We went on a cable car above yet another rain forest to a village and came back. OK. Cath here now. Methinks Julian has now seen enough rain forest! :-) To be fair, we are all a bit tired today after our long day yesterday. Jolly miffed to have got sunburnt, but at least it shows I managed to do some snorkelling! Although still surprising as it seemed pretty overcast most of the day - except when it went dark and threw it down! And the sea was VERY rough on the way back! Bit choppy, I ask you??! Today is even windier, so we were lucky to get to go yesterday. We had already booked the tickets for the skyrail cable car this morning so we indeed got to see some more rainforest, and a ... read more

Wet started the day early with a quick trip out to the beach. Then some breakfast and a swim in the pool. Rachel taught mum how to use a snorkel. Then we had a snack and went out to a crocodile farm and park. There they raise crocodiles a little like we raise cows or pigs for the leather and meat trade. We arrived just in time for a tour of the farm part and so saw the various ponds where they raise the crocodiles, from eggs to about 3 years old. We learnt all about the ins and outs of crocodile farming, collecting the eggs is the most dangerous and the females defend their nests with avengance. In the wild only about 1 in 100 eggs makes it to a mature crocodile. Then we went ... read more

We got up and headed down to the breakfast provided, it was raining on the way which is apparently unusual at this time of year. After Simon had tried everything and we were all pretty full, we went out onto the beach using the umbrellas provided. There were a few breaks in the clouds and the rain came in short sharp bursts. It was still t-shirt weather though, despite the rain. We booked in for an exotic fruit tasting session in the afternooon, but went to cape tribulation beach first. There we managed to sculpt a rather good looking crocodile out of the sand, as well as burying people up to their knees. Then we went to the fruit farm, and tried a variety of fruits, pretty much all of which we'd never heard of before. ... read more

A full day in Port Douglas, and its time to hit the beach. We walked across the road and explored the local suburbs as the beach was very near, we just weren't quite sure exactly where it was. Eventually we found the beach path and came out onto a tropical beach, complete with coconuts. The braver amongst us ventured out for a swim, it was pretty hot and the forecast was for 29C. Certainly things dried very quickly once we came out. After that we went into the town and had some lunch and stocked up with drink and essentials. We then went back to the villa and chilled out a bit while the sun was at its hottest and had an ice cream. Then later on we went out to the other side ofr Port ... read more

Tomorrow we leave for Cairns and the great barrier reef, so today we went around some local places. After breakfast we headed out to New Zealand guide dogs breeding and training centre where Cath had made contact and they agreed to show us around. There were a lot of similarities to how puppy walking is done in the UK. We got to see 10 6 week old puppies, and even a couple of 11 day old ones. Then back to the farm for a little more horse riding, and a quick lunch. In the afternoon we toured around the eastern seaboard, calling in at a number of beaches - but the day was a bit changeable so we drove through a few showers and then out into the sun to enjoy the beaches - although there ... read more