Rain? In Australia? Isn't it Summer?

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We touched down down under and were convinced we had made a massive detour back to the UK. Rain was bouncing off the runway and our little faces dropped. Our sunshine adventure seemed all but over. Rosie didn't even have a waterproof 😞 Nevertheless we battled on and spent 2 days in rainy Cairns, mostly drowning our sorrows. One night we ended up having a lock-in in a bar/internet cafe where we had spent a lot of time. As the live music ended for the night, the musicians and bar staff gradually congregted around the prettiest(/only) girls in the bar and the real entertainment began. We were treated to some genuine Aussie tunes and banter, ranging from 'Give me a home among the gumtrees', complete with ridiculous actions, to Britney, to Savage Garden, to Adam Sandler's naughtiest offerings, all spiced up by a couple of Kath and Kim style locals and the fact that one of the musician trio was a carbon copy of Dustin Hoffman (but only in Rainman - interesting conversations galore...)

One of the barmen was in a particularly banterous mood that evening and chose to have some fun with Rosie's concerns about our impending rainforest trip. He terrified her with tales of 'drop bears' (like Koala bears, but they camouflage themselves amazingly well) which will choose their targets and drop from the trees, grip the victim's shoulders and bury their teeth into their skulls. He convinced poor gullible Rosie that he had in fact suffered such an attack and had the scars to prove it (which looked entirely convincing). He advised that the only way to remove the creature is to run headfirst into a tree and knock it out. Later that evening, when the conversation turned to crocodiles, Rosie aired her concerns about them. Firm as she was in her belief that they can run at speeds of up to 30kms/hour, and could climb trees, escape from crocs in the rainforest seemed impossible. The aforementioned barman explained how the creatures skilfully use their enormous tails to balance as they climb all but the very tallest trees. Australians can be very cruel people.

None of them did however warn us about what was to become our greatest concern in the rainforest..... or that we'd be lucky to make it there early the next morning with our horrendous hangovers......

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