Mantra Links Resort Port Douglas

... with the other guests until dinner began. The food was pretty good. Prior to the wedding, Debra provided us with various choices for entrees, mains, and desserts. I enjoyed a prawn salad, lamb, and an apple terrine. After the dinner, the dance floor was open. It was a fabulous party - just like what all weddings should be about. Once again, we wish Debra and Steve many years of love, laughter, and happily ever after!<br> <br>

... br><br><br> <br><br><br>A bit of a messy eater isn't she :O) <br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br>None of the pictures came out too well ....Typical ... This one caught the ghost of a noisy myhna ..<br><br><br><br><br ...

... him with a pole and a dead chicken. Needless to say they can move! Very interesting presentation though. Then off for a boat ride around the lake, home to 18 more crocodiles of various sizes again on the lookout for chicken bits. Cassowary birds and salties, including a huge 375kg one called Paul and koala feeding time. We are going to go back on Monday to see the snake show (probably with another nutter) and catch up with the kangaroos and wallabies ...

... Dschungel. Unserer Guid zeigte uns tausende verschiedener Pflanzenarten und erklaerte auch es sei sehr selten, dass man einen der bis zu 2 Meter grossen Cassowarries zu Gesicht bekomme. Naja als ich noch eine Runde alleine Unterwegs war, hatte ich das unheimliche Verguegen einem dieser flugunfaehigen Voegel ueber den Weg zu laufen. Doch statt mich von oben bis unten mit seiner scharfen Kralle aufzuschlitzen, guckte mich der Vogel eher mit einem "Was willsch du" Blick an und ...

... I got up at 7am - very hungover as Me, Elaine and Lisa had gone out the night before and, as we were ladies, had been given lots of free "champagne"! Not the best move as I had to check out of the hostel while the other two got to sleep off their hangovers in a bed! I got onto the bus and we drove off. We had a lovely chatty guide/bus driver who told us about where we were going. We drove along a beautiful road which had a great ocean view. I could only half appreciate ...

... the forest - the hut having only mesh netting for walls which will mean I go to sleep (hopefully) and wake up right next to nature. God knows how I'll take to that - nature can mean birds singing and crickets and swaying leaves - it can also mean pythons and spiders and other unwelcome pests. Riding on the train The time passes by before I make my way back to the Kuranda train station to take the scenic rail journey back down the Barron ...

... irreparable damage to certain parts of the reef and it's fragile eco structure; in some areas there's little room for error as dependant on the tides there's sometimes only 1.5m beneath the keel. Apparently the $3,000,000 fine for deviation off course has the effect of concentrating the mind, you don't say! After we had a collision with a freighter in the Mekong Delta on a previous cruise I often wondered just what the respective pilot and captains positions ...

... to look, but when we get home you may see them again but alot nicer!! Anyway back to the trip, we thought we'd treat ourselves and give the Great Barrier Reef a second chance as obviously the first one wasn't so succesful! Well aren't we glad we did! We went out on the boat with about 16 others, there was the skipper and 2 marine biologists, Nicky, who had just started there, so she kind of took a back seat, and Fluffy, well what can we say about Fluffy? Well he ...

... from Cairns. On the ride we crossed the Great Dividing Range -- the mointains separating the dry inland from the rainforest and the eastern coast alongside the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean. Cairns is one of fastest growing areas of Australia. It is narrow but sprawling in length to about 45 Kilometers north to south. 8.2 million international tourists this past year came through the Cairns airport. They come to see the Barrier Reef and the ...

... we decide to stay around the Esplanade as there are other Wicked Vans parked there. First though we go up town so as not to be in the sticky van too early and go for a couple of drinks. On our second drink and while were planning our trip a fight breaks out between two guys over a t-shirt its quite funny to watch. It seems to us everyone is ****** then we see two coups wrestling a guy to the ground and putting him in a paddywagon 5minutes later the van is still there and he is ...