Cairns
Trip Start
Jun 15, 2008
1
40
102
Trip End
Jun 14, 2009
Cairns,
Queensland,
Australia
Monday, October 6, 2008
Arrived in Cairns at 5pm and got our free airport shuttle to JJ's- Anyone reading this don't stay here it's too far out of town even though they give free shuttles to and back from town. The weather here is well different from Alice Springs - Here it's hopt but very humid. Sarah was fine wqith this but i was struggling a bit, i definitely prefer the dry heat! One cool thing over here is that most of the hostels over here offer backpackers free evening meals as part of the deal for syaying there so we headed to thw Woolshed for our meal that night.
7th Oct
Spent the day getting our bearings, locating a new hostel in town and prepairing for the arrival of Fuller! Spent the afternoon by the salt water lagoon which was nice - it's like a huge public outdoor swimming pool- you can't swim in the water around Cairns due to Crocs and Marine Stingers (JellyFish).
8th Oct
Went on a day trip to Green Island off the coast of Cairns. Took the Big Cat Cruises which were the cheapest and were given snorkelling gear for free. Green island is lovely, the island was formed by sand and coral coming together and forming a sand bar on the Great Barrier reef and over the years with birds nesting and dropping seeds flora and fauna took off. You can go snorkling on the reef directly from the beach and the sea life is cool.
To spend the night on the island cost around 600 dollars so we didn't! Spent 5 hours on the island snorkelling walking around and having buffet lunch on the boat then back to Cairns to meet up with some of the girls from our Rock Tour trip in Alice Springs. These girls will be travelling down the coast in the same time frame as us so we are bound to bump into them now and again - so they were brought up to speed of the single strapping fit irish lad coming off the plane shortly ( Fuller you owe me! i've been practicing my wingman techniques )
9th Oct
We checked out of JJ's at 10 and our hostel for Port Douglas sent a bus to pick us up for free so that was nice. On our way the bus driver stopped off at a viewing point area overlooking the Cairns Northern Beaches and we took some photos. Just as we were getting back on the bus who did we meet only Stephen and Cliona from our Inca Trail,LaPaz and Queenstown. We had planned to meet them in 2 days time but who would have thought on a 3000km stretch of coastline you just bump into people you know!
The YHA hostel in Port Douglas was really nice and the driver had driven around the town to show us all how to get around and the key attractions. Port Douglas is a millonaires town and is where alot of Australians go on their honeymoon. We were warned not to walk close to the mangroves and grass edges as fresh water crocs generally lie in wait for bait so we stuck to the main road and footpaths.
Sarah had picked up the flew wee think she might have caught it from a dirty snorkle in Green Island but we're not sure, so she went for an afternoon nap. That night we had dinner in the hostel and had an early night,
10th Oct
Today we had a tour of Cape Tribulation, Mossman Gorge, went looking for crocs down the Daintree river and had a rainforest walk. The tour was nice but very rushed so wouldn't recommend the company but Cape Trib is lovely and we had a giid day.
That evening we were dropped back to Port Douglas and we just walked around a bit before going up to 4 mile beach. As we approached the beach we saw a Spaceship rental car parked there, and Sarah remarked wouldn't it be funny if that was stephen and Cliona's, and low and behold who did we spot as soon as we got onto the beach but them. the four of us spent the evening together and ended up going for dinner in town and having a good night.
11th Oct
Got our free shuttle back to Cairns
