In between Christmas and New Year in Cairns we hired a car and went off in search of some flora and fauna. We went up to Port Douglas first which is a fairly nice town, basically where all the rich people go on holiday so it's a bit more upmarket than Cairns. From here we went to Mossman Gorge where we got absolutely soaked on a walk through the rainforest and then went for a swim in the very cold water. The rain was actually warmer than the river but it didn't seem to make sense sitting out of the water getting wet anyway. There was also a rock for Phil and the guys we were with to jump off so they were happy.
After a night at Port Douglas we headed up to Cape Tribulation, stopping at the Daintree river for a river cruise where we got to see some crocodiles, very small ones, but crocodiles all the same. Also, lots of fruit bats, which are actually quite big and a tree snake.
We booked into the hostel in Cape Tribulation that was supposed to have the most 'atmosphere'. Translation: lively dump! This was Phil and I's first real experience of staying in a dorm and we haven't stayed in one since. It didn't help that the guys next door were having an all night party so there was not much chance of any sleep anyway. It was also a little bit scary as the whole place was filled with 'chav' Australians on their New Year/summer holidays. I had a few interesting conversations at the bar that's for sure.
It's amazing how different Cape Tribulation is from the rest of Queensland, it really is tropical rainforest and the plants do look different. The actual beach itself wasn't really that great whilst we were there, I don't know if that's because it was rainy season but I didn't really think wow when I saw it. It's also a little frustrating not being able to go in the sea. I will say however, that it is fairly impressive the way the rainforest just finishes and there's a beach and then the sea.
We left Cape Trib and did a massive drive (about 5 hours) down to the Atherton Tablelands where there are some lovely waterfalls. It was absolutely crazy to do it in one day but that's what everyone else does and we wouldn't have seen the waterfalls otherwise. Distance here really is not viewed the same as in England.
THe waterfalls were pretty spectacular and one you could even slide down into the pool below so we've got some good pics of Phil doing that. The main waterfall, Millaa Millaa, which I think was used in an advert wasn't quite as good as the photo as there wasn't as much water but it was still good to see a 10m drop waterfall. As you'd expect I left the swimming in the waterfalls to the boys as the water was far too cold for me.
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