Cairns

Got back down to Cairns and it bloody rained for almost a week. Just our luck. Although it was much warmer than the tablelands. On the good days we headed to the beach, when the weather wasn't so good we lazed about in the van or went to the shops. A couple of the afternoons we headed to Palm Cove to sunbathe and fish off the pier and Willie caught 2 reef sharks, a hammerhead shark and a sea snake. Very exciting. We also bought didgeridoos to amuse ourselves. Great fun although they are quite difficult to play. Willie has been practising though and is getting some good sounds out of it.

The weather finally brightened up a bit towards the end of the week so we went up to Kuranda on the Kuranda scenic rail. A beautiful train journey up through the rainforest and mountains passed waterfalls and through tunnels. Kuranda is quite a snall town but has loads to do. We went to the heritage markets and then to the Venom Zoo which was awesome, We got a guided tour of some of Australia's most venemous creatures - spiders, scorpions and snakes. It was fascinating. We now know that in one drop of venom from the Tai Pan can kill 250 000mice. Mental!!! We also had a look round the shops and while in the jewellers William bought me the most beautiful pink diamond ring. It's gorgeous. We got the skyrail back down to Cairns which is a cablecar ride over the tropical rainforest mountains with views out to the ocean. It was great to do but about halfway through the journey it got drizzly rain so couldn't see a great deal until we got further down nearer the coast. Well worth doin though.

Eventuall got out on the a reef trip and it was definately worth waiting for. We went with a smallish company and the crew were great. We went out to hastings reef to two different reef sites. It was a beautiful calm day and on the way out we seen whales near the boat. Wow. Amazing sight. They were blowing water from their blowholes and there was also a baby whale. We snorkelled aat both the sites which is a truly amazing experience. The colours and the fish were like nothing we have ever seen before.. We were swimming through shoals of all different sizes and colours of fish. We didn't find Nemo though but we did have a fantastic day out.

After doing the reef trip we decided to head inland, not wanting to go south as it was still quite cold. So we decided to do a trip along the Savannah Way towards Normanton and take it from there.