Happy New Year!!! (a little late but still..)

Alrighty then, now I think I've been keeping you on hold long enough about our happenings in the places I mentioned last time =)

Monday was spent at the lagoon in Cairns, just a lazy day swimming around

and on Tuesday our adventures began!

We set off around 8ish in the morning to join Cape Trib Connections on a day tour of the rainforest and Cape Tribulation.

The road was bumpy as hell and we were bouncing around at 100 km/h along Captain Cook Highway wondering if the roads in Oz hadn't seen better days a long, long time ago. A little later, our guide Kenny told us that the reason the roads are filled with small holes is to protect the wildlife – todays vehicles are so silent that animals thinking of crossing the road can't hear them coming until it's too late. Well, now the animals probably won't hear the cars coming because they've all gone deaf from the bloody noice...

Our first stop was Mossman Gorge where we had a lovely swim in the clear, cool mountain river, surrounded by the ancient rainforest. This rainforest is the oldest one in the world, the Amazon is only second oldest actually – but they have the same origin from when the landmasses were all connected, before Oz broke free so to speak, so a lot of the animals and plants you can see here are also present in their cousin forms in the Amazons.

We headed further on to the Daintree Mangrove Animal Sanctuary where we came aquaintanted with cassowaries, snakes, wallabys, birds, crocs and kangaroos – one of the asian girls in our group (we think she's korean, don't ask me why, we just do) let the wallaby out and didn't even apologize for it – the wallaby was caught and put safely back into the sanctuary – and some of us thought about throwing the girl to the five meter long crocodile Grumpy, that would have been a real high light I'd tell ya!

Here are some pics from the place:

Cassowary bird, Some other strange birds, Wallaby,

Kangaroo (this one's for emelie), Croc number 1, Croc number 2.

And here's a nice view from the Alexandra Lookout along the coast line.

Before the almost fatal accident that happened around noon, we took a stroll at the Jindbala Boardwalk. Kenny the guide was fab when it came to talking 'bout trees, he knew everything there ever was to know – alright, he does this every day but still – and he showed us trees that had been caught in a real time capsule, some of these species haven't changed in millions of years!
He was also so kind to point out the really big spiders which I really appreciated.. =) (but no worries, I survived!)

Now to the exciting near death experience! =D

After the boardwalk we headed towards Cape Trib to have lunch, when suddenly a huge tree fell down in front of us blocking the road!!!

well, to be frank, it didn't quite happen like that...

We didn't see it fall for example...
We arrived approximatly ten minutes after the tree-falling, and there were already five cars before us closer to the tree – but it was huge and it was indeed blocking the road! (but wouldn't it have been 'cool' to say the least, if it had fallen down just in front of us?)

Anyhow, we got out and me, with my logging experience from the paper factory back home, thought I might lift the tree up and toss it away – you know, it was much thinner than some of the logs I turn into splinter back home (although there I have a truck or a mechanical device as an aid..)..

I didn't toss it away – I took some pictures instead when the Hero with the chain saw came!

So we could continue our journey to Cape Trib and had a great pique nique by the sea (where you can't swim for all the stingers...).

The last thing we did before going to Port Douglas was to take a crocodile cruise down the Daintree River – here we spotted four crocodiles (one's named Scarface and is a bit more than four meters long), three weird birds and a tree snake. Not so bad!

In Port Douglas we were dropped off at Parrot Fish Lodge,

and my folks got a bit scared when we got in, as they thought this was the camp ground for all the dangerous people there ever was in the entire world =)

But after having a look at the brilliant blue room, with beds from the Olympic Village when Sydney had the Olympics, and having a go at the free barbie (ozzie for barbecue) and actually talking a bit to all these gangsters, they came round! =D

Here we have some of the 'bad' guys - Neil and Zak - take care mates, and see you around! =)

We had a blast in Port Douglas – especially on New Years! (this les parents don't want to be mentioned, by hey – all we did was to have a bit of fun!)

We were sooo tired that day – we spent some time on Four Mile Beach, but then a mini monsoon came along and cut our day by the sea a little short. An hour later people were actually swimming and taking baths in the sidewalks! And I'm not joking... The sidewalks, a little lower than the roads, were filled with water above knee level, cars parked there couldn't have their doors opened 'cause then there would be serious flooding =)

So everything was set for a perfect New Years Eve!...

Later on, the rain stopped and all that water disappeared surprisingly quick, so we were able to make it to our dinner reservations at Fins. Here we almost fell asleep.

But things were going to change!
After dinner we headed on to the irish pub (I think it's irish) and there we had a nice view of all the people and the splendid fire work show!

When the fire works stopped we ran into some local folks at the pub, and they started bringing in bottles and bottles of wine... =)
Apparently the wine was to celebrate my engagement to one of them, Andy, the guy in the hat on the right side in the picture of the three boys... Well the night was young, we were told, so we ended up on a bus home to Andy and his – to my outstanding surprise – wife, Marta, with their friends Melinda and her husband Graham. They lived far out... But what a lovely home! From here on, let's just say that we had a marvellous time – the gin/wine was good, mum took a dip in the pool (with Andy, and yeah, still in her clothes), we lost our wallet and dad happened to steal Grahams mobile phone... =)

We were back at Parrot Fish Lodge around 5.30am, and later that day we dried mum's clothes, got our wallet back and returned the phone to its owner. We also took a bus back to Cairns, and once in the bus we didn't quite know why we rushed back – the road was still as full of sharp turns as ever, with a lot of extra holes, we thought – or our heads thought really...

Now I only have one adventure to tell you guys about, then the week is pretty much over.

January 2, our heads still aching (let's just say that we didn't have to make a new years resolution about drinking less, it kind of sorted itself out if you know what I mean..), we hopped (or rather stepped very carefully) on a catamaran of Passions of Paradise for a day on the Great Barrier Reef.

We were going snorkelling!

and this is what we looked like;

We saw some nice fish but since we didn't have an under water camera all I could get was of the larger ones when they came to the surface – if you want the really colorful ones, google 'em! This is all you get from me.

The lunch buffet was well worth the money alone – this one is for all my dietary friends!
Sorry that I've already been eating some of it, it looked nicer before I tucked in but I was starving after splashing around in the ocean...

All and all, we had a great day!

So now we're just chilling out in Cairns, spending some more quality time by the lagoon, eating free food every night at the Woolshed and just melting away bit by bit – we absolutely love it! =)

Tomorrow we're flying to Ayers Rock – I'll tell you more about that later on, but for now – over and out.

(about bloody time she stopped ey?)

.