Finally online...

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Cape Tribulation
Still northward bound for the day
Daintree Village too.

This’ll just be a quick entry. I've fallen behind yet again since I haven't been online for an entire week! There is so much to "report" but too little time to type it all up. In short, I have seen and done lots of things since saying goodbye to Ann and Rob outside of the YHA in Brisbane last Wednesday. Currently in Cairns and will be here for a few more days before making my way towards the Centre of Australia. Three weeks in Australia already...boy the time is flying before my eyes!

I have been fortunate to meet some really great people on the Oz Ex bus...and some obnoxious people too but more details on that to follow. I just wanted all to know that I'm safe and sound and as always, still laughing. 😊 As today's haiku hints, I was on tour today up to the area north of Cairns to an area called Cape Tribulation and the Daintree Rainforests. I had a fab time and it was nice to be in a small group that got along pretty well. I’m not gonna stay online much longer updating the blog since I have a ton of email to slog through still. More details to follow very soon.

Hugs and stuff.
Bonz

Finally, here's the lowdown on my time up at Cape Tribulation...

I decided to take a day tour up North of Cairns to an area called Cape Tribulation and also to Daintree National Park which is an UNESCO World Heritage listed site. There were only 10 of us on tour. There was a couple from NZ, a couple from Scotland and a couple from Germany. There was also a really old couple from England - they had trouble walking and getting around but they seemed to be enjoying themselves and had enough energy to be able to lug around a dozen or so cans of XXXX beer with them! Then there was myself and Kat.

Our first stop of the day was to Port Douglas which is home to the Rainforest Habitat. That's where we saw lots of flora and fauna. There were kangaroos and wallabies roaming around. They are so used to being fed by the tourists and are super friendly and come right up to you until they realize you have no food for them and then they turn around to see if anybody else has something to offer to them. We also saw lots of different birds like the cassowary (again), parrots and kookabura's - one of my favourites. We also saw some croc's and other reptiles and the highlight for me was looking at the koala's. They look so cute and cuddly but I hear they can have a bit of a mean streak in them. There were two koalas’ there that were actually quite active, moving up and down the tree. It actually looked like they were just trying to get comfortable. Most of the dozen or so koalas were just sleeping when we were there.

Our second major stop was to the Daintree River for an hour cruise. We saw some croc's on the banks of the river as well as a few snakes in the trees. It wasn't the most spectacular cruise but it was nice feeling the sun and wind on my face.

Then it was off to the Cape Tribulation Resort where we had a scrumptious buffet lunch. As per usual I ate way too much...but it was oh so good! It’s not very often that you get both chocolate fudge brownies with cream AND cheesecake! We had a bit of time after lunch and wandered around the resort - fancy pool and the beach was really close by too. A couple of cassowaries were even spotted close to the deck/pool area.

In the afternoon we walked through the Rainforest - Marrdja Boardwalk and saw a lot of mangroves. We also stopped off at Cape Tribulation to enjoy the views of the beach. Quite picturesque I might add.

Before we knew it, it was time to head back to Cairns. So instead of taking a river cruise over the Daintree River we took the cable ferry which probably took all of three minutes to cross. We had one break for ice cream and then it was all the way back to Cairns.

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