Palm Royale Hotel Cairns

... a bit cruel on the old fish but funny as hell....despite the yanks beating the Brit fish by a scale at the end!) who we have kept in touch with the whole way down whivch has been cool!

Cairns was also where we decided to book a Jucy camper van (yes I know its spelt wrong - apparently it has no I in it cos its all about U?!) and head north into the rainforest around Cape Tribulation and Port Douglas.....the van was pretty cosy, bright ...

... only a couple of hours til sunset, not much gas left in the tank and going around in circles... plus we had no water and very little food. Normally we have lots of both but as we knew we were about to arrive in civilisation and we weren’t planning on doing any more bush camping, we hadn’t stocked up. And of course we hadn’t planned on getting lost! Even Karen the GPS was confused although she helpfully told us that we were only 20kms away – ...

... and finally were glad we didn't see any, as with no motor it might be a bit dangerous to encounter a hungry one. Luckily we were rescued by a fisherman heading back. To our surprise the boat owner didn't ask for any money to cover the damage, so we gave him at least the caught fish. A few days later we read in the newspapers that 10 weeks ago a 5 year old boy became a victim of a croc in the same river. For the night we stayed in a camp in Cape Tribulation.

... The road to Cape Tribulation was like a computer game. The road was very windy and full of all sorts of funny signs. We were warned for birds, bumps (although for some strange reason they place the sign ON the bump instead of a little bit before it), slippery roads, flooding danger, falling rocks, falling trucks etc etc. Anyway, we made it safely to Cape Tribulation and stayed in a hostel in the middle of the rainforest. The next day we had a very early start, as we wanted to ...

... I crossed any off so I'm gonna make up for lost time. All this travelling is making me want to do it again in a few years but maybe take a year out. I will have to see what the job front is like when I get back and try to save up some money as I go. If I don't over spend on this trip though I might pay some money off my mortgage to bring the term and the interest down a bit while the rates aren't too high (like you need to know any of this lol ...

... We were not deterred and made the most of our time by checking out all the diving and tour operators. We met a lovely lady called Carmen who owns a travel agency called "Discover Cairns" who gave us some excellent advice and ideas. We found some great places to eat while there and I watched as my waistline expanded...