Cairns

Tues 16^th Aug - When we arrived in Cairns, I was relieved but still a little agitated from the morning and the day before. I messaged a few people who I knew were in Cairns and met up with Mona from Maggie Island. We went to the night markets and there were lots of places offering cheap Chinese back and foot massages so we got one. It made me feel a whole lot better and ready to explore Cairns!

Weds 17^th and Thurs 18^th Aug – It felt really odd being in a city again. I hadn’t been to one since Brisbane 3 months ago and it was odd seeing pedestrian crossings, shopping centres and tons of shops, cafes, bars and restaurants. These two days I went to lots of travel agents to book day tours and things to do in Cairns, as well as getting photos from my underwater camera developed. I also booked a flight to Darwin for the following week as I didn’t want to do any more WWOOFing in the rainforest in Queensland ever again! I met up with Laura and Jess who I’d seen at Kroombit and pretty much everywhere up the coast! On Thursday night I met with the Maggie Island lot (Joe, Tom, Mona, Denise and Annika) and went for a night out, it was loads of fun to see everyone again, in a completely different environment to Magnetic!

Fri 19^th Aug – Cape Tribulation day trip

I did a day trip with Active Tropics Explorer. We were picked up really early from our hostel and after picking up people in Palm Cove and Port Douglas, we drove on to Daintree Village. We were then taken on a wildlife river cruise searching for wild crocodiles. We saw a couple on the river banks and swimming in the water:

We then did the Marrdja boardwalk where we learnt some things about the rainforest, like the different trees and plants found here like strangler figs, and epiphytes.

We stopped for lunch at PK’s resort in the heart of cape tribulation. Me and another girl took the 5 minute walk down to the beach which was lovely, but unsafe to swim in because of the crocodiles. On the walk back to the bus I bumped into my friend Vic from Fraser Island! She’d been working in Port Douglas and took a day trip to the rainforest with some friends! It was funny because I’d actually rung her the day I got to Cairns to see if she was around, and we’d talked about doing more WWOOFing together in Darwin in a few weeks’ time. It was so odd to bump into her here of all places! When we got back on the bus we stopped for ice cream at the Daintree Ice Cream Company which makes ice creams using fruits from their own orchard. They did a rainforest cup with 4 flavours – pineapple, sugared banana, wattleseed (which tasted like mocha) and Black Sapote (which tasted like chocolate). It was unusual but nice! Then we went to a rainforest wildlife sanctuary where we saw cassowaries, kangaroos, lots of crocodiles, and a psychotic emu who liked to chase people. The last stop of the day was Mossman Gorge which was pretty and had a nice rock pool for swimming in. On the boardwalk we saw a wild baby cassowary running through the forest! It was dark so I couldn’t get a good photo of it. On the way home we drove through Port Douglas again, but this time we got to see more of it, and it looked like a really nice town. Apparently Bill Clinton has a house there and the film “Fool’s Gold” with Matthew McConaughey was filmed there. I will be stopping for a day in Port Douglas in November with my parents so I’ll get a chance to look around properly then.

Sat 20^th Aug – I woke up early today so I could get the bus to Kurunda which is a small town in the rainforest known for its art and craft markets. It’s a popular day trip from Cairns as lovely scenery can be seen either via the Skyrail cable car or the Scenic Railway. As I was about to leave I got chatting to a new girl who’d moved into my room the night before. Her name was Jodie and she’d only just arrived in Australia for a month’s holiday. I invited her to come with me so we ran to catch the bus and got to Kurunda within an hour. It was a really chilled day, we had a look through the markets, had a nice lunch and walked along the river and through the forest. We then got one-way tickets for the Skyrail back to Cairns which stopped at Barron falls and the Red Peak station which was a short boardwalk through the rainforest.

There was a guide giving talks on different trees in the forest, and I’d already heard all that information from my tour the day before. When we got to Cairns, we were nowhere near the city centre, and had to walk 35 minutes to the bus stop, wait half an hour, and then endure a really long bus ride back. I only had half an hour to get ready as I was going on the Cairns Ultimate Party tour. This was the party bus tour that I won on the Oz Experience bus a few weeks before, on the way to Magnetic Island. I knew my friend Joe and the Harrow girls were on the tour, but didn’t know anyone else. It was a really good night though! We had a good barbeque beforehand which had lots of couscous, salad, and more food than at any other free bbq I’d been to in Australia. The organisers arranged games throughout the night and a group photo of the 260 people that took part!

When we first met in Gilligans, all the guys were given bolts and girls were given nuts, and anyone who found their exact match during the night would win a prize. I didn’t win, and didn’t know of anyone that did but it was still a fun way to get talking to people. I met so many Australians that night, it seemed every second person I talked to was from either Sydney or the Sunshine Coast! We went to 4 different bars and even though they were walking distance, we were driven around on the Ultimate Party bus, it was fun to sit on the top deck! At the third bar they brought out so much free pizza for everyone we were stuffed. After the last bar, me and Joe went to the Woolshed and met up with Tom, Annika and a few others from Maggie Island.

