Tropical North Queensland

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It definitely feels tropical here, and we haven't really chosen the best time to visit. It's the rainy season and is so so hot and humid. Most of our days in Cairns have revolved around going for a swim in the pool or Lagoon as often as poss to try and cool down and de-sweat!!

On the way to Cairns from Airlie Beach we stopped at Mission Beach for a few nights. This is only a small town/village really but a lot of people go there to do skydiving or white water rafting. We didn't do the skydive, (I'm saving that for New Zealand, well unless I chicken out..) but we did go rafting and that was really good. It was on the Tully River and because there has been so much rain it is actually one thing that it is a good time of year to be here for. The rafting was a full days worth and so the next day I definitely was a bit achy and had a few new bruises, it was worth it though!

We arrived in Cairns about a week ago now and so spent a few days here before going on a few tours into the rainforest. There is not much to Cairns really, just lots of tour operators offering trips out to the Great Barrier Reef or into the rainforest, oh and it does have quite a good night life mind..
We partook in a few of these tours... We went on Uncle Brian’s tour, which took us to the Atherton Tablelands. This was really pretty and we spent the day going for a few walks in the forest and finding some nice creeks and lakes to swim in. A few were a little chilly, and it rained most of the day.. but they were lovely once we were in!

Then we went on a tour north of Cairns to Cape Tribulation. Cape Tribulation is a tiny village which is nestled in the rainforest so we went on a few very nice walks through the mangrove forests and along the beach. Emily also did some horse riding along the beach which she said was really good.
On the way back from Cape Tribulation the tour stopped off in Port Douglas so we decided to spend a few nights there too. Port Douglas has got quite a lot of posh resorts/ golf courses so had lots of nice little posh shops to match. I went on a boat trip from there to the Outer Reef to do some diving. We went out to Opal Reef and dove at two different spots there. The diving wasn't quite as amazing as I thought it might be. The second was much better than the first and the coral and fish were really amazing. I was really hoping for a shark so was a little disappointed as apparently they see them on most trips, but it still was a v lovely day.

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Photos

and a Pelican crossing the lake
The lake was formed by volcanic activity so altough deep was like swimming in a bath after those freezing creeks!