For the Easter break, I rode up to Cairns for five days. I heard the place is exotic with a plethora of activities a tourist can do so I packed my bags and went north. Cairns is around 3.5 hours from Townsville and accessible by bus if you cannot find an Aussie heading up there for the weekend. I stayed in a hostel with an American friend for the first few nights and we elected to do a day tour up to Cape Tribulation to check out where the rainforest meets the Great Barrier Reef. First stops were look outs at Port Douglass:
Pretty amazing scenery and as always beautiful weather! Next was a lookout at Rocky Point another scenic location and let's just say I was not prepared for the photo/staring straight into the sun:
We had an outing at an animal sanctuary before we drove the last leg up to Cape Trib where we clowned on some kangaroos and other endemic Australian fauna. This is the second zoo I have been to in Australia so first thoughts were: napping > seeing pissed off animals. On the contrary, after deciding against the nap I had a splendid time walking around the sanctuary filled with colorful birds and I had the opportunity to feed this little joey:
Oh! and I did not know Natalie Portman was going to be there:
Finally making it up to Cape Tribulation, I can tell you that it is truly a breath-taking place. As we drove on through the Daintree rainforest I couldn't believe some of the trees and plants that are in there. Some of the world's rarest and diverse flora and fauna at your fingertips. As we approached the beach, I began to understand why the slogan "where the rainforest meets the great barrier reef" is used so often:
As some of the tour scheduled other activities to do, I had time to burn before we had to return back to Cairns. The tour guide offered to take the remaining tourists (two Welsh, a German, and myself) to a local creek to have ourselves a swim. I could not envision myself a few years ago imagining that I would be swimming in a creek located in a rainforest in Australia with a couple of internationals and an Aussie tour guide. After conversing with the Welsh couple, I learned of that they have been traveling the world for nearly 6 months and plan to spend a few more months traveling Asia after Australia. Unreal. I can relate though because this traveling thing...yeah it sure is addicting.
After a safe journey back to the hostel, I rendezvous'ed with a couple of Canadian girls I met when I was in Melbourne and dare I say that they are Vancouver fans! GO BRUINS. Nevertheless, we spent the night parading around on a partybus crawling from pub to pub with around 200 people. Pretty wild time and the company that sponsored the event provided cheap deals everywhere and coupons for the next night--well worth the experience. As I retired in the hostel, I had to mentally prepare for the next day for the thrill-seeking activities I had in store.
Next up: The most adventurous day of my life.
So tune in for the next blog and I promise it won't take a month to write. Thanks for reading!
That's a big 10-4,
-Alex
