18. Cairns, Australia

Hi there!

Day One

So our next stop was Cairns and to get there it was Greyhound Australia time again! The journey was from 12.25am until 5.45am so we got there just in time for sunrise :)

 

We got to the Cairns Esplanade and straight away were shocked at how early the Cairns population got up to exercise!! There was circuit training going on, aquafit at 6.30am at the lagoon and hundreds (really!) running up and down the ocean front. The classes were especially great due to them all being free, 100% free. Come on England, what are you playing at haha.

Then sadly it started to rain, but we quickly made our way to one of the benches under shelter. Due to us being up extremely early we organised a Skype chat with our family, which was lovely!

After a great chat we headed towards our hostel to check in. We were staying at a small hostel but it was great as it felt so homely and comfortable. Caravella is a hostel we really recommend! They have a little café at the front which we decided to get our breakfast from! And due to it being so cheap I treated myself to a full English breakfast, it was DELICIOUS!!!!

And Nat got a chicken baguette which she enjoyed too!

We then wandered around the local area to have a little explore :) We found a cool museum with these seats made of grass and massive jelly babies outside!

From here we noticed...Woolworths!! We took our chance and bought the food that we would need for the next few days. Mostly consisting of 2 minute noodles and soup! Only the essentials! :) The only thing was that to get there we had to battle the rain, and think we lost!!

Whilst we were here we wanted to hire a car and take a trip up to Cape Tribulation, making stops off at places of interest, our strange interest! So we shopped around the different car hire companies and were confused by all the prices. But we worked out which one was best for us and went with it, we'd booked our first ever hire car...scary!

We were going to go out for dinner due to the hostel having a deal on food at a certain restaurant however it was raining so bad it wasn't worth getting absolutely soaked, especially after just washing my hair and having no umbrella!

We headed back to the room and did our diary and grabbed an early night after travelling on the bus last night.

Day Two - Atherton Tablelands

Today we were adventuring the inland area of the Atherton Tablelands and this had loads of waterfalls, rainforests, lots of creepy crawlies and BIG creepy crawlies in the form of cassowaries!!

Our first stop was a market where our tour guide picked up lots of fruit for the day ahead and we had a good look around. Then we got to the bottom of a hill, it was the start of a road with 262 bends in it. Half way up we got to a lookout but we couldn't see much as we were pretty much in the clouds!

The first swimming stop was at a huge lake that had lots of leeches in it! This I didn't know until after which I am very pleased of as if I'd have known I wouldn't have swam! We started jumping in from a height and I couldn't resist, it wasn't the smoothest of jumps though!

It was morning tea time and this was when we enjoyed a massive selection of fruit from the market and some were so expensive. Like one, about the size of a kiwi, it was $10 PER FRUIT and it tasted very sour but yummy. Forgot what it was called though sadly!

After jumping back on the bus we went to our next stop, another amazing waterfall. However this time before we had gotten to the waterfall, through cassowary surrounded rainforest, we got to the 'crater'. It was 50m down to the water and then the actual water was 150m deep (that's very deep water!).

After a few piccies we got to the waterfall :) It was so pretty but very cold so we didn't swim and decided to take it all in instead. It was a really great one due to, if you wanted, you could get behind the waterfall and see behind it. This tempted me but then the temperature reminded me what was the right (or warmer) decision.

It was now lunch time and we went with chips, cheese and gravy. It looks so disgusting but it was so tasty! The tour guide mentioned about a statue we may want to take a look at. The farmer is actually pushing the cow however it looks like he's putting his hand up doing an examination.

Along the journey to the next place we spotted a field full of tea! On our day the stall wasn't open, unless he would have given us a try so all we could get was a picture.

Boulders was next! Literally...boulders!

It was so noisy with water crashing and the current, well they say 'don't go past the fence' for a good reason. Noone, even Michael Phelps, would have a chance in them rapids. It looked so violent however it was so beautiful to just watch.

The last stop of the tour was the waterfall which you may recognise...its the mysterious girl one! Yes the one Peter Andre and his abs were under! Also Herbal Essences adverts too so everybody was doing that hair swish!

Safe to say the RAINforest definitely lived up to its name!

Day Three

Today was another tour day and this time it was the Great Barrier Reef. The iconic coral reef and we couldn't wait! Nat was especially happy when she found a cup of tea and biscuits as soon as we got on the boat.

 

I then went on the phone with Dannii Minogue!! (If you watched Ant and Dec Saturday Night Takeaway you may recognise this!).

On the journey over we were given our appropriate sized flippers and snorkelling equipment. It was our first time using flippers so we were abit nervous as to how they'd feel. On the journey I got to gripped with the equipment!

We then went for a snorkel in the Great Barrier Reef, our first of two reefs was Hastings Reef and the quality was amazing!!

