Cairns

7-11 February 2010

Arrived in Brisbane for our connecting flight to Cairns and were greeted by a sky so overcast we thought for a moment that we'd flown back to Yorkshire by mistake! Luckily, Cairns did not let us down though and we had four days of glorious sunshine and just one of rain (which, fittingly, we spent in the rainforest)! Booked onto a trip called "On the Wallaby" and had an incredible day driving around the Atherton Tablelands with Cousin Brad, our enthusiastic and quirky tour guide. Drove south out of Cairns across the Great Dividing Range along a winding road with more than 260 consecutive corners and stopped for two walks in the rainforest, during which we saw the Cathedral Fig Tree and spotted a green tree dragon, an enormous cicada and a musky rat-kangaroo (no, I had never heard of one either)!

No sooner had we stopped at Lake Eacham - a crater lake surrounded by thick forest - for lunch than the heavens opened. So it was in the middle of a tropical thunder storm that we had our first swim of the afternoon.

Our next stop was Millaa Millaa - Aborginal for 'lots of water' - the 40m waterfall which was the location for both the Timotei adverts and Peter Andre's Mysterious Girl video. True Brits that we are, we refused to be deterred by a sprinkling of rain and went for a swim before perfecting the ultimate Timotei imitation photo.

The final stop of the day (not counting an unsuccessful platypus hunt) was Dinner Falls (by this point the weather was positively miserable) where we had out final dip of the day...and came out covered in leeches! Yuk! Afterwards, we drove back to Cairns along the same narrow, winding road, now in the pitch black, singing old songs at the top of our lungs and dancing in our seats the whole way.

The next day was our boat trip out to the Great Barrier Reef. Chose a boat which which promised to visit spots unfrequented by any other tour (it was that which sold it and not the 'smorgasbord lunch', i promise!) and it was definitely worth it. A marine expert took us out for the first snorkel of the day, pointing out giant clams, sea slugs and bat fish. However, it was the second spot which made it for me - Vlassof Caye, a tiny sand isle surrounded by crystal clear blue waters. You could stand in the middle of it, do a 360 degree turn and see nothing but ocean on the horizon in any direction. Paradise. The snorkelling was better here too - the waters were clearer and the huge clusters of coral were literally brimming with life. We swam through huge shoals of fish, so close we could touch them, and had fun "finding Nemo". A perfect afternoon.

Since we had a hectic first few days in Australia, we spent our final day here just wandering around and relaxing. Cairns isn't what I expected - it feels more like a purpose buillt tourist town than a city. There is a sense of newness to it; it is clean, quiet and feels unlived-in somehow. But perhaps that it because it is low season at the moment? I like it though. It is relaxed and attrative, with neat grids stretching back from the Esplanade, wide tree-lined avenues and long, low buildings shaded by their wooden awnings.