Rainforests, Reefs and Rafting

We’re in the adventure capital of Australia, Cairns! A bit of a boring place on its own, but lots of fun things to do outside of it. 

Another exciting bus adventure awaited from Airlie Beach. Well actually, the journey was fine, but the drivers were not. I think the further north you go in Australia, the less friendly people are, and the more “backwards” they are. We were treated to shouting, racism and sexism from both drivers. It appears this is standard practice in these parts which is really sad. 

But we arrived for a long stop over in Cairns, the town with not much to do in itself, but plenty of day trips to go on. I had a trio of trips that I wanted to do here: the Daintree rainforest; the Great Barrier Reef; and white water rafting.

First up was the Daintree, the oldest rainforest in the world. You’ve probably not heard of it as it’s pretty small. We were treated to walks through the rainforest and a crocodile river cruise. You really shouldn’t be in the water here though as we were warned by our very enthusiastic tour guide. You might have seen this in the news recently: Link. This happened in the same area. Stay out of the water!

Next up, the Great Barrier Reef. The snorkelling adventure was very well run and it was a great day out, but you can’t help but feel sad about the dead or bleached coral. It’s very obvious when you compare what I saw in Fiji. I didn’t take any photos while snorkelling so hopped on a submarine boat after to take some. 

Finally, something I’ve wanted to do for a long time, White water rafting. This was in the Tully river, where they can control the water flow from the nearby power station, meaning you have perfect conditions all the time. It was great fun and I never unintentionally fell out once!

Now it’s onto the final stop of the east coast, Magnetic Island.