East Coast Baby!!!
Trip Start
Nov 06, 2010
1
17
59
Trip End
Nov 01, 2011
Where I stayed
Cairns, Queensland, Australia
Thursday, April 14, 2011
OMG! What a beautiful place. I've never seen so much greenery. The complete opposite to Perth. Perth was very dry and hot. Cairns is full of rainforests and is quite humid.
I stayed at The Northern Greenhouse which was very nice. The rooms were spacious with en suite bathroom, king size single beds, free breakfast, free internet, free BBQ on Sundays, free shuttle bus from beaches and waterfalls, in house bar, swimming pool, tour desk. I liked it so much I ended up staying for nearly 3 weeks.
In the bar I met Karl the barman and Dave, the owner who was originally from Bristol, UK. They were very nice and thought it was funny that I was in there everyday at 7pm – Happy Hour! But I wasn’t the only one..my partners in crime were Saliya and her boyfriend Shane, Jarron, Suzie and Mia (who I became quite close to)..I changed rooms to be with them and we had a lot of fun going to Gilligans and The Woolshed bars.
One shuttle I went on was for the Crystal Cascade waterfalls (for Free), where I swam in the fresh water and licked an ants bum!...Their bums are green and taste of lime citrus. The aboriginals used to add them to food and drink to add flavour.
Billy Tea's Cape Tribulation and Daintree River Day Tour:
Booked this tour with Saliya and met a Canadian guy called David on the trip. Going North through Port Douglas to the Daintree River we boarded a boat to hunt for some Crocs! We found one 4ft and one baby Crocodile only about half a metre long. If you look closly at the pictures, we also found a python and another brown looking snake in the trees. After stopping at a lookout for some photos overlooking the Cape Tribulation beach and rainforests we arrived at our rainforest destination where Rolf Harris….I mean our tour guide, told us about the trees and the plants. For lunch we got a huge piece of steak, salad and pasta before feeding Jack Jack, the Kangaroo. He was like a dog and loved cuddles. I wanted to take him home! After lunch we drove to a Fresh Water Creek where we had a swim in the freezing cold water. It started to rain whilst we were swimming in the middle of a rainforest…it was amazing! The guide provided us with a spread of local fruit and Goon! (We was amazed that they got the Goon out on this trip, funny!) Then another guide made some special tea, which you can see him spinning around on the video below. Last stop was the Cape Tribulation Beach where we got told off because we were late back to the bus! Oops! Had a great Day out in the Rainforests.
Another free trip from the hostel was Ellis Beach, with a free BBQ lunch. So far the weather has been amazing and the tan is topping up nicely.
On my last day I went on a boat trip to the Great Barrier Reef. At the first site I went snorkelling and saw a Reef Shark! Couldn’t believe my luck as my friend Jarron went out for 3 days and didn’t see one, and I just went for a day! I tried to follow it but it was too quick for me. On the 2nd and 3rd sites I went Scuba Diving and although it was nice, didn’t see as many fish as I did whilst snorkelling, just different, bigger fish…oh and a turtle! Duuuuddddeeee, got my picture taken with him..awesome!
Saw lots of Nemos and a huge Humphead Wrasse I think its called . Also had trouble equalising on the 2nd dive and thought my ear was going to explode, so I had to go further to the surface.
I loved Cairns with its little town of shops and restaurants and Lagoon (for swimming, as your not allowed to swim in the sea because of Stingers, Killer Jelly Fish) I am going to miss everyone I’ve met here, I could stay for ages but its time to move on…found a lift to Airlie Beach, 10 hour drive and the guy only charged me $30!
Some pictures of the guys and some random nights out are below…Good Times! Best Place yet! Booked for 3 nights and stayed for nearly 3 weeks!
