So have you missed us? Sorry about the belated update but things have been, shall we say a little hectic! Last time we spoke, we had a long journey to overcome, which in total took us 34 hours of non-stop travelling. It was pretty eventful; buses breaking down, Thai dubbed films, surreal roadside food halls and three flights that we boarded on time. We eventually arrived at 8 o'clock in the morning and our journey of Australia swiftly began.

We arranged a hire car for our 6 weeks here and as soon as we picked it up, we realised how much easier things would be. Finding our hostel would have taken a lot longer without it but we got there and although they had a double bed instead of a twin, everything was fine. It was a real culture reversal from Thailand and we soon had to get used to cooking our meals instead of eating out etc. We ventured into Cairns and although it is a purpose built tourist town, it has a really nice feel about it. Along the esplanade there was an amazing man made lagoon where you can go to swim and relax which was exactly what we needed after a very long day.

For our first full day, we decided to take a drive north of Cairns to a little town called Kuranda. We had been told about a national park there called Barron Gorge that was deep into the rainforest and off the beaten track but well worth a visit. The drive there was amazing with steep winding roads climbing up to the mountain village. On one side, there were clear waters and sandy beaches and on the other, there was the beautiful rainforest. When we got there we wasn't expecting a lot but we were definitely impressed. The forest walk led deep to a gorge that opened up to a booming waterfall with great views, that apparently a month or so previous was completely barren.

Cairns northern beaches are one of the only places in the world where the rainforest spills out to sandy beaches. So from the Barron falls we literally crossed the road to Palm Cove where we spent the rest of the day on a near empty beach. We devised a little game dubbed "Coconut Olympics" which incorporated some great athletic events such as the shot-put and hammer throw, keeping us entertained for a good few hours before heading back to the city.

Our next plan was to head up further north. The drive was all but boring with great roads and views once again. We had to cross the Daintree River on a ferryboat before continuing to the area that Captain Cook called Cape Tribulation. Along the way, we stopped off at numerous lookouts, boardwalks, and beaches before spending the night in a lovely quite hostel.

We were told about a great little swimming hole, which in Daintree is a rarity as in most creeks there could be crocodiles. So the next day we headed down and spent hours in the clear clean waters diving and jumping in from a rope swing. We carried on back down south and popped into an ice cream factory where we tried weird fruit ice creams that were all surprisingly really nice. We eventually got back to the ferry crossing at the river and decided to take a river tour to spot some wild crocodiles and other wildlife. We were pretty lucky to spot a 5m croc basking in the sun after it was seen the day before eating a cow (We had previously met some people who had pictures). You might have heard that a 5 year old got taken recently which was down to stupidity and happened where we were. A sad story but a reminder how careful you have to be in the area.

The night was coming in fast so we decided to spend the evening in Port Douglas instead of driving back to Cairns. It was a nice town but only really enough there to stay the night. Our first few days have been great although time is flying by really fast. Touch wood, we should be back on track with the blog soon after we broke two cameras and the laptop!!

Adam & Adam