Cairns and Cape Tribulation 9/4/16 – 16/4/16
(T) Well I have to say after visiting Cairns twice before and it being one of my favourite towns I am really disappointed. The town has changed quite a bit and not for the better. A few bars have gone and so has the main square which now has roads running through it. The centre pieces with trees are sectioned off for renovations but overall the changes are for the worse, one local also confirmed the town died a bit when the roads went in. Also, we have been to eat or drink in 3 places and the service and food was really poor, what a shame.
Today we were on a boat trip to the Great Barrier Reef for snorkelling. While we are at the edges of the reef it was fantastic. We went to 2 different areas to snorkel and whilst it is obviously smaller than the centre of the reef it was still amazing. One of the best sights was a turtle that came up for air and was bobbing about right in front of us, Roy even got to touch it, awesome! We also had a shark swim by under us and of course loads of colourful coral and fish such as clown fish and angel fish. The trip was pretty good, staff friendly and good food and a talk by a young marine biologist. Overall ‘Reef Experience’ was well worth it. As we are now out of the main tourist season we had a fairly small group on the boat. Great day.
Well Cairns, I am happy to say we had a great night out tonight. A local suggested we visit The Salt House by the marina and so glad we did. What a great place, the 1st bar was serving pizza, burgers etc, then as you moved through the next bar had a DJ, big day beds and squishy cushion chairs round mini water features and a great cocktail bar then after that was the restaurant. The food and service was superb, we thought we were on master chef! The walk back we took the sea front esplanade, lovely, all the trees had fairy lights and there were loads of restaurants and a great vibe.
Cape Tribulation
On the way to Cape Tribulation we had a quick stop at Port Douglas for breakfast by the 4 mile beach then onto Mossman Gorge. This was awesome, short walk through the gorge with lots of lookouts and down to the river. Then onto Cape Tribulation accessed via a barge then onto where we are staying for 3 nights – The Beach House which is set right in the middle of the rain forest. We are staying in a chalet not far from a great bar/restaurant right by the beach. We can’t swim in the sea as it’s still stinger season and they don’t have an area netted off but there is a pool.
Today we decided on a horse ride! A first for me. It was great, I was on the lazy one called Oscar who needed regular gee ups to get him to keep up! And the bugger dragged me through every bloody bush and tree he could find! There was only 4 of us on the trip and we had 3 staff so was a really nice small group. Once I got over the fact that Oscar was not going to trip up (he was just his lazy self apparently) I relaxed. We walked through fields with great views of the mountains, through the rain forest, along a river with a crocodile snoozing on the other side (wow) and then onto the Myall Beach where we also got to walk the horses through the water, brilliant. I must say I will get on a horse again, I had a bit of a trot too. As it’s a rain forest we had some rain on and off but it’s really welcome as it’s cooled down a bit. And on the drive back we saw a wild Cassawary bird with a baby, locals tell us they are rarely seen.
On our 2nd night we went on the nature night walk in the forest, it was hammering down as we were plodding along in the dark to look for all manner of living things. We saw lizards, frogs, a bandy coot and unfortunately huge spiders, good experience though.
On the way back to Cairns we went on the crocodile river cruise, saw 3 lazing by the waters edge but we didn’t get close enough, must be something to do with not having tourists eaten.
So that’s it for Australia, we are out tonight to Bali. Had an awesome 7 weeks here. Our highlights -Brisbane, Surfers, Noosa, Fraser Island, whitehavenbeach snorkelling, Madonna and the little Koala sanctuary on Magnetic Island. And of course my first time on a horse.