G: Megablog

Hostel, 26^th, 4pm. Not sure if I’ve mentioned what dinner was. Guests can get a token from reception each afternoon to get a free meal, or use the kitchen

 We went to sleep really early yesterday. I didn’t have a very good night, though I got enough rest. I found that I’d half wake and figures from my dream would appear to be in the room. We got up in time for ‘breakfast’ which was a basket of fruit and a bag of bread. There’s a kitchen here, so guests can prepare other food for themselves if they want. I had an apple, Aiden had plain toast. I don’t need more than that, but Aiden wants to get some jam or something (if he remembers to).

We went on the computer and Aiden transferred some money to the cashcard account, that will clear in 3-4 days, and checked the Greyhound schedule. It didn’t look very encouraging, so we’re going to stop by the station when we go into town, to get our proper passes and book our first journey. I opened some email from my parents, and that made me tear up. It was quite hard to read and reply, I’m even welling up now, because of the emotional realisation of the distance. I look forward to the first Skype call on Monday.

Aiden needed more sustenance, so we went to Subway and he got a small sandwich. We went across to the post office, and I managed to finally get a scrapbook.

We hung about in our room. Aiden went through our videos and pictures, and I stuck in the stuff I’d saved for the scrapbook. At 11.30 we then went down to meet Chris. He had said he was coming with is but for various reasons he didn’t. We got driven the 3 minute drive to the botanical gardens, and Chris pointed us the direction of a boardwalk to start with. This was quite pleasant. It wasn’t raining, and we walked through thick swamp, as well as past a lake.

We went around the gardens, which obviously beat the Cambridge ones, with lots of tropical flora, and leaves the length of a man. It started raining. At the edge of it we found the start of a hill walk Chris had said would be good to do. I was hesitant and unsure I wanted to do it, but Aiden persuaded me. We walked uphill past a small stream and gradually came to steps. It was hard work, and the rain continued.

At the top was a viewpoint, looking over the runway, which was quite nice, and kind of worth the walk up there. As we stood there, the rain started to come down even harder, and the mist increased enough to cover the view. Aiden pointed out that if we had arrived later than we did, we might not have even known the airport was there. He also pointed out that if such a vantage point was situated near an English airport, it would have no access whatsoever, because of the potential for an attack.

The rain continued really hard – the beating down type of rain that we get occasionally in England that wears off after five minutes – and we started down the other side of the path. We were drenched at this point; I had my coat on, but Aiden had only his t-shirt. Our shoes will not dry out for days. Each step was puddled, and the little stream we had passed was now 5 times as big, pelting down the hillside. Most of our conversation was based on these facts.

We had almost got to the end when we saw that we would have wade through a flooded part of the path up to our ankles, about 4 foot across. This was quite amusing. However, I was far from amused when we went further along and found that 10 foot of knee deep water lay between us and the rest of the path, including a stretch through a new running tributary of the flooded stream. It was horrible, especially being tugged by the current – we had to take shuffling baby steps to avoid going over.

We finally made it back to the gardens, and used a payphone to ring Chris, who sent the minibus out to us. We waited in the rain for about 20 minutes, then went down the road looking for the bus, then came back and waited a bit longer. We eventually rang again, and Chris said the guy couldn’t find us. We waited around for a further 20 minutes, then gave up and started the walk back, which we had been told was fifteen minutes. We had wanted the bus to get out of the wet and relax after so much walking already. Of course, 5 minutes in, we saw the bus and hailed it, to be brought back. Aiden told our story to Chris, who as lovely enough to give us towels for free, when normally they are $5 to rent.

Hostel, 27^th, 8pm. Dinner was a horrible straugonaff , so Aiden had steak instead, for an extra $5. I was zonked, so I literally just went to bed then. Aiden downloaded something to watch, then watched it, apparently.

Have I mentioned the rain? It has not really stopped since we got to Cairns. It was worst on the hill, but it has a real effect. We have adapted very quickly, so we don’t really notice. My Northface trousers, turned into shorts with a handy zip, are perfect – the denim ones not so much. And I am glad I brought the coat, if only it covers my bumbag. My other bag is not faring so well. It’s alright in light fall, but anything heavier, and everything inside gets damp.

Apart from the rain, one of the other things on my mind is my bug bites. I got one on my face in Singapore, and in Oz so far, I have a good twenty on my legs, including the back of my knees. It’s so hard not to scratch!

So today, we were up at 6.30am, to get picked up for our Cape Tribulation tour at 7.30am. A lovely guy called Billy was in charge, our first Aussie that we have spoken to more than over a counter. He found out where everyone was from when he picked them, so he was able to introduce everyone to everyone. We were all English, except a Canadian and a Scot, about 15 of us on an ancient minibus.

We were about half way through the pickups, so there were already people on the bus, but a few more to pick up. After the last person, Billy drove us to give a guy called Jeremy our levy, then we were off. He gave us a rundown of the day, and then talked us through the 2 hours journey with information and history of the animals and area, which I found very interesting. He did it in a funny and charismatic way.

We took a picturesque coastal road from Palm Cove to Port Douglas called the Captain Cook Highway, and stopped at Mossman Gorge, a site I think on the Daintree River that is special to the Kuku Yalanji Aborigines. It’s sort of the start of the rainforest, and there was a boardwalk and a path that looped back to the carpark.

Billy told us about some of the plants along the way, and there was a lookout over the river, plus a swing bridge. By this point Aiden and I had pseudo-friended the Canadian girl, a 23yrold on a 6 month trip around the world. This was the place that people could go swimming in the winter, but because the river was very high and fast (rainfall), we were not able to. Aiden is worried that we have been here for a week, and not swum. We saw a forest dragon (small lizard) up close on a tree.

We got back on the bus and went to Gill and Donna’s Crocodile Farm, or the Daintree Zoo. We walked around the small number of enclosures, and saw some large saltwater crocs, and a cassowary (bird like an emu with a big triangular bone on its head and a blue wattle), as well as a very friendly emu and some smaller animals, including two types of kookaburra. We then got a well-wanted cup of tea (included) with some biscuits, and we got to know Karen (the Canadian) a little better. Aiden had a big burger, which cost extra.

The road at this point went right through the rainforest, so it was uphill sometimes, quite bumpy and twisty, and very flooded at a lot of points. There were even a few minor landslides.

To be continued...