Hello!! so after leaving the red centre we headed to Cairns! Really nice city, very cool, very easy to get around - had our first shock - you can't swim in the sea! we wondered why the beach was deserted! They had a lagoon instead which was nice to lie next too.

Ok so whilst we were in the cairns area we went on a 3 day trip up to Cape Tribulation - the only place in the world where 2 national parks meet, reef and rainforest; the daintree national rainforest park and the great barrier reef marine park. Pretty cool huh! so on our way up we stopped at a few places, this photo is of us in the mossman gorge a river that runs through the daintree rainforest, was pretty cool, gav was extremely hungover from a very good night the night before (out for a girls birthday from the red centre trip) and was throwing up the whole way so a dip in the cold waters of the mossman gorge did him the world of good! i swam up to some rocks and where the water was pressurised through it felt like a jacuzzi all around me only refreshingly cold! we also went for a crocodile cruise along the daintree river but being high tide we didnt see any crocs :( ! never mind! Oh, it was the melborne cup race that day too, the bus did a sweep stake and all i can say is its the fastest $10 we lost so far!

So up in cape tribulation, the first afternoon gav just slept off his hangover whilst i went walking with another girl off the bus, was nice to have a change of company!! hehe! the next day feeling bright eyed and bushy tailed gav and i went walking up to a water hole along a little river running through the rainforest! ive completely forgotten the name but it was very pretty! the pic below is of gav sitting in the river with fish swimming all around him, we went there to see the turtles and although gav says he saw one im not convinced! we met a family there who gave us a lift back which was awesom as it took us over 2 hours to walk there and the heat was just about bareable!

So the family dropped us off at the cape tribulation beach which was incredible, lovely soft sand and clear waters, you cant swim in the sea up here either because of the jellyfish, we paddled a little and then wimped out - not ready to die yet! the beaches here were the nicest we'd seen so far, ok we hadnt seen many but they were stunning! we took a stole and then walked back through the rainforest you see in the background of the photo to the other beach where we hoped to see the croc thats always there but he wasnt! we didnt have much luck with wildlife here! still it was a nice walk!

on our last day we went on a fruit tasting tour of fruits that are only grown in rainforests, some of which are only grown in cape tribulation in the world! some were tasteless like chocolate fruit (very disaappointing!), but others like the soursop im eating in the picture were delicious, texture a bit like pinapple but like sour and sweet at the same time! hard to describe! but lots were good! was cool to do something like that you cant experience anywhere else!

before we left we took a few walks in the rainforest, i love these fan palm tress and they are everywhere up here! the walk was really nice, very peaceful, very green, saw lots of insects and reptiles and lots of trees weve never seen before! was kinda strange being in australia and being in a rainforest but i guess it has a bit of everything! we didnt see any famous cassowary birds, but that could be a good thing since they could kill a human in a matter of seconds anyway! lots of scary animals out here!

ok gotta go, out of time, miss you all loads still, oh, gav had a great birthday, a trip round the whitsunday islands and a bush walk the day after, not bad! lots of fun! love you all xxx