last day, so they popped down to say goodbye, it was a good night and the band were truly awesome!!
The next day, Sam had her trip to Cape Tribulation. Her tour bus was full of 'wrinklies' and the coach ride was somewhat gruelling, but it was all worth it for the waterfalls, rainforest, stunning views etc and of course the fabulous buffet lunch - yummo! She did fall at the first hurdle though by having cake - this means she must have celery as a punishment (it's all to do with our healthy eating pact.......) Sam was supposed to be staying in a hostel at Cape Trib and going to the Barrier Reef from there, but the driver got confused and brought her back to Cairns, which was a bit of luck really, as the reef trip from Cape Trib was cancelled anyway, so she's swimming the reef from Cairns today!
While Sam was hanging out at Cape Trib, Nicky went to Kuranda with Doug, where they went to a wildlife park and saw crocs, wallabys, WOMBATS (love them), snakes, lizards etc etc and cuddled Koalas!! Nic's done it before, but hey, who's gonna pass up cuddling a koala, have you seen how cute they are?!?!? Nic and Doug hung out, geeking off and generally having a cool time, somehow, they both felt shattered by the end of it, so it was so nice to get home, shower and have some tucker (again with the lingo... keep up!) Much to Nicky's surprise and delight, Sam came into the kitchen just as she was finishing her dinner, so after hearing all about each other's days, we went down to the bar to unwind. Sam got an early night, as she had an early start for the reef and Nic stayed up having a couple drinks with Doug, who was leaving for an 11 hour bus ride to Airlie Beach - fun!

So now you're up to date... looking back through this, it really does look like a short story ha, nothing like a bit of third person...!

As ever, love you all lots - keep emailing, we LOVE hearing from home!!

Take care,
Sam & Nicky
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