Sun 21^st Aug – Atherton Tablelands

Today I did a day trip to the Atherton Tablelands with Captain Matty’s Barefoot Tours. This was a really laid-back tour. At the beginning Captain Matty even said he wasn’t like Active Tropics Explorer where everyone’s given 15 minutes to enjoy each attraction or the bus leaves without them, it made me laugh because my tour guide on Friday did actually say that! I thought I’d be able to catch up on some sleep on the hour drive to the Tablelands but Captain Matty insisted on talking all the way through and kept asking us questions. To get to know each other, he asked us all for an introduction and to say our names, where we’re from, how long we’re in Australia, if we’re married/single and the reasons why(!) and whether we fold, scrunch or wrap our toilet paper. I can honestly say I’ve never contemplated this question before. We first went to see the Cathedral fig tree which is a 500 year old strangler fig tree, followed by Lake Eacham which was crystal clear and you could see tortoises swimming in the water.

Lake Eacham

Afterwards we had morning tea which was really yummy with cakes and lots of fruit, and we drove on to Dinner falls, and then the crater which was a really big hole, which went hundreds of metres deep. We tried to throw stuff into it just to see how far it would go, it was quite eerie. For lunch, we went to the Millaa Millaa pub where I got a free drink for knowing what the word kangaroo means. (It means “I don’t understand” – when Europeans first saw a kangaroo, they asked Aborigines what it was, and they replied “kangaroo” because they didn’t understand what the Europeans were saying to them). Then we went to the infamous Millaa Millaa falls. This is the same waterfall where Peter Andre filmed his video for “Mysterious Girl” and Herbal Essences shampoo have filmed their adverts at these falls too.

The water was really cold but I decided to get in, and I was the first person out of our group to swim under and behind the falls. I didn’t go swimming in Lake Eacham or Dinner Falls but I figured I had to do it at Millaa Millaa and I’m glad I did. Although I was freezing and shivering the rest of the day! We went to Crawford’s lookout, followed by our last stop of the day which was Josephine falls. A few people slid down the falls but I was too cold from Millaa Millaa. When we got back to Cairns we noticed fireworks when we drove into town. When we got off the bus, three of us went to the lagoon to see what was going on, but there was a drum artist on stage and the rest had finished.

Mon 22^nd Aug – I didn’t feel good this morning, as I had a cold, so I had a relaxed morning and said goodbye to my friend Jess who was leaving Australia to go back to the UK. In the afternoon the hostel I was staying at ran a free trip to Fairy Falls and the Crystal Cascades. This was really pretty but after the amount of waterfalls I’d seen over the last few days it wasn’t that special. Especially compared to Millaa Millaa which was the most beautiful waterfall I’d ever seen. I came back and just slept because I felt so run down. I was worried I wouldn’t be well for diving the next day, as you’re not supposed to dive with blocked sinuses, but if I didn’t dive on Tuesday, I couldn’t dive in the Great Barrier Reef as I was flying to Darwin on Thursday and you’re not supposed to dive 24 hours before a flight either. I just had to wait and see how I felt.

Tue 23^rd Aug – Today was diving day. I’d booked to do 3 dives on the Tusa T6 on the outer Great Barrier Reef. They were slightly more expensive than some of the other boats but it came highly recommended as they can pick and choose between 17 reefs that they have access to. I hired an underwater digital camera so that I could take videos and photos during my dives, which I was really glad about in the end because I got some fantastic photos.

I still didn’t feel great but I did the dives anyway. Due to bad wind conditions, the boat rocked so much and I felt quite seasick, as did a lot of other people. Also, we were told when we booked that we would get to do 3 dives in 2 different reefs that would be picked on the day for the best conditions, but due to the windy conditions, we could only stay on the one reef as that had the best visibility. So I did 3 guided tours at the Fish Bowl in Hastings Reef. The Great Barrier Reef was beautiful; I saw more marine life than I did on Magnetic Island because now we were on the outer reefs. It wasn’t as colourful as I was expecting but I saw a range of fish, clams and coral and even got a few photos of Nemo!

The guide occasionally pointed out something interesting to us:

In the evening I went out with Jodie as it was her last night in Cairns and saw Tom and Annika for the last time as well.

Weds 24^th Aug – My WWOOF host in Childers had recommended me to visit Josephine Falls, Crystal Cascades, Millaa Millaa and Fitzroy Island. As I had done the other things on the list, I figured I should use my last day in Cairns to visit Fitzroy Island and have a day on the beach. I took the ferry over in the morning and sat on the beach for a few hours. It wasn’t a sandy beach which was a disappointment, instead it was hard coral. Not very comfortable to lie on!

I would have liked to go on the glass-bottom boat but it wasn’t running that day so I did quite a few long walks around the island but some were closed off halfway. There was a lookout where I got some good pictures of the outer reefs:

the white patches in the water are the reefs

I’m glad I went to Fitzroy rather than sitting around Cairns but it’s not really worth it if you don’t have much time to kill.