Tuesday 22nd November

Today, I went on a tour called Uncle Brian's Rainforest Tour! This was the reason I decided to stay in Cairns longer and it was worth every moment. From the second I got on the bus in the morning to the minute I got off in the evening, I can say this has been the best day yet of my trip!! There's no other way to describe this tour guide other than completely NUTS but he was really funny and friendly, introduced everyone to each other as we were picked up. The bus was filled with 20 people, 3 people who I became quite friendly with.

The first stop we went to was a random town (apparently the wettest part of Australia) and as soon as we got off the bus we saw, I'd say it was a cross between a peacock and a turkey but you'll see the pictures when I eventually get around to uploading them all! We went into the rainforest, had a look around, listened to our nutty tour guide, saw a spider which I immediately ran away from and checked out the beautiful scenery. We then had our breakfast, cakes and water, and some people even decided to try the bum of an ant (there is no pleasant way to describe this) but apparently the green 'bum' of an ant is supposed to taste like limes so people started licking them (as you do!) I was attempting it but got a bit freaked out putting a creepy crawly in my mouth, reminds me too much of 'I'm a celebrity, get me out of here'.

As the day continued we drove to our next location, Josephine Falls I think it was called! This was a huge set of waterfalls and a large stone rock (also known as our entertainment and slide for the day). We couldn't wait to take our clothes off and jump into the water, it was so hot but as soon as we got in it was freezing but as the ozzies call it, refreshing!! This was sooo much fun though, climbing up the rocks and sliding down the rock slide, on your bum, then head first, then sitting on someone, then someone sitting on you, then in a row, then in a train! Ye that's right, we did it all, conquered every possible way to go down a slide! (photos to come of this as well)

The next location was lunch in the middle of nowhere, although nicely laid out in a small restaurant surrounded by fields and a few cows. We had a nice big lunch and lots to drink and then headed onto our next location, the mil something waterfalls, also worldwide famous for where Peter Andre filmed his Mysterious Girl video! We swam into the waterfall, sat behind it and then swam out under it. This water was more freezing than the last place we went to but still lots of fun and worth it. The girls and some of the guys did the famous 'flick your hair back' pose in the water (apparently a girl did that in Peter Andre's video as well) so we lined up to have our picture taken doing the flicking hair pose!

After this, we went to a volcano filled with warm water which has never erupted over the last 13,000 years. Guys, you won't believe what else I did apart from rock climbing and rock sliding, yes I climbed a huge tree! With my legs shaking and slightly terrified of the height of this tree dangling over the water, I thought I may as well continue my adventurous streak and do the tree climb and jump into the water as well! It must have taken me a good half an hour to get the courage to climb to the edge of the tree over the water and then jump off!! I felt like I left my stomach at the top of the tree but I'm proud of myself for doing it!

After this we went on a hunt for a platypus, which by the way are impossible to find, so we gave up and had hot chocolate and muffins instead! The day overall was amazing, we were laughing non-stop, singing and dancing on the bus, playing games and meeting new people, making new friends.

As a result of this day, I am moving to another hostel tomorrow where there are people staying that I met on this tour. There is a huge bar crawl going on tomorrow night with them so it will be good to have my first drunken night out in Cairns with my new friends.