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Published: August 7th 2007
Great Barrier Reef
"Ladies be careful--This is what travelling can do to your hair!"Greetings from Cairns, the best known city on the Queensland coast. A tropical, laid-back yet modern centre where anything is possible including rain, rain and more rain. Myself, Brenda and Lindsay arrived here last Tuesday (May 29th) in an effort to escape the downpours of Mission Beach. We checked into the Cairns Beach House that nite and were suckered into our "free meal" which still managed to cost me $8 for a chiken curry that looked and tasted like foul chicken in chicken broth and undercooked rice...it was a beauty. We soon perked up later that nite when our mates Anna and Jessie arrived....but they didn't stay in that hostel long as poor Jessie got bedbugs on her first nite. The first few days, the girls and I wandered around Cairns familiarising ourselves with the area and getting settled and looking forward to our 3 day/2 nite trip up to Cape Tribulation which is where the Great Barrier Reef and the Daintree rainforest meet, the only place on earth where two World Heritage areas exist side by side.
Early Friday morning the Tropics Explorer bus took us on a scenic coastal drive, then we stopped for morning tea at
Our day out in Kuranda
L-R: Brenda, Lindsay and myself the Daintree River and a wildlife river cruise on the River. Now the cruise turned out to be a bit of a farce....crocodiles my eye! The guide kept talking to us about "Scarface" the bully crocodille on the river, and several others, but to our dissapointment---we didn't see one of them! We did however hear some amusing stories which involved tourists and backpackers getting injured or killed by the crocodilles. Apparently last January some Belgian guy was soo upset he didn't see a crocodille on the tour that when he got off the boat he stood in the water knee deep with his camera and started tapping on the surface---do I need to say more? Poor guy had to be air lifted and lost part of his leg, and I am assuming his camera. We did see one baby crocodille, but myself and Brenda were a bit skeptic as to whether it was a plastic set up or not...ha. After our exciting crocodille cruise our guide took us on a walk through on the Jindalba Botanical Boardwalk. Later that rainy afternoon we were dropped off at the Cape Tribulation Beach House--first impression--boredom! Our cabins looked quite nice as they were
set in the middle of the rain forest and just off the beach (which woulda been great had the sun been out!). We quickly ran in search of a tv lounge, or a shop, a liquor store, internet, anything??? !!! The nearest shop was approximately 45 minutes away, and we found 3 computers which were an extortionate $8.50 an hour so we had nothing to do other than sleep. That nite we sat around the bar with some English and Frenchies for a bit and spent the nite sitting around playing cards and talking with the other unfortunates. Once the bar shut (I believe around the ragging hour of 11pm) myself and Brenda headed to the kitchen to see what goodies we could eat. As we were sitting around minding our own business a set of young boys, honestly I would guess about 16, took the cue to sit at our table and "attempt" to strike up conversation. I couldn't stop laughing while they were speaking because they were just sooo young and seriously thought they were in with us...ha.. tisk tisk. Eventually Brenda just asked them how old they were, and they said "18" but we just weren't buying
Cape Tribulation Beach House Bar
"Just about the only thing to do on a Friday nite." it, and though the offer for free Bundaberg rum was tempting we gave them the boot. I still crack up when I think of it...ha.
On Saturday the weather cleared up for about 2 hours midday so of course I ran out onto the beach for some sunshine! Had to keep my eye out though as I was warned crocodilles come in onto the beach, so as I was bopping away to my IPOD I kept all eyes alert. That was also the day Brenda got eatten alive by every mosquito that the rainforest had to offer. I believe we counted about 20 bites on her neck alone!
Sunday couldn't come quick enough for us, or any of the other guests at the Beach House--- everyone was anxiously waiting around for the 1pm bus back to civilisation. This was also the day the mossies decided to attack me as well. I was soo itchy, even the Bushmans spray couldn't keep them away. On the way back the bus stopped at Alexandra Range Lookout where we were able to see the site where Steve Irwin was killed by the stingray , the Daintree Ferry Crossing and Mossman Gorge. We
also made a quick stop in Port Douglas where I discovered that some fool packed maple syrup in a bag with all our luggage and surprise surprise it busted all over our bags...cheers whoever you are!
