My excitement after seeing humpback whales only fuelled even more excitement for our trip ahead. Since we really didn't want to spend 10 hours on a bus to cairns we decided to tackle the 600km trip by hire car. We thought this would give us more freedom to stop off and see the sights along the way as well as speed up the journey. This ended up being true but at times all you could see were miles and miles and miles of road and sugar cane. Only a wee glimpse of the sea from time to time.
Oz wildlife was what we hoped to see en route and we weren't disappointed. However, a lot of it was kangaroo road kill :-(. Nevertheless we stopped in at the Billabong sanctuary where we got to hold a lovely big cobra, kangaroos, koalas and crocs - fantastic! Made it even better that I managed to blag our way in for half price! !
Other points of call included townsville and mission beach which were both picturesque but eerily quiet. I had hoped for some restaurants and cafes lining the seafront but it was deserted.
Arriving in cairns was a different story - a large marina town bustling with travellers with lots of bars and eateries. Our hostel is more like a hotel with a great bar and pool (and gym yay!) But unfortunately our request for a twin room couldn't be done. The room sleeps 6 and is pretty swish as dorms go. Was all going good until we got a wildlife show we weren't expecting. .. Our irish roommate got lucky and decided to show her a good time back in the dorm. Ear plugs to the ready. Little bit of sick in mouth as I tried to sleep on without any luck. As time went on I thought it might be sting in the other bed and thought I should maybe offer them some energy drinks, surely their electrolytes were running low?!
After just a few hours kip Ryan and I woke up to the oz sunshine and left our love bird roommates behind as we went on our first ever scuba dive on the great barrier reef just 20 miles north on a luxury cruiser. This has to be one of the best life experiences to witness such amazing coral and fish so close! I want to do it again! !
This almost brings our East Coast adventure to an end. Having not seen a friend since university I bumped into her here! So out for dinner and drinks tonight for a long overdue catch up, port Douglas tomorrow then flight to Melbourne tomorrow evening.
https://www.dropbox.com/sc/yp0jy3kplw4soer/_RxlCf6yt8
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