Tag Archives: Travel

Day Ten – Cairns to Cape Tribulation – Dreamy Daintree, Romantic Rainforest

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I woke up this morning extremely hungover and had to pack a lot of my stuff all up. I properly struggled but I managed it and went down to check out. I spent a good half an hour chatting to people and stuff before someone told me I had my stamp from the night before on my face. How embarrassing but oh well. It was nice cause Bill, Tom and Josh were on my trip so I knew some people and they’re so nice to me and really funny so I felt like I was just travelling with a few mates. We headed up north to the Daintree rainforest to Cape Tribulation.

On the way up there was a beautiful jungle/coastal drive which was so bizarre to have jungle meeting the ocean. It felt pretty incredible and also pretty sad because I’m sure many places on earth were like this before humans destroyed the areas. We went on a boat trip to see crocs and saw two at least 2.5m long which was pretty cool. After that we took a little walk in the rainforest. We didn’t see too much but it was still nice and just good to stretch the legs and have a chat. We then got taken to our accommodation. I stayed at the Cape Tribulation Beach House which was a hostel on the beach with dorms in little beach houses. It was pretty cool. We hung out by the pool for a while and went to the beach playing balls games.

We had heard that there was a lookout near but that we should instead go for a wander up some rocks. So Bill, Nadja, Carly, Ash, Danni and I all took a little hike down the beaches, through the rainforest and up some cliffs. When we got up there I was exhausted and sweaty and the hangover was taking its toll so I felt a little disappointed. But suddenly out of the blue (literally) we look down and see two turtles swimming together and then two little sharks appear with a bigger “mummy” shark in tow. It was so incredible. We were about 30m high but the water was so clear and fresh we could just see these animals cruising around.

The sun started to set so we headed back. I showered and changed quickly and decided to buy dinner as the hangover was making my tired and hazy. It was nice to sit by myself and have time to myself. I actually realised that although I am travelling alone I haven’t really been alone too much and I needed it. I didn’t even think cause I was too tired I just sat and relaxed. At around 9pm the hostel put on a beach BBQ down on the waterfront. I took a few beers and headed down.

It was pretty amazing. First we watched the moonrise which was so beautiful and something I’ve rarely seen. Then we just sat and chatted. There were two guys from Manchester, Harry and Jordan who worked and lived in the hostel. I got chatting to one of them and it just sounded so amazing. They really are living the dream, just living so remote with an incredible outdoor playground at their feet. It’s so hard not to view the rainforest through romantic eyes. It was a pretty breathtaking night and something I will remember for a long time.

Day Nine – Cairns – Relaxing Day

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Woke up to an empty room which made me feel sad. T, Tom and Ryan headed off into the rainforest for a night. I’m a bit gutted I didn’t book the same trip as them. I knew they were going but I felt like it was too soon so I booked mine for tomorrow.

I took a long time getting myself together enjoying having a room to myself. Then headed down to the lagoon where I met Krystale for a dip in the pool. We then met up with three Welsh guys she knew from the Whitsunday’s and decided to go to a free pool bar. One of the guys was from Slough so we had a lot to talk about. It was nice to do something a little different and play a few games of pool. After this I went to go buy some goon and some food for dinner.

I was a bit nervous about this night out cause it was a lot of different people who didn’t know each other and the main guys weren’t there. But it was actually a lot of fun! It’s so nice to have met fun girls cause most of the girls I’ve met have been very self aware and a little uptight. It was just a nice chilled day with good people.

Day Two – Osaka to Cairns – Hello, Goodbye Osaka

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The flight from Osaka was a glorious one. Three seats to myself, I made a bed and slept the whole way except when I was woken to be told that I had pre-paid for my food (I hadn’t) and was given one of the best airline meals to date complete with movenpick ice cream.

I arrived in Cairns bright and early at 5am and by 6am I was out in the terminal. The free airport shuttle didn’t start till 8am and the cheapskate in me decided to wait in the terminal for 2 hours. This seemed like a good opportunity to use the free airport showers to freshen up after two days of travelling in the same clothes. Only problem was there was no light in there and I conveniently forgot to put batteries in my head torch so with the use of an iPhone flashlight pointed to the ceiling I took an extremely nerve wracking shower.

Fresh from my shower it was now 7.45am so I sauntered outside only to be hit by tropical heat undoing all of the work I had just done in the shower. I lay down in the shade to await my shuttle bus.

So as I waited for 45mins for my bus I did my nails. I then got the the feeling a bus wasn’t going to come. So I walked over to domestics and surprise surprise a bus was there about to leave so I hopped on and took a short ride to my hostel. I was far too early to check in so I left my bag there and headed out. I started with some early morning shopping getting some apples from Cole’s and a beach towel from k-mart. From there I headed to the lagoon, lathered myself in sunscreen and checked out the famous lagoon Cairns has to offer. I spent the morning swimming and soaking up the rays before heading to the gallery cafe for some lunch. I chose the gallery because it was a place I had been to with my brother and his wife a few years back. It’s a little out of my price range but 3 days later and I still haven’t slept in a proper bed or had a proper meal so I thought I should treat myself.

By this point in the day I am starting flag and feel nauseous again so I headed to the hostel to check in. I made my bed, showered, re-sorted my stuff and got my head in order. There was only one other person in my dorm when I arrive and I only know this because his stuff was there. Instead of waiting around for more people to arrive, I decided to head down stairs and book a scuba diving day trip on the Great Barrier Reef. It’s expensive and I felt reluctant paying out but sometimes adventures cost. Actually, most of the time. Anyway I figured it would be a good way to meet people. After this I went back upstairs for another lay down before dinner.

I’d only lain on my bed for a couple of mins when the occupier of the bed came in, Owain, a rugby player from Wales spoke to him for a bit before another person arrived; a very excitable girl from Cambridge named Tasha. We got speaking and decided to go down to dinner together. Owain joined us after and introduced us to his friends Craig and Todd.

After a good steak we went upstairs and played ring of fire joined by three other girls the guys knew. I left pretty early because I decided to get an early one as I had to be up the next morning for diving.
It’s been a long day but a great start to my stay in Cairns.