Port Douglas and Cape Trib

Hey everyone!

So my adventures in OZ have come to an end and i leave for New Zealand tomorrow morning at 5am. I'm so excited to goet to NZ, but i cant believe how quickly the past 6-7 weeks have gone, and that my time in Australia is actually over.

Nonetheless, here's a recap of my final few days down under...

I left Cairns early on Saturday morning for Port Douglas. Port Douglas (called simply Port by the locals) is about an hour north of Cairns and is renouned for its Sheraton Mirage 5* hotel which boasts the biggest swimming pool in the southern hemisphere. I was not staying here (obviously, at $500 a night) but at Dougies Backpackers, which has been one of my favourite hostels in australia - really chilled out place. ANyway, Port has a population of 4000 locals and they cated for 14,000 tourists every year. It is a beautiful town, with a 4 mile beach which boasts some of the best views in Oz, and quick access to the reef. I did not go diving again (although i really wanted to) as this is a really upmarket town and i could not afford the prices. Instead, i spent my 2 days here walking around the town, sunbathing and lying in the hammocks at the hammocks at the hostel reading my book. So, not a very exciting place, but very relaxing all the same.

From Port i went to Cape Tribulation (the rainforest) and the Daintree. On the way to Cape Trib we stopped off at an animal sanctuary where we saw some crocs which was quite cool as i hadnt seen any in oz yet! We also went to Mossman Gorge which is beautiful fresh water swimming area surrounded by rainforest. It was so refreshing swimming here - i didnt want to leave! We then went for a walk through the rainforest where our guide bored us to death with his talk on trees and soil...i really was not interested at all! but the scenery was lovely.

From here we got taken to our hostel. The hostel was actualyl in the middle of the rainforest, with each dowm being build around the trees! I met some great people here and we all chilled out by the bar at night. The hostel was really quiet and everything kinda shut down at 10pm. This didnt bother met because i was getteing up early the next day to go Jungle Surfing. This is basically huge ziplines through the rainforest, and you have a harness on, and you go flying through the trees. This was so much fun (especially when they made us fly updside down, down one of the zip lines) and only slightly scary .

In the afternoon, me and Julia (a girl i met in Port) went for a walk to a watering hole to go swimming. It took us over an hour to get there in teh 35 degree heat - we were not happy...but the swimming made up for it. Luckily, we managed to hitch a ride on the way back because we were not looking forward to that journey back to the hostel!

We got picked up by the tour bus the next day at around 1pm and we were taken on a river cruise on the Daintree river to spot some crocs..we saw some, but they were quite far away so not too dangerous. We then went a tasted some random aussie fruits and ice cream before heading back to Cairns.

Last night a bunch of us all went out for dinner and then some drinks in the city centre which was fun.

Thats about it
Next time i update this, it will be from NZ!!

Keep in touch everyone
love danielle xxxxxxxxxxx