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We've had a great few days in and around the Port Douglas area. On our first full day we visited beautiful Mossman gorge slightly north of the campsite we are staying in. We did some walks through the rainforest and met our first aborigine! There was a massive waterfall and rapids flowing through the middle of the gorge which was amazing. Afterwards we hit the beach in Port Douglas - as it is stinger season we can only swim in designated zones with stinger nets (until we reach brisbane area) so where we went was limited by this. We were on the Four Mile beach which does exactly what it says on the tin - water was amazingly warm - 29 degrees! It was like a bath.
Next day (Wed) we drove up to Cape Tribulation. Was an interesting journey as we seemed to get there just as the morning storm was passing through the rainforest - negotiating the mountainous roads in a giant van was tricky but Chris did a great job!! We had to cross over the river Daintree on a ferry as well - kept our eyes peeled for crocs but didn't see any thankfully! We got to Cape Trib beach at the far northern end which was very 'Lost-esque' - amazing rainforest virtually touching the water - a bit of a shame that we couldn't swim again BUT we were relieved that we didn't get in when we realised what it was everyone was looking at from the beach - sharks and stingrays coming right up to the beach!! we saw several of both which was great. Also in this area we walked up Myall beach and Cow bay - both beautiful. Back up to the Mount Alexandra(!) viewpoint we had a good view of the surrounding region.
Yesterday we went out on the 'Aristocat' catamaran for a spot of snorkelling on the Great Barrier Reef - truly incredible - we were taken to three different sites on the reef system. On the first site the wind and currents were rather strong so it made snorkelling a little difficult, we did however see a white tipped reef shark! arghhh! surprisingly not scary at the time although quite a strange feeling! Second site we enjoyed much more - i was lucky to see a ray and we got to see Nemos as well as loads of other colourful fish. Our third and final stop was incredible - we were taken on a skind of snorkelling tour when our guide Erin pointed out a number of different fish - we saw a turtle which was great, another shark swam about 1m under us, loads of nemo, dori, parrot fish.....we even saw a giant clam which Erin put her arm into to show us how it closes - it was about 1m wide! Think was probably best day out so far!
Heading south for the first time today - down towards Cairns for a flying visit before going further south.
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