TAXI! FOR JONES AND PORTER...
Trip Start
May 09, 2005
1
17
25
Trip End
Ongoing
Syders to Cairns to Townsville (Arizona),
Australia
Sunday, January 15, 2006
I was surprised by a few things when arriving in Cairns. Mainly the weather, which was either overcast or absolutely tipping it down the whole time we were there (anyone would think it was the wet season... oh, it is!), whilst also being really humid. Next, we were completely surrounded by rainforests, which was cool, although there wasn't a beach in sight
1. CAIRNS!
. Finally there isn't much to the town other than hotels, hostels, restaurants, cafes, bars and an abundance of travel shops. In fact, that's all there was -- all offering the same thing. I'm not really sure what else I was expecting, but something that didn't involve me handing over all my money over would've been nice. Anyhow, the first day we took a day trip on a catamaran out to the Great Barrier Reef. Despite the cloudy start, when we got to our first location the sun was out. As part of our package we were allowed a 10 minute free scuba dive (wahoo -- 10 mins!). Despite only hanging on a rope about a meter under water, it was good fun and I can't wait to do it properly in Thailand where it's cheap and there are lots of sharks! After our freebie, we spent some time snorkeling on the reef before we came back onboard for the main event -- lunch! Boy did I eat my money's worth! Four plates full of food and when I couldn't eat anymore, I stored some fruit in my hamster pouches for later. When I re-entered the water at our second location, I kept one eye on the fish below and the other keeping lookout for any Japanesse whaling ships! All-in-all the trip was great fun and the highlight had to be at the second location when I nearly became fish food... I was first to jump in the water and as soon as I did a huge black fish with big eyes and big lips, and even bigger teeth went for the little strap on my goggles
2. BIRDS!
! I spent the rest of the time trying to bite it back! Our second day we hired a car and drove north to Cape Tribulation. Not too much up there except rainforests. Although it did have some perfect beaches that were completely empty, but we couldn't swim there because of the 1001 deadly marine life eager to sting you on entry. Heading back down we stopped at Mossman Gorge, which was too dangerous to swim in 'cos of all the rain, and then Port Douglas, which was very nice. Finally, before arriving back in Cairns I saw the AJ Hacket bungy site. I was in a flood of tears as I couldn't justify spending the money to have a jump...
After sitting out another few rainy days we caught the bus to Townsville, which is somewhere near Smallsville I think. While we didn't see the Man of Steel cruising around above our heads we did manage to get a bird's eye view of the town by taking a walk up Castle Hill; a fairly steep climb up a large red rock, which nearly left Giggsy needing to be air lifted to hospital! From up there we got 360 degree views of Townsville and views out to Magnetic Island. As we were walking back down a group of guys with mullets drove past and shouted "nice shorts, dick head!". The funny thing was we were both wearing nice shorts, so I don't really know if the guy was complementing us or failing badly to take the piss...
The day after we decided to get the ferry to Magnetic Island... we weren't originally planning to go there, but some unseen force seemed to be dragging us there -- as though it was a huge... I can't think of the right word to describe it. Never mind, it was a pretty cool little island which is known as the Koala capital of the world. It's not really known as that but there were apparently loads kicking about. We managed to see one, but it was sleeping. So I climbed the tree and ruffled it up a bit, but it just climbed higher and fell asleep again! So, Giggsy picked up some rocks...
