Australia pt 2: the Great Barrier Reef and the Daintree Rainforest

 We flew up from Sydney and landed in Cairns in the afternoon. We were staying in the city for a few days to do some exciting activities before heading out on another roadtrip. We checked out the night market on that first night, which was smaller than we thought, but we got some dessert. 

The second day we went for breakfast and then spent most of the day by the pool or going to the supermarket. We sorted out all our admin, I wrote up the Sydney blog, and we just caught up a little bit. 

Cairns is a small, but interesting town, made up of tourists, workers and indigenous people, many of whom seemed to make up the poorest members of the community. 

The second day in Cairns, we caught the scenic railway to Kuranda. It's a two hour journey on an old heritage carriage which goes through the rainforest and waterfalls. 

At the end of this journey, we reached the town of Kuranda which has plenty of markets, shops, cafes and a few wildlife centres. It was very busy when we first got off the train with the 300 other visitors, but once we'd made our way through the town it was a lot better. 

We tasted some mango wine, and found the heritage markets which were nestled in the forest. We got some lunch here and then went to visit the koala centre where we saw wombats and hand fed wallabies.

 We looked in a few more market stalls, but by then it was time to start heading back to the train for two hours down the mountain. 

The next day, we were up early to get on a boat heading out to the Great Barrier Reef! We did an introduction scuba session and got to see lots of fish, including some jellyfish, and then after lunch we did some snorkelling at a different location. We had a bit more time and freedom doing the snorkelling as it wasn't supervised, but I enjoyed it and would do it again (as long as it's in warm waters).

That took most of the day, but we did head to the shops again to stock up on supplies for the next few days. We picked up a car on Good Friday and then were off into the Daintree Rainforest for the weekend. We drove for about an hour until we got to Mossman Grove. We ate our lunch and then got the shuttle bus to the gorge where we walked along some paths and had a little paddle in the water. 

Mitchell found a lizard

It was then onwards to find our accommodation. We were staying at a glamping site, really in the middle of the woods. We had to duck and swerve around vines and spiderwebs to get to the toilets from our cabin. It rained that evening, but the trees are so thick you can walk about without getting too wet. 

On the river ferry crossing

In the morning, the rain stopped after breakfast and we set out for the day. We went to the Daintree discovery centre where we did the aerial walkway and learnt a lot about the rainforest. In the afternoon we went to Cow Bay Beach and enjoyed the warm weather. On the way back we stopped for some ice-cream too (I got black sapote and Mitchell got honey almond). 

Our camp had a little cafe, so we were able to have a good breakfast every morning and we switched between buying and making dinner in the communal kitchen. One morning, there was a male cassowary and his chick eating their breakfast just behind the main building and we all went to go and see. 

Our second day in the rainforest, we drove up to Cape Tribulation and did some boardwalks. There were signs on lots of them telling you to watch out for crocodiles! We did also see a cassowary try to cross the road just ahead of us. 

Bats hanging out in the trees

We reached the last one and after a short walk to the lookout, it lead to the beach where we sat for a while with our lunch and our books. There were lots of mangrove trees here and more warnings about staying out of the water because of crocodiles and jellyfish. 

After all our walking, we went to another spot for ice-cream (I had chai choc chip and Mitchell had banana cinnamon) which was very cute and under the trees. 

We went back to Cow Beach Bay for sunset and then enjoyed our last night in the forest. In the morning it was back to the airport to catch our flight to the next country!

Australia was incredible and I can't wait to go back to explore more. Perth and the outback are next on my list now that some of the essentials have been ticked off! 

Lots of love,
Emily and Mitchell
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