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Published: December 13th 2008
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We arrived in Cairns to find the heat and humidity about the same as Darwin- let the melting continue. We checked into our friendliest backpackers to date and set about meeting the local dog 'Chilli' and the rest of the hostel guests. Just like us, everyone here is setting off down the coast headed to Sydney for Christmas. We headed into town the first evening for a free meal. Needless to say it was free for a reason. Barely cooked pasta covered in a weak sauce but hey i guess it's food.
The next day I set out to snorkel the Great Barrier Reef. I have been out before in 2001 but due to seasickness and stormy weather I ended up on a glass bottom boat instead of snorkelling the biggest living thing in the world. Checked in at the harbor and hopped on my boat of 50 people headed for the reef. The day was amazing. The corals were so diverse and I met some great people on the boat. We did have to wear some pretty ridiculous looking stinger suits to protect us from the jellyfish but it was a fantastic day. That day was also Thanksgiving. Although
we didn't have a traditional dinner sweet Ev made me a turkey sandwich and had it waiting for me as I got off the boat. I returned to the hostel to find he had also decorated our room with red, white and blue balloons. We topped off the celebrations with sparklers in the evening with the hostel crew. Although a very untraditional day it was fantastic-Thanks Ev!!!
We finished our time in Cairns with a walk along the Esplanade, a dip in the lagoon and a daring walk underneath trees full of flying fox bats (about the size of housecats!).
From Cairns we hopped on our first Greyhound bus to Mission Beach. Although it was only a 2 hour bus ride the driver was dreadful (kept stalling in the middle of intersections and telling random bad stories very loudly). We made it to Mission Beach and prayed the drivers would improve as we have a couple thousands kilometres to go!
Mission Beach was a funny little town. About a block long filled with funny country folk, a good fish and chip shop and a beautiful stretch of beach. We enjoyed the beach and the ocean (inside the
stinger net) and took some time to relax. From Mission Beach we headed south to Townsville and Magnetic Island. Spent our time looking for a clean hostel, any restaurants that were open and exploring the odd half a museum. Without much luck in the town I thought I would try my hand at hiking Magnetic Island. With a single road and a strange country Aussie accent Magnetic Island is home to a large number of wild koalas. So I set out on the ferry/bus and by foot to discover them. 5 hours, 7 kms and some sunburn and exhaustion later I left the island without seeing a single one! But it was a beautiful island full of deserted beaches.
Next stop Airlie Beach. Airlie Beach is the jumping off point for the Whitsunday Islands. We had booked ourselves onto a sailing trip for 3 days/3 nights. Our boat of 8 plus 2 crew made for a relaxing cruise around Whitsunday, Hook and the other islands. We spent the next 3 days swimming in the ocean (fully kitted out in head to toe stinger suits), snorkelling, squeaking on the silicon sands of Whitehaven Beach (in the top 5 most beautiful
beaches in the world), climbing to the lookout over Whitehaven, avoiding the stingrays just 5 feet offshore, sailing and enjoying the beautiful experience.
Heading to Hervey Bay and Fraser Island after our killer 13 hour Greyhound journey! More pictures to post on this one when Ev gets back to OZ.
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