from airlie beach...to cairns!!

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...i carried on up the east coast stopping in on magnetic island, mission beach, then headed up to cape tribulation for a few days.

absolutely stunning up there - the rainforest meets the sea! it rained (!!) the whole time, but it made it so atmospheric, with the mountains peeking out through the mist. time there was spent walking, exotic fruit tasting, jungle canopy surfing, on a night safari (although the animals were a bit shy that night!!) and cane toad racing!!!

unfortunately we had a death at the hostel on my last morning which was a horrid shock. there were no details when we left, just that it was an australian backpacker. it can't have been suspicious as none of us were detained, but it affected all of us a bit i think....

it was then to cairns!!

travelling up the east coast, you find you see the same faces getting on and off the buses!! there were a few of us that descended upon cairns at the same time....just in time for the footy! hurrah! but a few beers, a gong show, a skyrail expedition, some great barrier reef snorkelling in 40 knot winds (i kid you not!! shivam, you would have been very proud of me after our samui boat expedition!!), and a few days later, and it was time to bid farewell to several people as we had reached the end of the route and most of us were headed off in different directions.... :-(

for me it was off to DARWIN!!!

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Photos

kayaking on magentic island...
we had actually done an hours worth IN the water before this was taken - honest!!!

magnetic island beautiful view...
...oh, and me!!!

tarzan seeking jane...
... (look at my hat!!)

cane toad racing....
we never did actually entirely grasp what the rules were....!! but cane toads are pests and you are meant to kil them if you see them, and so therefore this wasn't cruel...?!!!

watch out for the cassawory!
a very rare cape tribulation bird....i wonder why?!!

cathy, cat and steph...
we did actually manage to stalk each other all the way from coffs harbour to cairns!!!

cat finds her new calling in life...
...as a backing singer in the gong show!!!

the gong!!
johno's blues bar and the famous gong show...where anyone can enter with anything they like, and a selected panel from the audience bang the gong when they have had enough...sthg that the panel that eve failed to grasp and so we never actually got to hear it and were subjected to some dire acts, all in the name of entertainment!! :-)

a pint with myself and krystle cheered him up though...
...or was it the pole dancing competition going on behind the photographer perhaps?!!!

it went very high!!!
these little pods took you soaring over the top of the rainforest - it was simply breathtaking. the weather wasn't great and so they were going quite slowly. in the longest leg of the journey i had a pod to myself....45 mins...it was so quiet, and so high, i actually started to go a little stir crazy and had to resort to listening to music to keep me sane!! it was very eerie!!