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Published: October 28th 2005
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Back in Aussie now. Northeast coast of the country - Queensland. Tropical jungle and the Great Barrier Reef. Everywhere and everything is very beautiful. We'll be travelling from Cairns to Brisbane, and making stops on the way.
We booked our tour of Queensland while in Sydney, weeks ago. So, after returning from New Zealand and spending one night in an airport hotel, it was off to Queensland. We arrived in Cairns (pronounced 'CANS') last week and have since been overwhelmed with heat, but the scenery is worth it. Pretty hot indeed; sunny and 90+ degrees daily!
First day in Cairns we walked around in the city. Not much about it really - just a resort town on the edge of the rainforest. The hostel, called Calypso, was great though. Good food, cheap grog, and some nice people. We befriended some very nice Irish people. The five friends, all from County Cork, are doing a big holiday all around Aussie as well.
Day two finds us up early to take a boat trip to the Great Barrier Reef. The reef IS the attraction here in this region. While the wilderness is beautiful, the reef is one of a kind.
Only pictures can really describe it - if that. We snorkelled and sunbathed on the boat all day and it was great.
The next day we were off to visit the rainforest, north of Cairns. On the way we took a brief river boat trip to spot some crocs. We did see a mighty croc from about twenty feet, but it was uninterested in us and just drifted under the water and away. We continued on into the jungle. Our destination was Cape Tribulation. Three lodgings, Two cafes, and one bar - very remote and very hot. After relaxing by the pool for a couple of hours we headed to PK's (the one and only bar) for some cold beer. There we unexpectedly ran into our Irish friends once again and enjoyed a raucous night.
We returned to our room, which we were sharing for the first time on our trip...and hopefully the last. Our roomies were two american post grads from Colorado...nice but young. It was a long hot night in an unairconditioned room with plenty of critters around to keep us company.
To try and find some relief from the heat, we headed to the
Mason Swimming hole the following day. Sure enough it was the only place we were able to cool off the entire time. The water was cool and the trees provided some much needed shade. After a quick lunch at the cafe near the swimming hole we headed out to the beach. It was quite a site...very remote. At first we were worried about swimming in the ocean because it is box jellyfish season (they can be lethal) but we were told that they were not around yet so we jumped into the bath water...literally. That night we treated ourselves to one of the best meals of the trip at the Dragonfly Cafe. After a beer at Pk's we went back to the room to rest up after a full day.
Our final day in Cape Trib and we are up early and off to the beach where we sit on the rocks and watch the crabs. Around lunch time we head back to Cairns. On the way back we stop at Mossman gorge for a refreshing dip. Back at the Calypso backpackers right around dinner time and who should we run into yet again but our Irish friends (Ashling,
Danny, Caroline, Gillian and Pat).
After spending a few hours eating and drinking with them we headed off to catch a midnight bus to Airlie Beach. A few hours into our trip the airconditioning on the bus broke and we suffered all the way to Townsville in a 95 degree oven on wheels. Holden was sweating more than any average day in the trading pit. In Townsville we were lucky enough to change buses and the rest of our ride to Airlie was much more comfortable.
We relaxed that night in an airconditioned private room and the next morning headed off on our two day two night boat trip to the Whitsunday Islands.
13 passengers (mostly Brits) and 4 crew on a year old boat, Powerplay. This trip had so much value for us. Seeing the chain of islands in the Whitsundays was well worth it. Furthermore, we both did our very first scuba dive! Awesome. 30 minutes of underwater glory. The first day came to an end over dinner, drinks, a slideshow of the days activities, and the movie Snatch on projector.
Day two of the boat trip found us hiking over a small pass
to Whitehaven Beach. Totally pristene and untouched postcard beauty! The sand is so fine and white that it resembles flour. The water was the most ideal temperature and we managed to avoid any sharks or stingers. Following that we moved on for another day of snorkeling and scuba. The weather was awesome. Privileged with sun and breeze for most of the trip. Dusk included dinner and more drinks.
Every trip has to end sometime, and this mini-voyage was nearing an end. We woke up the next morning for one last excursion - to view aboriginal art in a cave. Then it was back to port and the first shower in days - ahhh, ablutions. Then we enjoyed some drinks. A Serb introduced himself to us and quickly impressed us as a PSYCHO! No worries and no harm done. We escaped to another bar. Guess who we found there? Thats right, Irish posse. Good people.
Well, we are half way to Brisbane, and loving it! Its now on to Hervey Bay and then Fraser Island. More stories to follow. CHEERS!
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