Sunday nite we decided to check into the YHA (which has never failed us) hostel in central Cairns since Jessie and Anna were booked in there as well. Upon arrival in our 6 person room we met some Danish girls who seemed nice, but I couldn't help but notice one was covered in bites/rashes and the other girl was taking pictures. So I pleasantly asked her if they were bed bugs or mosquito bites, to which she informed me she had "scabbies." As you can imagine myself, Brenda and Lindsay went down to reception to demand a room change as scabbies is highly contagious. So lucky for us the YHA put us in the family room which holds 5 people all on our own! Yay! Later that nite we met up with Anna and Jessie for a bite to eat in P.J. O'Briens.
Monday brought better things. That morning we had to switch rooms again and after speaking with reception we were
Crikey its a real live baby crocodille!!
"FYI- myself and Brenda are still not convinced the wee guy was real, we feel it was a conspiracy theory since Scarface never emerged from the murky waters as promised!" able to go back into a family room with Jessie and Anna...yay! The sun was splitting, so of course Brenda, Jessie and Myself ran to the Cairns lagoon as soon as we got up. At one point the thermostat was reading 36 degrees celcius---I was loving every minute of it! Myself and Jessie got some sushi for lunch and we sat out until the sun disappeared. Later that nite we decided we all needed a nite out on the town. After a mini party in our room we headed over to Rhinobar to engage in "Power Hour"--$10 bought you all you could drink from 11pm-12 and then headed over to the Woolshed. We had a great nite out and met up with Lucy and Clare, and loads of others we had met randomly while travelling up the coast. The nite was then sucessfully topped off with several pieces of pizza and potato wedges from the local pizzeria.
As you can imagine Tuesday wasn't the most productive day as there were sore heads all around. Myself and Lindsay dragged ourselves outta bed at a reasonable hour to do some last minute souvenir shopping (it ain't easy trying to buy things
Cape Tribulation Beach House
"This was our hut for the weekend... looks nice, but when there is no tv, phone reception and the internet is $8.50 an hour one can go a bit mental!" That nite all the girlies and I went to the cinema to see "Spiderman 3." Now, granted I've never seen Spiderman 1 or 2, but its suffice to say that I think the director was on acid for some of the scenes..ha. We all agreed it was aweful..ha...yet we stayed and just giggled througout the whole thing.
Wednesday was definitely one of the highlights of our trip to Cairns as we were booked onto the Compass cruise tour of the Great Barrier Reef. Our first snorkle site was called "Breaking Patches" and it was absolutely amazing. The visibility was soo much better than it had been when sailing the Whitsunday Islands. Geared up in our wetsuits, flippers and snorkle masks we all took to the water like ducks. The coral was amazing and I saw some massive fish and a few animals I was afraid to even try identify! Once outta the water we were all wrinkly and pruney so we got into the glass bottom boat for a tour of the reef. After this we got back on board for some lunch before heading to our second site. "Hastings Reef" was the name of our second site, and
it was amazing because there were several turtles in this area and we were able to get photos and pet/feed them. It was soo surreal being under water with them...I loved it! Next we took part in "Boom netting." Yes, I didn't know what it was either, so don't feel bad. Essentially what happened was four strong men had to jump off the back of the boat with a massive net. Then everyone else had to jump onto the net (which by the way had holes big enough to let a sumo wrestler through...ha!) and try to hold on as the boat increased its speed pulling us through the water. This proved challenging for all us ladies who wore bikini's because the water seemed to be pulling bottoms down and tops off... so as you will note from the pictures I was holding on for dear life! Several of the guys actually let go of the net because their trousers were heading for their ankles..ha.. it was such a laugh. I am proud of myself because I managed to stay on right til the end as Brenda and Lindsay had abandoned ship.
Thursday, myself and Brenda were running around
like blue-ar*ed flies trying to get all our last minute things sorted...thanks to Linz who was soo patient as I ran from shop to shop. Later that nite, all the girlies and I headed to an Indian restaurant called "Marinades" for a meal which myself and Lindsay had been babbling about for a month (thanks Brenda for your patience--- I finally got my Korma and Naan bread!!). Sadly it was our last meal as a group with Lindsay, Jessie and Anna😞 Myself and Brenda then had to run back to pack up all our gear for our 6am flight to Brisbane the next morning. We got up around 3am to get our taxi and the girls were so cute....they demanded we wake them all up and they even escorted us our to our taxi--THANK YE!
So today myself and Brenda are walking around Brisbane like sleep deprived zombies enjoying our last remaining 24 hours in OZ!
Had an amazing time here and would come back in a heartbeat. Met some really amazing people and saw some spectacular sights.
Next stop: HONG KONG!
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Anna
non-member comment
So Long Susan
sniffle sniffle, boo hoo, miss yous!