Cairns and Cape Tribulation

Cairns and Cape Trib were the final stops on my east coast travels. It was also the last I was going to see of the Oz Experience bus, as there was no more travelling to be done. We stopped off at a couple of places before we arrived in Cairns, the first one being a Crocodile Farm just outside Townsville. This was a very strange place and was run by some old bloke with a few cowboy types blokes helping him out. After watching all the crocs being fed we were offered the chance to hold a couple of snakes and a big lizard. They also offered the chance to get bitten by a snake!?! All you had to do was stick your hand in its little cage and it would bite your hand. Now this didnt seem very appealing to me but obviously there were a couple of mooks on my bus who thought it would be hard.. They didnt look to hard when the little snake drew blood!! I grabbed myself a croc kebab and made my way back to the bus.

An aussie Christmas!!

A little further up the road we stopped at Babinda Boulders which was a beautiful place up in the hills. The boudlers themselves were'nt that impressive as they were just pretty big granite stones but the views were really good. I also managed to spot a few more massive spiders on the walk too.

Cairns itself was alot smaller than I had expected and despite the cyclone season starting the weather was really nice.. We only spent one night at our first hostel as it was way out of town and not the greatest in general. The next day me, Alex and the 2 Fiona's hired a car and headed up to Cape Trib stopping off at Port Douglas on the way for a swim and a walk around.

Port Douglas

Port Douglas is another rich town where alot of wealthy people have holiday homes etc.. After a walk and a swim in the sea, thanks to a roped off area to stop the jellyfish, we went for a bite to eat at a small restaurant on the main street. My meal was alright but the waiter was a very wierd camp American and at the end of the meal i spotted a rather large caterpiller in Fiona's salad!! Having got a large slice off the bill for our trauma we made a hasty exit and continued our way up to Cape Trib.
The Cape is famous for being the only place where two natuaral wonders actually touch each other, the rainforest (the oldest living rainforest in the world) and the reef. It is an awesome place and despite its beauty its not crawling with tourists.. Granted the cyclone season had just started but that doesnt stop people going to United States. We booked into PK's hostel showered up and went for a nice meal. As Cape Trib is entirely rainforest there was a stupid amount of large bugs about. One of which took a particular fancy to my big toe during the main course, I looked under the table to find a 3inch green beetle getting jiggy with my foot!!
The next day me and Alex went sea kayaking. It was really good fun paddling around the mangroves and we got to see stuff at really close range like Black Tip Reef Sharks, a couple of different Stingrays, Turtles and a Dugong (like a manatee.. and no it didnt have grob rot!). Unfortunately no Crocs despite a big 4m one being reported seen around where I took the second photo below. This photo was to be the last I took as on the way back round the headland me and Alex managed to capsize in he big waves and the "dry" bag my camera was in wasnt particularly dry!!

Cairns and Cape Tribulation

Cairns, Australia