Not as cozy as the Countrylink one but it got us where we needed to go. There were some Aussie men in the back that were the typical American stereotype of what an Aussie man would be like. Very loud, crude with a very thick accent. We could barely understand what they were saying except for the burping, laughing, coughing and gargling. Speaking of, it seems like everyone is sick since the whole ride there has always been at least one person with a phlegm rattling cough or snort.
We did meet a nice guy about 20 years old who just got a job working at the mines but has a month long holiday first and is just traveling around the east coast. He just got back from Airlie beach which is near the whitsunday islands and showed us some pictures. We think we saw a Crocodile as we were crossing this swampy area.
Unfortunately saw a little bit of Roo road kill :( Jeff saw some happily chilling in the shade though!
Up front they have a movie theater where they serve drinks and food and you can sit in little roundabout couches.
Our first night in Cairns we checked into our badass hostel Dreamtime Travellers Rest right across the street from the train station and hung out in the courtyard listening to different peoples accents. The hostel was very quiet yet friendly and open so you feel like you could talk to anyone. It didn't feel that way at the hostel in Byron so it was a nice change!
Spent the next day wandering around and booked out tour to the Great barrier Reef. Spent a little more on that than we had planned but we may not have the opportunity to do that again. Down by the ocean there aren't beaches its actually just a bunch of mud with birds hanging out but they have this sweet "lagoon" in a public park where you can go and swim. So a giant public pool, then a bike path (kind of like the greenbelt) and then the ocean. Pretty sweet! The Saturday market was so rad and they had really cool stuff so I got a cool bracelet and Jeff got a shark tooth necklace. Met two people from California who now live here and were very nice.
While waiting for our bus to Clifton Beach to stay with Carolyn and Jen this guy who was "piss drunk" started chatting with us. As odd as he was it was actually nice talking with him because he gave us a lot of info about the area during the bus ride. We got to Clifton and it was a beautiful place! A bunch of apartments and condos along a road with the ocean right there. There were signs on the beach that crocodiles MAY be present which had me a little freaked out. I just kept Imagining a giant croc shooting out of a wave and grabbing my leg then being taken out to see. I'm sure that happens ALL THE TIME. Just kidding. We had a BBQ at the apartments that night with sausages and kebabs and drank wine and beer out on the balcony :)
We woke up the next morning to the sound of the waves crashing and a bunch of birds making their sounds. One in particular sounded more like a woman screaming murder outside off and on all night. We drove up to Port Douglas first to check out a local market which was pretty sweet! It's hard not to buy everything in sight here sometimes. There were leaves on the ground so it reminded me of fall in Boise. After that we went to a lookout point and then onward to Daintree Rainforest.
We had to drive onto this ferry to cross the Daintree River which was fun thinking about all the crocs swimming around below and the ferry randomly cracking down the middle so all the cars roll in and we all get torn to shreds! But we survived and continued on to this roadside cafe for coffee. We decided not to go for any of the advertised specials for Kangaroo, Emu or Crocodile burgers. Maybe another time. We made it up to Cape Tribulation which is the farthest north you can drive without needing 4WD in the Daintree and walked around on the beaches there. There are signs that say not to swim because of the jellyfish and crocs so we just took photos of the gorgeous scenery and picked up some seashells. Oh, and there are these mysterious birds called Cassowaries that have these helmet looking things on top of their heads that supposedly run around a lot in the rainforest so there were signs everywhere showing a picture of a Cassowary with "next 2 km" under it. Just like you'd see the "deer crossing" signs back at home on the highways. We never did see one though. It felt like Jurassic Park when they're waiting for the TRex.
On the way back down through the rainforest we stopped at Cow Bay and walked around on that beach as well and took a lot of photos. We had homemade ice cream at this little roadside place (chocolate hazelnut and macadamia coconut) and crossed the river on the Ferry again where we booked our Daintree River Croc tour! Out on the boat on the river we saw a big croc sunbathing on the edge of the beach and got up pretty close for photos! ...Sidenote: we posted one of the photos on Facebook with a joking caption that we had camped on a beach and woke up with that croc on the beach near us which caused quite the stir! I spent my 15 minutes of paid Internet left just explaining to everyone who had wrote us that it was a joke. Sorry for the scare!... We also saw a teenage croc poking its eyes and nose out of the water and then found a nest with a bunch of baby crocs! Successful day seeing the Daintree area I muse say. Also, listened a lot to this australian band called Boy and Bear during the drive I'd recommend listening to! Very good stuff.
Yesterday we hopped on a boat to set out for the Great Barrier Reef and Green Island. Our crew was great and they gave us coffee and muffins as we went across the ocean all laying out watching the sky light up. The music was perfect and it felt so good to be out there! I was surprised how far away the reef is from the island when we got there. They tie up to a buoy and we all put on our wet suits, flippers and masks and jumped into the open ocean! I had the same feeling as when I went bungee jumping a long time ago. Scared out of my mind but just didn't let myself think about it and went for it! The wet suits were very buoyant so you just float around with your face in the water looking at the beautiful colorful underwater world beneath. We saw lots of living coral, fish, a sea turtle (my favorite), held a sea cucumber, saw GIANT clams (kind of like the ones in super Mario 64 in the underwater scenes) and reef sharks. The island was pretty small we just walked around the edge looking at all the neat shells and taking photos. They have the 2nd largest croc in captivity in the world on the island which was neat to see but kind of sad how little room it had to live in... The boat ride back we turned off the motor and sailed the whole way which was the scariest part of the experience in my opinion. The boat was tilted so far to one side I was sure that it was going to just go completely over and we would all get slowly eaten by sharks. At some point I relaxed and enjoyed it though and can now say I've been sailing!
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