Far North Queensland

Having arrived in Cairns we had a few days of luxury in an apartment. Cairns is a very nice city well laid out in grid lined streets, but even I lost my bearings once or twice. As there isn't much of a beach, there is a man-made lagoon which was very much appreciated for swimming.

After a couple of days of sightseeing we picked up 'Vicky 2' our second campervan and headed north to Cape Tribulation, stopping off at Trinity Beach and Palm Cove on the way, beautiful palm fringed, white sand beaches but because of the deadly stinger jellyfish (some only the size of one's little finger nail), you have to swim where there are stinger nets. Moving on through the Daintree Rainforest to Cape Tribulation and crossing the Daintree River on a ferry, we passed sugar and tea plantations and the dense forest and mangrove swamps which come right down to sea level.

We camped at Myall Beach near to the Cape and managed to eat some fresh coconut which had dropped off the palm trees on to the beach. Felt like Robinson Crusoe! Cape Tribulation was so called by Captain Cook when his ship the Endeavour nearly floundered here in 1770. He went on to find a natural harbour further north which he called Cooktown. We walked through the mangrove swamps to the Noah river outlet, lots of vines and rich tropical flora.

On our return from the Cape, we headed for Mossman Gorge and had a very invigorating cool swim (coldest water yet) in the waterfalls - along with some very large jungle perch fish! The day ended at Port Douglas, a very upmarket resort and home for Australian TV stars. From here we set sail for the Great Barrier Reef, to the Agincourt reef which is part of the outer reef, on the edge of the continental shelf. We visited three reef sites and snorkelled at each one wearing our stinger suits. Wow! We saw amazing coral formations, nemos (anemone fish), butterfly fish, angel fish, parrot fish, pretty blue fish and some called many spotted sweet lips! Best of all though were the giant purple clams and the reef shark which swam right below us! What a fantastic day.

We are now back in Cairns having stopped off at Kuranda on the way. Tomorrow we head south for Mission Beach and Dunk Island. Watch this space!!