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helllo
so we are back in the land of computers!!
there is sooooooooooo much to fill you in on since our last entry and even more ahead - its all go go go now!!
we arrived in cairns about 7am (its 2 hours ahead of the west) and were picked up by our hostel which was great. Headed into cairns city to a very overcast day. as we were knackered (but we did sleep all through the flight luckily) we did our usual and headed to the nearest hotel with a pool and camped out with our belongings on the loungers - although much to our disgust we had to move as it started raining on us!! we were very unimpressed as we had come to cairns expecting sunshine!! also to our great disappointment the lagoon was closed until the monday which was 1 day before we were due to leave... alas, we moped around that day but at least we got to see all of the centre of cairns!! It is a great town, really busy and we got involved at the 'coffee club' on the esplanade (where our hostel was located as well, superb location it must be said!)
1st eve in Cairns we went out for our 'free meal' (which came with the accommodation) - not too bad it must be said, although they did get progressively worse and by the time we were leaving we were unsure if we were even putting food into our bodies! The free food was given out at 'rhinobar' and its a bit of a dive, a hen party came in - stripper in tow who was a disgustingly ugly fireman, it did make us laugh though! We headed on round to the various bars - some in hostels shennanigans, gilligans, some just on a kind of canary island 'strip' - (at the mad cow Emma's passport photo was considered so unbelievable they thought it was a fake!)...basically though we were so tired and drinks were priced at london prices so we retired rather early (before midnight) and hoped for better weather in the morn.
2nd day in Cairns the sun had kind of come out in the morn and the park opposite the hostel was busy and we joined there (in our bikinis of course) and it was really nice cuz a band came and played - although we ended up thinking they were pretty rubbish because they were so pro-aboriginal and anti-white songs we felt kind of bad even existing!! That eve we went out for our semi-ok free meal again but came back to the tv room in the hostel for a bit of down time.
3rd day the sun came out full blast and the lagoon opened - pretty perfect. The lagoon is massive and its open air just off the beach - and everyone has to go here because though there is a beach the water is non-swimmable-inable. Had a lovely day just reading/relaxing/ although i did wake up to the local paper asking Emma what she thought of the local men and if they ever perved on her - hilarious! We had an early night again that eve because our tour up to Cape Trib started the next morn.
Now Cape Tribulation is where we have been since tuesday and I can only describe it as as close to paradise as I can imagine. On the tues we took a 'jungle tour' up there via a gorgeous place- port douglas, then into a national park - mossman gorge (for a bit of a tour on the trees it seemed and how the aboriginals used various plants for hunting, and licking the backs of green ants for their citrus flavour - sounds weird, was actually v. interesting.) The group we were with included a loud, but sweet, American - Bill who did EVERYTHING - he actually wanted to lick everything i think - even the poisonous plants! We also did a cruise down the 'daintree river' - the daintree forest is the oldest on the earth - 120 million years old so far older than the amazon and it is truly stunning. The river is home to loads of wildlife including CROCS! which is what we went hunting for and we did get up close and personal with at least 4 or 5. We also saw amazing butterflies, birds (herons/kingfishers) and frogs.. it really was a great cruise. After this we headed to an ice cream company that made their flavours all out of wild fruit - it cost 5 bucks for four scoops and they were unbelievably good - we had mango, wattleseed (the famous australian seed which tastes just like cappuccino), black sapote (chocolate pudding fruit) and sour sap (lemon sorbet flavour) - sooooooooo good!!
Finally we arrived at Cape Trib and just as we were pulling up we saw these 'almost extinct' birds that we had been told about all day (and how unusual it is to see them) - 2 came right in front of our van, they're called cassowaries and are related to dodos.. pretty amazing. At Cape Trib we stayed at the 'beachhouse' and these are huts right on the beachfront - only 5 share dorm, toilets a trek away but still good fun. It is the most isolated place - the great barrier reef is a boat ride away and the beach is surrounded by rainforest, and it is so deserted, just unbelievable. Our roommates the first two nights were a dutch trio - absolutely fine but oh god, so stinky - i sniffed around like a mad thing for 10 minutes trying to figure out what this disgusting pong was only to shove my face directly in someone's towel that clearly hadn't been washed for about a year and had ingrained BO in it, i was almost sick but of course i wanted emma to share the disgusting-ness which she bravely did - i removed this towel outside and we did not speak the whole time we were all there, woops.
anyway the place has no electricity so in the eve board games are the order of the day, 1st eve we ordered a bottle of wine and some chips and tried to play family guy trivia unsuccessfully so quickly moved on to comedy pictionary (i am the worst at drawing) followed by scrabble and finally bed!
Next day we sunbathed during the day - although I should say right now - massive disappointment in that the sea is not to be swam in DUE TO CROCS - we were not told this!!! It is their off season when the sea is too cold for them but having been shown them up close and told how they can kill a person within a second or something we were hardly going to be those 'stupid pommie tourists' that ignored the warnings. luckily there was a nearby pool and cold shower but not exactly the best thing...
That eve we went kayaking around the headland as the sun set - it was sooooooooooo good. Headed out to nearby (i say nearby, 5k and needing a shuttlebus) PK's (the more lively but more disgusting resort) to watch the 'state of origin' rugby league match between queensland and new south wales, didn't really know what was going on but it was good fun and we met loads of cool english people.
Early rise thurs morn for horse riding - i was so excited for this, we had booked this in advance!! We got up to the stables and were asked our ability (having been told experienced = able to control 'anything') - so we both said beginner although I was a bit gutted by the end I'd said this because the others got to canter and gallop along the beach a lot more.... anyway it was brilliant and emma loved it too, she was riding this really tiny cute horse called 'little red' and I had a bigger one called 'morgan.' He was very easy to ride though and really good at going fast much to my joy! We still got to trot and canter and we rode down along the beach, through creeks up to a swimming hole and back through the rainforest - half a day of pure bliss! After the ride we headed out to the beach again and had a rather unfortunate incident with a naked old man being far too close to us, but nothing bothered us at all in the paradise of Cape Trib... it had so much to do but we limited ourselves to that - you could get a catamaran out to the reef and dive and also do these amazing walks up the mountains - mount sorrow was a 6 hour return walk and if it had been any cooler i would have been up there like a shot.
So now we're at last night, we played cards most of last night with the english crew and our new roommates (Much better and less stinky). Relaxed all day today and are now back in Cairns until v. early tomorrow morn when we start making our way down the coast.
For the next week we are jam packed with trips to more remote places - we are going to magnetic island tomorrow followed by sailing around the whitsunday islands off airlie beach.... so much joy and stuff to look forward to.
Having, of course, the BEST time........missing you all masses though,
LOADS AND LOADS OF LOVE xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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anonymous
non-member comment
missing in action
hi you two, hope you both ok and are just to busy to blog ha ha