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Published: January 22nd 2007
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Cape Tribulation
As far north as we go in Oz. Beatiful Cairns to Cape Tribulation and back!
Well,
Kicking off 2007 in style!!!! Flew from Sydney up to the hot and muggy Cairns. Did nt fancy sticking around in Cairns for long, so hired a car straight away (random little green Mazda almost falling to bits - 12 quid a day though so bargain!!) and drove up to a place called Port Douglas, where we overnighted and then on up to a place called Cape Tribulation. Beautiful tropical rainforest area. Thai style resort on the beach, massive critters as big as your head, and lovely warm water (no swimming though, full of killer jellyfish). Really enjoyed it here.
On the way back down we went Croc spotting on the Daintree river. Saw a few but not quite the 8 meter beasts we were expecting!! Still good to see them in their natural habitat though...
Great Barrier Reef - Reef Encounter cruise
After a single night in Cairns, we booked ourselves on a trip to spend 3 days/2 nights on the Great Barrier Reef, for a spot of snorkelling and maybe even a taster at Scuba Diving... can hardly come to the greatest underwater ecosystem in the world,
Cape Tribulation
Creek Swimming... wakes you up nicely in 99% humidity. and not do it justice!!! Wow, we certainly wern't dissapointed by the reef, or the trip!!! Turtles, sharkes, Nemo, beautiful coral, cuttlefish and other assorted fish of every size, colour and shape!! And on the trip side, lovely boat (almost like a mini-cruise), fantastic food, great room and a relatively cheap bar ensure our on boat needs were fully met. Great view of the stars from the sundeck of the boat at night... Snorkelling was excellent, we even tried our hand at the Scuba Diving. Got to go down to about 7 metres and swim around on our own... good fun! Liked it so much we are thinking about doing our PADI open water course in Thailand or somewhere cheap!!!
Magnetic Island
So, after a fairly uneventful 6 hour bus journey, we arrived at a dull city called Townsville, where we departed in the morning for the excellent Magnetic Island. Stayed at an excellent place called Bungalow Bay, which had all sorts of wildlife roaming around day and night... as well as its own animal sanctuary where we got to hold a snake, crocodile and massive lizard. Passed on the Koala, although we liked its outlook on life...
Great Barrier Reef
Our home on the Reef. Awesome! Sleep lots, Eat what you like, 30 minutes activity a day.
Spent a cool day on the island bombing round in a little Toyota 4 x 4, nice beaches. Highly Recommended, absolutely boiling though. Quite possibly the hottest place on earth.
Agnes Waters - Town of 1770 - Scooterooing
After another 6 hours on the Greyhound bus, we arrived in the brilliantly named 'Town of 1770'. So called, as thats when it was discovered by Captain Cook. Its the second place he landed, after Bottany Bay in Sydney. See, bit of history as well. You get it all here!!!
Absolutely brilliant place, laid back, down to earth honest people. Rediculously cheap trips compared to the rest of Oz. Eg Surfing $16 (60$ in Sydney). Gave the surfing a go as it was so cheap. Hard work, but good fun! Neither of us were great, although I did ride a wave to the beach! Karen was told to stick to looking pretty which shows how good she was!
Also did a tour called Scooterooing. Basically entailed riding round the town on Choppers (Harley Davidson lookalike mopeds), spotting Kangaroos before enjoying a cold beer on the rocks,
watching the sun set. Absolutely cracking fun, although James did manage to blow up a bike.
Rainbow Beach - Fraser Island
15 hours on another Greyhound brings us to our current location, Rainbow Beach. The gateway to the beautiful national park and World Heritage site which is Fraser Island.
Booked ourselves on a 4x4 self drive tour of the island and were bundled together with 9 other randoms for 2 nights camping on a sand island. Sand gets absolutely everywhere!!! Lovely place which is one of the essential "must do" things in Oz... Excellent fun was had by all bombing up and down the beach in the 4x4 watching people digging themselves out after they got stuck.... swam in lovely fresh water lakes and cooked tea in the great outdoors... Streakers in the camp during night party added to the entertainment, as did floating down Eli Creek in pitch black darkness!!!
And thats where we are now, sat at Rainbow Beach, as tomorrow we have another 5 hours on the bus, when we get to Brisbane to meet up with friends and family...
To Easy.
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