First of all..apologies for not updating this more regularly. I know some people reading it aren't on Facebook so don't see my daily updates on there :) The main reason i haven't updated it is because i haven't had anything particularly exciting to write about since i've been here for the last few weeks. So it's a bit of a contrast from Asia where i was having new adventures everyday and it's definitely taken me a while to adapt to not having that excitement all the time.. i like to call it the Asia comedown. I was feeling a bit depressed at first because as well as that i couldn't get a job but I can't complain as it would have been 100 times worse if i was back home in the crap weather! I finally got a job in the Courthouse..which is a hotel, bar and restaurant and i have to say it's probably the best waitressing job i could have got here (after trials in other places where the people weren't so friendly). All very laidback people and that makes life easier when you're working somewhere 6 days a week. Plus the wages aren't too bad either and it turns out the minimum wage here is 18 dollars an hour which is more than what i was being paid back home in my job anyway (what a joke, no wonder people move here!).
Anyway i'll be here for another 2 weeks before i head down to Sydney by bussing it down the East Coast..can't wait! Until then i'm trying to fit in some trips around the area and yesterday i headed North of Cairns to Cape Tribulation where the Rainforest meets the Reef (the cheesy line they use!).
I got picked up bright and early at 7.30am as it takes an hour and a half to get there and the first stop was a crocodile cruise on the Daintree River. I didn't actually have my hopes up even though the guide kept going on about how they have massive 2-3 metres crocs in the river bla bla bla, so i was quite surprised to see one after about 5 minutes into the trip..ok it was pretty small but cool all the same! Then a few metres further down the river we spotted a larger one which was about 2 metres long and pretty impressive. You can't really get the full effect from my photos but we were only abut 3 metres away from the beast, quite scary! They seem pretty harmless as they just sit under the water's edge to keep cool but one of the smaller ones could still rip your arm off if you got too close! Funnily enough we were told 80% of attacks are on Germans which i found quite random and funny because i had noticed it said 'Achtung' on all of the warning signs but nothing in any other language except English and Chinese!
Afterwards we got back on the bus and headed into the rainforest where we took a walk through it on an elevated boardwalk. It was all pretty cool and the guides really knew what they were talking about so i learned loads about the trees and animals..which i won't bore you with! We seen some crazy green ants which we were allowed to taste (only 2 out of 25 people did) and golden orb spiders sitting in their webs. I really wanted to see a Cassowary which is a rare bird only found in Queensland but we weren't in any luck :( here's a picture of one though
http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://scribalterror.blogs.com/scribal_terror/images/cassowary.jpg&imgrefurl=http://oohreally.wordpress.com/2008/11/14/cassowary/&usg=__13o4CCcxEgiocJyimUSS19EQC1A=&h=600&w=400&sz=156&hl=en&start=0&sig2=4KcfA4f0Hue1fsBxPA4tEA&zoom=1&tbnid=0J8MEUnFh2UTLM:&tbnh=133&tbnw=93&ei=yUPhTMHaFsrJcbKWjZcM&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dcassowary%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26rlz%3D1T4GFRE_enGB391GB391%26biw%3D1003%26bih%3D371%26tbs%3Disch:1&um=1&itbs=1&iact=rc&dur=312&oei=rUPhTJDsFIyGuQOL5qTnDw&esq=6&page=1&ndsp=12&ved=1t:429,r:1,s:0&tx=50&ty=50
I was pretty starving by that point and thankfully we went to a hostel in Cape Tribulation for some lunch and to check out the beach very briefly (which is what i hate about tours, only getting an hour in each place!). The area was named by the explorer Captain Cook in the 1700's when his ship ran aground on the reef nearby. Unfortunately it's deadly stinger season so you can't swim on most of the beaches on the East coast but it was beautiful to look at anyway!
After that we drove back down South for a bit, stopped for some icecream briefly at a wee farm which served unusual flavours of icecream made from fruits and plants which they grow. I had one with 4 flavours - mango, coconut, and one made from some seeds which tasted a bit caramely and the other one a fruit which actually tastes like chocolate pudding - yum! We hopped back on the bus and reached the Mossman Gorge which was a nice river but it had started to rain so i didn't go in for a swim cos it's too cold when you come out the water. I know that sounds ridiculous when it's 30 degree heat here but i start to feel cold if it drops to anything below that now, my body must have adapted so God help me when i get back home!
Our final stop was in Port Douglas, a fairly wealthy spot where rich folk go on holiday. It was a nice wee town but a bit cloudy and wet by this point so we didn't stay for long before driving for an hour back to Cairns. This port isn't far from where Steve Irwin was killed on Batt Reef by a stingray..looking forward to going to his zoo when i head down the coast by the way :)
So all in all a good day trip, pretty tiring though! I'm looking forward to next Sunday when i'm going out to see the Great Barrier Reef to do some snorkelling!!
Oh yeah incase you were wondering what the title is all about, i'm starting to get sick of people asking if i'm Irish when i'm in work. It's quite funny mind you as they always apologise after getting it wrong..and it's obviously not an insult but i just feel like a parrot saying 'no i'm Scottish actually'. I'm keeping track of how many guesses people have made since the beginning of my trip..i've had Italian, French (not bad guess), Spanish, Israeli (someone said Shalom haha), Irish (about 50 million times) and Scottish of course ;)
