Mission beach is about 4 hours away from Airlie beach. We decided to stop there for a few nights to break up the travelling to Cairns. We stayed at a hostel called Scotties which was quite nice with a pool and on the beach but again we couldn't go into the sea because of the stingers! We spent the first day messing about in the pool and playing gladiator with the spaghetti tubes across a log over the pool! That night we went to the bar where it was ladies night which meant free champagne for 2 hours for woman which was great and me and Sarah ended up staying out for a bit longer than the lads getting champagne for free.
We had another chilled out day the next day and the lads decided they were going to go off and find a gym. They returned about 3 hours later drenched in sweat! The gym had been about a 40 minute walk away and the humidity was at 79%. They said the gym wasn't even that good when they had got there but at least it shows a commitment to keeping fit I suppose!
There wasn't much to do at mission beach unless you want to do the skydive there so we left the next day and made our way to Cairns.
Cairns was surprisingly a pretty small city but it seemed a really nice place. The humidity there is just unbearable at times and they have a thunderstorm almost every single day! We made the decision that we would try and work there up until Christmas then change our flight back to Sydney for the day before Christmas. We stayed in a great hostel called Northern Greenhouse Hostel where you get free breakfast, internet and BBQ on a Sunday!
We spent the first few days taking our c.vs around to all the different shops and cafes etc but didn't seem to be having much joy. I went into a Thai restaurant and ended up being offered a waitressing job for 3-4 hours a night which I took straight away.
The first night was really really busy and I ran around like a lunatic taking out meals and cleaning tables etc only to be told after that you don't get any money for your first shift as it's a trial night!
We carried on the next day looking for jobs and went to recruitment agencies but were told this time of year people leave Cairns to go back down south in the cooler climate so there's not many jobs at all. We were also told that you need to-do a course almost for everything in Australia, so for a bar job you have to pay for a course on how to serve alcohol responsibly, for a coffee shop you have to do a how to make coffee course and for labouring etc you have to do a health and safety certificate all of which you have to pay for and are only valid in the state you do it in!!!
After spending a week looking with no joy we all made the decision to go back to Sydney on the original flight that we had booked ourselves onto. I carried on working at the Thai restaurant each evening which saved me some money and I got a free meal each night then I had to tell them that I was quitting after only a week which I really didn't like to do but I had no choice.
We met a lot of people from the hostel so had a good time and people from our sailing trip were also staying at the hostel too so we all hung around together for the week and me and Emily a friend from the boat ended up joining the local gym for the week with the guys so we could try and get fit again after 8 months of not much exercise for me and it was tough! I did a really good tai chi/pilates/yoga class were the instructor lit candles around the room and you do relaxation exercises and stretches etc then we tried out body pump which was completely different and really hard with lots of body building techniques in it!
For the last few days we had in Cairns we all wanted to do a trip to Cape Tribulation which is one of the only places in the world were the rainforest meets the sea. There were 5 of us that wanted to go so we decided it would be cheaper to do it ourselves and hire out a car for two days. We hired out a white pulsar car which was really good and headed up to Cape Tribulation the next day. It was a lovely day and we got to stop off at some amazing beaches and also at Port Douglas which is another upmarket holiday place. The seas around this area are really dangerous due to strong currents, sharks, crocodiles and stingers so you can't even go near the water's edge in case a croc jumps out and eats you!
We finally got to our hostel called crocodylus resort and checked into our room which was basically a massive tent/hut in the middle of the rainforest. The first thing we did was check everywhere for spiders and other nasties but it seemed to be okay!
We drove up to Myall beach in the cape and did some walks to look out points around the area. We then headed back to the hostel were we had booked on a night walk with a local guide.
The night walk was really good and took 3 hours to do. We walked through the rainforest and seen lots of spiders and bugs like grasshoppers and stick insects. Our guide called himself Mr. Possum and he was giving everyone in the group point for spotting different creatures. I seemed to be doing quite well after spotting a tree rat, massive toad and then to top it off I was walking along when I felt something on my arm and it turned out to be a scorpion! I panicked a bit thinking well this is Australia were almost everything can kill or sting you but luckily Mr Possum said it was the only type that can't hurt you thank god!
After the tour we settled down for the night in the hut but we were hearing all kinds of strange noises and rustling around outside the hut. In the night there was a massive bang on the side of the hut which woke us all up but no one was brave enough to find out what it was!
The next day we checked out and went to find some swimming spots in some of the creeks. A lot of creeks have crocs in them but there are a few that are croc free apparently so we set off to find them. The first one was Hutchinson creek which was really nice with lots of families swimming around and a rope swing for the lads to mess about with although me and Emily had a go too! Then we set off for Myall Creek which was a walk through the forest but another peaceful spot to swim.
After we decided to grab some lunch and visit the bat house which is a bat sanctuary. On the way we had to go over lots of speed bumps and as we went over one and slowed down a car behind us just crashed straight into the back of us! We were all in shock that it had happened, the guy in the other car admitted he wasn't looking and was looking at the cafe to his left and hadn't seen the speed bump! Our car was in a mess the lights were all smashed and the boot had crumpled in! His car wasn't even that bad just one light smashed and a bit of a bump. We were all really annoyed as it was a hire car too which meant we may have to pay for the damage even though it wasn't our fault. The guy signed a piece of paper to say he admitted liability and we got all of his details down and witnesses to the accident. We had to try and tape the lights back on and secure the boot which wouldn't close then end our trip there and head back to Cairns. We had to stop about 10 times on the way back as the boot kept coming open which was a pain but quite amusing then take the car back to the rental place to take back their wrecked car! The guy who had crashed into us went to the police and said we shouldn't have been driving on that road and we had no break lights which was a complete lie but the police phoned us and said he had no insurance therefore we were liable to pay the excess on the insurance which we had taken out. The police said they wouldn't even be taking it any further with the guy who had crashed into us! We ended up having to pay $300 excess but I suppose it all could have been a lot worse so the trip ended up costing us more than going on an organised trip! We ended up leaving the next day to get a flight back to Sydney and to get ourselves a job!