Advertisement
Published: April 3rd 2006
Edit Blog Post
So onto the next part of our crazy adventure......
Our plan was put on hold by the arrival of Cyclone Larry in Cairns on the day of our flight. This was a serious cyclone (Category 4) and has caused lots of damage though luckily no casualties. We managed to change our flight to the Whitsunday Islands (several hundred miles further down the coast.) We flew into Hamilton Island (where Los lived and worked while she was here!) but it was a bit classy for us so we caught the ferry to Airlie Beach - backpacker town on the mainland. This was going to be the high point of the trip and I'd been looking forward to turquoise beaches and white sands but sadly the weather was pretty awful due to the after effects of the cyclone. We spent a couple of days playing endless games of cards and chess in our friendly hostel bar while the rain pelted down outside (and they say it rains badly in the UK!) We were in a dorm with a load of random dutch people and it was claustrophobic to say the least! Luckily the weather cleared up enough for us to do a
trip into the rainforest with our mad hippy tour guide Angie. We were accompanied by Louie, a baby rescue bird, who flew free up and down the mini bus throughout the drive! The torrential rain meant that we were able to see spectacular waterfalls in full flood - every cloud has a silver lining.... Angie also taught us various bits of bush craft, including tasting all kinds of plants and berries and most bizarrely licking the bums of green ants!! She grabbed a handful and pressed them on our tongues. They shoot out acid which is how they sting, and it tasted like strong sherbet lemon. Certainly an experience!
We also took a gamble and booked a boat trip round the islands despite the fact that they'd been cancelled all week due to the weather. Luckily it paid off and although the weather was pretty rough, we were able to get out to see the famous Whitehaven Beach - miles of pure white sand! The sun came out in the afternoon and we were able to get some snorkelling in and saw lots of colourful fish and coral. We also handfed HUGE fish that jumped out of the water
for the food. Later we met up with some of the guys on the trip for (several) drinks which I regretted in the morning as we had to get the Greyhound bus for 10 hours all the way up to Cairns - I did not feel good! The bus trip took us through the cyclone disaster area (Innesfail - just south of Cairns). A week after it had hit they still had no electricity and it was pretty eerie driving through there at dusk. There were miles of flattened banana plantations and a school that was really just a pile of rubble. Pretty disturbing stuff.
So onto Cairns - on the coast in northern tropical Queensland. A pretty touristy town with not a lot going for it except for easy access to the Barrier Reef. We met up with pommie mates Mike (who we did our roadtrip with), his twin brother Rob and friend Becky. We spent a couple of days chilling by the manmade lagoon (there's no proper beach here) and then booked another snorkelling trip. I thought this would be better than the previous one as this is the main part of the reef but in fact
Cassowary Warning Sign
I love this sign! Poor cassowaries are slow and get hit by cars a lot - the sign says 'chill out not flat out' it was less colourful and there were less fish. There were also gaps where the coral had died - too much tourism! I did get to see a turtle though and most importantly of all, a family of Nemos!! (clownfish)
After a couple of days partying with the others, they continued on their way and we headed up to Port Douglas - a small tropical town about an hour further north. It is so much nicer than Cairns! Pretty quiet at this time of year so we had the beach (4 miles of it) virtually to ourselves! Again the weather wasn't up to much (rainy season) but we stayed in a great little hostel called Dougies and were quite happy to amuse ourselves for a couple of days. When the sun finally came out we did a tour further north to Daintree Rainforest and Cape Tribulation. The rainforest was incredible - it's the oldest one in the world (120 Million years!) and is a world heritage site. We saw such a lot of interesting things - crocodiles, a cassowary (giant rare bird like an ostrich), mating preying mantises, mangrove swamps, tropical orchards and more....
Yesterday we got back
to Sydney and are here for another 10 days. Sorry it's been a while between blogs but I forgot my camera lead and thought I'd better wait til I could add pics - the most important part!
Hope you're all keeping well!
Keep the comments coming.....
Love Aims xxxx
Advertisement
Tot: 0.092s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 11; qc: 49; dbt: 0.0531s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb