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The tour bus came early in the morning and we headed north of Cairns to Cape Tribulation - A very large Rainforest. We were taken on a tour by our guide and he discussed the dangerous plants and trees to avoid. The "stinger" and the "wait a while" (or creeping Mary). The stinger plant, looks just like nettles we have in England, however if you touch one or it wipes against your flesh it releases thousands of tiny needles that imbed in your skin and the only way (and safest) to remove them is by wax strips (not good if you're a guy). However, each of the needles contain hundreds and hundreds of toxins that get released into your body and its meant to be tremendously painful. This pain can last up to a year. Our guide was telling us that one tourist put her hand on one (accidentally) and she was in so much pain, this pain continued for months and whenever she put her hand in water (being hot or cold) the severe pain would come back and it would feel as bad as when the needles first went in. When walking through forests or grassy lands I am constantly looking everywhere for the beast of a plant! The "wait a while" are tree branches with thousands of thorns and if you just brush past them they latch on you and they are incredibly difficult to remove, if you move another of the branches may latch onto you and you have to "wait a while" before getting free. (so there we go a little bit information of the annoyances in the rainforest).
We later headed on a crocodile cruise, the boat was pretty narrow and if one had been below us it wouldn't have taken much for us to be pushed into the water. I have a few photos of the crocs on the bank. Because I zoomed in on one and took a photo, my mom thought I was right beside it when I took the pic (I'm not too afraid of the wildlife here.. but I'm not that crazy)
In the afternoon we were each taken to our Hostels. Where I was staying was called the Beach house. There were lovely cabins in the Rainforest and it was about a 5 minute walk onto a secluded beach. I met some great people and on the evening a few people made a camp fire and we sat on the beach and chilled.. Until.. The heavens opened!! The Rainforest certainly lived up to its name! I decided to head back, and it was a lonely walk up to the cabin. There were lights dotted around the windy path but they needn't have been on, they gave off barely any light. I could hear the rainforest coming to life. Right in front of me I could make out the silhouette of a toad.. and by golly was it big! I made a dash for it as I was pretty sure it was a cane toad (and they're poisonous) I could still hear it ribbeting behind me. (I take back the comment about not being afraid of much in oz).
Cape Tribulation was amazing, but I didn't appreciate it quite as much as I should have, as I felt absolutely dreadful. The scuba dive had really affected my ears, in turn caused my balance to be all over the place. I was constantly feeling drunk; spins included! It took a good 2 days to feel normal again, so that meant I was wavering again in Port Douglas, which was our next stop after Cape Trib, but it was a really lovely place, very picturesque.
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