Then whilst snorkelling finished off we had our lunch. It was delicious, not ideal for vegetarians but soo lovely! It was bad for Nat though, as she was so into her snorkelling she failed to notice that she was the last person in the water. I was trying to shout her for dinner but she couldn't hear me! Missed out Nat! (haha!).

It was then time for our second reef, Saxons Reef, and it was just as amazing as our first one! Here are some more pictures. It was a little bit of a shame as the underwater camera makes it look abit blurry but the water was crystal clear and absolutely faultless.

The day went sooo fast and was sad when our snorkelling was over! We made our way back on the boat and it was so windy because of the speed. Yes brushing my hair this night was so painful!

We absolutely loved this tour, but it went too fast though :( The coral reef was spectacular and so memorable!

Day Four

Today was ROADTRIP DAY!! We picked up our car from Hertz and decided to call her Keira the Kia! Here she is!!

It was a funny start as it was obviously an automatic car and we are only used to manual ones. So the first 30 minutes consisted of me and Nat driving around the car park literally about 6 times!! We then felt comfortable enough to be able to drive on the ACTUAL road!! haha. We were going with Chris, someone we'd met at our hostel and we had such a fun day! :)

We had a sort of plan, the main one was getting to Cape Tribulation but having stop offs at a few spots. Our first one was...Yorkeys Knob.

We also spotted a kangaroo sign which we took advantage off, piccy time!! As you can see it was a pretty amazing day, blue skies and the roads were so beautiful to drive on. There was also a spider that Nat spotted on the back of the sign. To say Australia is 'known' for snakes and spiders, we have only seen 2 spiders and no snakes all this trip.

Our next stop was Ellis Beach, the best name ever!! It was so busy though as there was a motorcycle show but it was really nice as music was playing, people laughing and chatting :) Such a lovely atmosphere!

We then had a look at the beach and it was so lovely apart from the warnings of stingers and crocodiles on the signs! Just the usual for Australia!!

After this we went to Mossman but the journey was a great thing in itself! It was such an amazing scenic drive, most of the journey was like this, so beautiful!

We nipped into Woolworths just to get abit of lunch and then headed to Mossman Gorge. Sadly we didn't really have time to see the actual gorge however we had a look at the visitor centre and unfortunately had to move on.

We were then off to our main destination, Cape Tribulation. Most of the journey was of course rainforest, and we were on the lookout for cassowaries due to all the signs. When we jumped out to grab these pictures, we were so scared haha!!

 

We wanted to see one but from the safety of the car, and our wishes were granted!! We came across a van that had stopped and our heads perked up. There was not just one, but three!! Due to the nature of cassowaries, the father looking after the babies and the mother moving on the next male haha, it was a male and his two young. A guide later told us that we were sooo lucky to see not just one baby but two!! So we appreciated our opportunity to see them so much!

We stayed in the car of course, due to them being potentially the most dangerous bird in the world, seriously! After dragging ourselves away and getting across the crocodile filled river on the ferry, we made it to Cape Tribulation!

We had a look around and did a few walks (Kulki Boardwalk) and here are a few pictures, including when we went up to a lookout which gave a lovely view over the beach.

We also went a little bit south on the way down to Dubuji Boardwalk but sadly we couldn't go anywhere there as the cyclone had made it inaccessible :(

One thing we hadn't seen whilst here was the Ulysses butterfly and as we pulled in a carpark and no joke Nat had just commented 'its a shame we haven't seen any of them blue butterflies!' ... and she spotted one!

It was such a pretty butterfly and so big!

Our last stop of the day was Alexandra Lookout and it was brilliant! Such a great view and had quite nice weather still! We were very lucky with the weather :)

We then caught the ferry back and continued our drive back to Cairns :)

I absolutely loved today, the places me, Nat and Chris went to were just mind blowing and we are so glad we did this really spontaneous roadtrip. Was amazing!! Thanks Keira you did really well!!

That Night - I'm a Celeb!

Tonight we had our own episode of I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here!! We were having an adventure around a night market when we came across this shop, Wombats Crossing!

We initially went in to look for magnets and souvenir ideas until we saw these containers. Yes that says emu, crocodile and kangaroo!! :S

We thought, hmmm why not!!, and went for it. Reg the shopkeeper made us haha! Of all of them, the kangaroo smelt like salami, looked like salami but didn't taste like salami!! Crocodile was very chewing and emu, well that was just horrible! Least we can say we've done it I guess!

Hopefully we won't have a dream about any of these animals tonight...

Day Five

We were flying early in the morning, at 7.20am so we had to get up at 4.50am. Very early but worth it...Ayers Rock coming!!! We loved Cairns so much but we were so excited!

After driving Keira to the airport, we dropped off the keys at the desk and watched the sunrise from the airport seating area :)

Ayers Rock (Uluru) next, we cannot wait to land and see the red centre!! Sneaky info...Ayers Rock was absolutely breathtaking and a once in a lifetime opportunity!!

See you there!

Rach xx