This week has been an actioned packed week since arriving in Cairns a week ago for Steph's birthday celebrations. The week has included trips into the rainforest, mountains and waterfalls (one waterfall in particular where Peter Andre filmed Mysterious Girl video years ago!) and out on the Great Barrier Reef.
Cape Tribulation was at the start of the week. A trip into the heart of the rainforest away from civilisation. We had various rainforest walks whereby our guide told us the history the rainforest and the different tribes that still live somewhere in the rainforest and cannot be found. We had a boat trip along the Daintree River to spot some crocs. Slightly disappointing when 3 out of the 200 crocs who are normally sighted on the trips were playing a game of hide and seek and we did not see Scar Face, Dusty of Stumpy! We reached our hostel in the rainforest lunchtme and relaxed around the pool area.
Laura and I decided to be brave and venture into the rainforest at night. I am a jumpy enough person in day light, but at night in the jungle and not really sure what we were going to see I was slightly more jumpy, thinking things were crawling up my legs as we trekked for 2 hours to go exploring. I thought we might have seen more, but we did see some pretty large frogs, lizards on the tree, huge spiders and jumping grasshoppers that got too close for my liking. One spider pointed out was quite small, we were then told that he will reach the size of it's web one day (that was pretty big!). I was impressed with our guide as he was very knowledgeable and very eco-friendly making sure torches were not shining on the animals to ensure that our impact was minimal. I have a great photo of us in a huge tree which will be uploaded at some point.
In the morning, we decided to do yoga on the beach. I've done a bit of yoga before at home but stopped as the teacher of the class made me laugh. There were 3 of us, in the shade doing our yoga moves with only the sound of the rainforest animals and the sound of the sea. The teacher did advise Laura and I to continue yoga when we get home, obviously we are not very flexible and perhaps old before our time.
Our guide on the way back to Cairns was fantastic. We stopped at various look outs, Mossman Gorge for those who wanted to swim (bit too cold for me) and a short time at Port Douglas. I wish I had known more about Port Douglas as I would have seriously stayed a night so that I could have seen the area more. The town reminded me of Byron Bay and Noosa. Small, unique shops, beautiful restaurants, generally a nice atmosphere. When I come back to Australia I will be back to Port Douglas. Everyone I had spoken to had raved about Cape Tribulation. It wasn't exactly what I expected but never the less, glad to have visited the area.
