Flash Flood!

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We have arrived at our last Australia destination on this trip, and can't believe how quickly time has passed. We arrived in Cairns after a short 2-hour trip on the Greyhound. Unfortunately our last bus trip wasn't without drama, because our bus driver was totally insane. He spent almost half an hour lecturing passengers on all the things they can't do on the bus, threatening horrible fines and expulsion from the bus. We breathed a sigh of relief when he was done, but about an hour in he went on the loudspeaker to berate a girl for putting her feet in the aisle, and when she didn't move her feet he pulled the whole bus over, walked to the back and yelled at her while everyone else looked on. We did make it to Cairns, however, where we checked into the fantastic Calypso hostel.

We spent the afternoon poking around the shops. There isn't a lot to do in cairns but it has a relaxed, friendly feel. We bought some souvenirs for people at home and visited the man-made lagoon. The waters are full of stingers (box jellyfish and irukandji, which can deliver a fatal sting), so people suntan and swim at the lagoon instead. We also visited a travel agent to price around different daytrips out of Cairns. We settled on a day trip north to Cape Tribulation, a World Heritage site home to thousands of species of animals, butterflies and other insects.

The next morning we were picked up for our day trip. At first I was unimpressed with our guide, but as the day wore on he got a lot better. We first visited Mossman Gorge, which is a gorge. It's also an aboriginal holy spot and a beautiful photo op. From there we continued north to Port Douglas where we took on more passengers. Our tour was a great size with only 13 people on board, which allowed everyone to make friends. Our next stop was a privately owned zoo where we got to see them feed the crocodiles. We saw Cassowaries at last! There were also wallabies, rare black cockatoos, various snakes, kangaroos and other tropical birds. We headed up to Cape Tribulation itself and visited a lookout point by Alexandra mountain and could see the beach, reef and forest. Next we visited a mangrove boardwalk to look at the rainforest foliage, but it was at this point that the downpour began. I'd taken a few steps out of the bus when I realized it was going to be that soaking rain that we encountered in Airlie Beach, so i just took my shirt off and went out in my bikini top. Sure enough we were all soaked to the skin, but the rain was so warm. We drove on for another 10 minutes to Cape Tribulation beach for lunch. Lunch was delicious if slightly soggy. The beach was beautiful but swimming was not allowed due to the stingers and crocodilios.

After lunch we drove back, intending to stop for homemade icecream and a crocodile cruise. Strangely, we hit traffic and stopped, and when we all got out we saw that the hour of rain had created a flash flood and flooded across the bridge entirely. We were trapped in the Daintree until the water abated! One girl in our group was supposed to fly out at 8pm, so she was naturally quite nervous. Our guide told us we might have to wait for hours or even stay in the park overnight, because the water level had risen from 0.2m to 0.8m and the river was crocodile infested! After about 20 minutes of standing around looking at the river, a few of the locals with 4WD truck and top-exhaust began driving through the river and successfully making it to the other side. The level dropped to 0.6m and our guide told us to get back into the bus. We did, and the guide roped two of the buses together. Our bus didn't have top-exhaust and would have to be towed through. At this point I started to get butterflies in my stomach for two reasons: 1) we had been told a story on the way in about a tour bus being swept into the river 3 weeks ago and 2) our guide was nervous. He stood outside the bus trying to psych himself up, inhaled a cigarette, chugged some lemonade, and we were off. The water rushed around the bus as we went through but the tow rope held and we made it to the other side, where of course we cheered our guide enthusiastically. We were giddy all the way to the croc cruise! On the cruise we saw a big 4.5m female named Lizzie and a little baby, as well as a green tree snake.

That night we danced on tables with good friends at the Woolshed, a famous backpacker party bar. We also got the hookup for dinner with our friends on OZ Experience.... $6.50 for dinner and a drinks! excellent!

Yesterday we didn't accomplish much, we just bummed around town with a friend avoiding the rain. we watched a chick flick at the theatre, went to the markets, ate Chinese food for lunch, and spent the evening playing cards and drinking Lychee wine (we bought it at the night market and it was delicious!).

So thus ends our time in Cairns and Australia. Right now we are writing this blog (haha) and waiting for our shuttle to the airport. We fly out to Auckland this afternoon and will spend 3 days there before we head home!

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