Cairns trip - first update

Day 1 - after arriving around midnight and a sleep-in (which for me in about 6am, but I did let Greg and Dee sleep slightly longer!), we decided to hire a car and went to the Aboriginal Culture park in the morning where Dee painted her own boomerang and we all had a go at throwing those, and also spears, learnt about how to prepare and eat foods (including poisonous ones) so that they are fine to eat, watched some dancing and singing etc. - it was really quite good. And no - for those who know my unco-ordination problems, I did not nearly kill someone with the boomerang (don't believe anything Greg says!!).

Then we headed up to Kuranda in the car and went down to the Barron Valley lookout and walk, which isn't too long but does give spectacular views. Wandered around Kuranda and Dee picked up some more gifts for people back home. Greg of course had to check out the Foodworks up there and see how it was going (typical!!). Drove from there down to Palm Cove and along the strip there, then into the centre of Cairns where we parked and then wandered the waterfront and the shops for a few hours.

Day 2 - off out on the reef for the day. Two sites on the outer reef for snorkelling and also a glass bottom boat trip - had a great time. Glad we didn't pay any extra to do diving though, as we were going as deep as the divers were just using our snorkels - all that swimming training and lung development finally paid off Mum! The most awesome weather, which was a bonus (although a number of other tourists left the boat later that day looking more like lobsters than those in the restaurant...crazy!).

Day 3 - we headed north to Cape Tribulation stopping off at Mossman Gorge for a paddle and again just before the Daintree River for lunch at an animal sanctuary where a little wallaby had been rescued and was being cared for - as you can see he was lovely and cuddly. Arrived at Cape Trib that afternoon and relaxed down at the beach. We stayed in backpacker accommodation in a mixed dorm with a guy from South Korea and a girl from Israel, so that was most interesting!