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Published: January 8th 2015
We were all very sad to leave our lovely apartment on Hamilton Island, especially having to give back the golf buggy which we had become rather attached to. The ferry crossing to Airlie Beach was pretty uneventful apart from Stuart's prized Cloudy Bay cap blowing off. Those who know Stuart will be aware this happens on a fairly regular basis!
Picked up our hire car (another Toyota, Nick!) and headed for Townsville which was about a 4 hour drive. Stayed one night in Townsville and after a quick massage for Rebecca (a lot more normal than the last one in Hong Kong) we were off again the following morning heading for Cairns which was about a 5 hour drive.
Our first morning in Cairns concentrated on finding a café for breakfast. This nearly caused the first disaster of the trip when Rebecca left her bag containing her purse and all four passports behind on the seat. After a ten minute manic drive back to the café, we were incredibly relieved to find it had been safely picked up by the waitress. Panic over! For the rest of the day we took the Skyrail gondola up over the rainforest, our
Skyrail
Over the top of the rainforestfirst real glimpse of the incredible Daintree Rainforest, to the village of Kuranda which was spectacular, however the return journey by train was less so!
We had intended to spend New Year's Eve on the esplanade in Cairns but our second night accommodation was so far out we decided to celebrate at the tavern in the local village where there was a good atmosphere and great pizza. Abby and Freya quite happily spent most of New Year's Eve in the swimming pool.
More driving took us on to Port Douglas, a beautiful stretch of coast however completely deserted beaches due to jelly fish which can be fatal and crocodiles which can eat you!
From Port Douglas we took a trip out to the Agincourt reef on the Great Barrier Reef. What a memorable day. Because of the obsession in Australia with things that will sting you and things that will bite you and possibly even eat you we were advised to wear Lycra stinger suits before venturing into the water to snorkel. We do not intend to upload any photos of us wearing these very fitted garments! While we were at the reef we couldn't resist a
Time to catch the train
Not the best part of the day! 15 minute helicopter flight to get a birds-eye view of this stunning area which completed a brilliant day.
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Mary barlow
non-member comment
happy new year
We want pics if the stinger suits!!!!! Love to you all v wet and windy in UK. M xxxx