About an hours drive north of Cairns is Port Douglas our next destination and the meeting point of Maz's family.
We had organized our hostel to pick us up from Cairns, and when we arrived in port douglas it looked like quite a nice place, a little tropical oasis. Our accommodation for the stay is in one of their stylie tents. A normal tent but with a fake wood/Lino floor and 2 beds. But its cheap and We like it, and the air freshner covers the mould smell.
With so much time to kill we've chilled at the beach, you can go in the sea as its not jelly fish season, however there are croc's, apparently they don't like waves so we should be okay.
With Maz's brother coming to do his open water course we thought we'd check out the great barrier reef just to make sure there's nothing too dangerous in the water, we only spotted 3 sharks out in the blue so can safely say its pretty spectacular and were looking forward to going out with him, plus it gets us closer to the Divemaster course were interested in doing.
We're glad we get to do so many dives on the barrier reef, with the camera a to play with we got some amazing pictures and we got 3 different dives out of it. The drift dive was pretty amazing we had to jump off the boat whilst it was moving, as in driving forwards not just being pushed about by the waves. Once under the water we drifted along with the current to the point where the boat parks. Each dive was teaming with life, some huge fish as well, with barracudas waiting to strike, hump head parrot fish coming out to meet us, the sharks stayed in the distance though, camera shy we suspect.
We're looking forward to more dives and more hammock chilling in the sun, can't get any better
When Maz's parents, Linda and Bruce and brother Paul arrived we took them to the rattle and hum, a crazy bar where you order your food and then get giving a buzzer and have to collect it yourself, needless to say we all got excited when it went off. It was nice catching up, swapping stories of our travels, they're recent adventure in Sydney and amusing stories from back home.
We spent the next few days chilling out, wether it be in there apartment or by the pool or at the beach. We spent the evenings talking it in turns cooking meals and playing multiple card games.
Paul spent a day doing the confined part of the open water course, we were excited as this meant more diving for us as we'd organized it so that we would dive with him. The second days dive we were joined by linda and bruce on a snorkeling trip, they really enjoyed it, as seeing the Great Barrier Reef was on the list of activities to do in Australia.
We even managed to sneak in a 3rd dive, the captain arrived early to each spot, we had to be out of the water by 1430 as that was our flight cut off limit, we were jumping in the water at 1315. Had this not been the case Maz wouldn't of had a flowery cod between her legs.
We also took a day trip to Daintree national park, a rainforest that can be dated back to the creation of the earth. As we were guided through the rainforest we were taught loads about the different plant life, especially which ones to avoid, like the big furry heart shaped leaves, if you touch then the hairs get embedded into your skin and cause horrible pain that can last for years. We also took a boat trip down the river to go croc spotting. Whilst the giant of the river remained elusive we did spot lots of baby crocs, only a few months old and a teenager at about 2 meters long, luckily he stayed well clear of the boat! We finished the day with some ice cream. We stopped at a farm where they make the ice cream fresh from what ever fruits are in season, we got to try 3 flavours including macadamia nut.