Back in Cairns again for 2 nights before we head to the Red Centre for a whirlwind tour of Kings's Canyon, Kata Tjuta and Uluru. I've really enjoyed Cairns. It's been a pleasant surprise and very relaxing. I kinda feel at home here: swimming at the Lagoon early in the morning, going for long walks along the Esplanade at sunset and enjoying being outdoors and people-spotting. We went on an excursion today to the Botanical Gardens (transport provided FOC by the g...

Well, it became quite obvious that the reason why the Daintree is called a rainforest is because it rains - A LOT! In fact, it rained for the 2 days and 2 nights we were at Cape Tribulation. Rain that fell all night and sounded like paper rustling as it dropped onto the foliage surrounding us and on the cabin roof (sometimes hard, sometimes soft). Rain that wet both the earth and the air and made everything depressingly damp. Rain that prevented us from walking t...

Normally, I don't like organised tours, but our choices to get up to Cape Tribulation were very limited: pay $80/day for car rental + fuel + accommodation OR pay $170 each for transport (incl river cruise, guided forest walk & 2 nights @ YHA Cape Beach House). As it turned out, we had a very informative trip up to the Daintree and learned a lot more than if we had gone solo. Our barefoot, dreadlocked, eco-warrior, female driver, Nicole, provided great runnin...

Things have slowed down tremendously since we arrived in laid back Queensland. Now that we don't have a car and the thermometer is hitting the 30 mark, we also don't seem to have a care in the world. Australians celebrated Anzac Day and everyone was out and about in Cairns quite early for the veteran service and uniform parade. I took the opportunity to go swimming @ 7am in the Lagoon swimming pool as it was almost empty and very relaxing. Swam for an hour befor...

I was expecting the worst, but have been pleasantly surprised by Cairns! The council has redeveloped the waterfront area and rebranded it the "Cairns Esplanade", with a huge saltwater swimming pool in the shape of a lagoon, exercise machines, free BBQ areas and the coolest children's playground I have EVER seen! Well done, Cairns! We went for a walk along the Esplanade at dusk and nothing can prepare you for the sheer tropical factor of the place: thousands of p...