Well, it's not called 'rainforest' for nothing... And it's not in an area known as the 'wet' tropics without good cause, so I suppose we shouldn't be too surprised that the rain came back. It started just as we began packing up this morning, and rained constantly, right up until... you guessed it, until we finished packing up. We drive off our site, and the rain stops...Typical!

We headed north again... Well, actually, this morning I didn't turn on the GPS, because sometimes I just don't like the sound of her voice, and for the first 20 minutes, Jo had me going the wrong way... However, it wasn't long before my keen sense of direction, and radar like intuition knew something was amiss, and I turned us around and had us going the right way again. It was early in the day, and we had lots of time to travel only 300km, so I didn't even get cranky pants at her... We drove straight to the local markets, which I'd agreed to yesterday, but unfortunately, due to the bad weather, most of the stalls hadn't turned up and were empty. This was good news. It meant there was not alot of time wasted wandering around looking at other peoples junk, and we only parted with a little bit of money on half a cake and a jar of tomato chutney... A shame for the organisers though.

We continued on, and came to our second stop of the day, at a rainforest walk called Josephine Falls. This was spectacular, and the rainforest environment was absolutely pristine. There was no sense of the destruction caused by Yasi here. The rain had brought out all the colours (there's only green) of the forest, and all the streams and creeks were running with crystal clear water. The river which created the falls was pounding, and the views were awesome. When the river's not so full, it's a very popular picnic and swimming spot, but you wouldn't have lasted a second in it today, it would have swept you off your feet and smashed you against the rocks... Dead!! An absolutely beautiful spot, different to palm valley, but just as special and just as ancient... The rainforest in these areas (and the Daintree) is the oldest rainforest on the planet, and breathtakingly stunning to look at.

About 11km north of Josephine Falls is a little town called Babinda. 7km out of Babinda, is another rainforest walk and picnic spot called The Boulders. We stopped here for an early lunch, and another walk. The same sort of walkway, through the same rainforest vegetation, but beside a very different river... This river began with a series of nice, wide, shallow swimming holes, where the current was flowing, but not very swiftly. As the river flowed downstream, it got narrower and deeper and much, much faster. It then plunged down a sequence of large and deep gorges, waterfalls and turbulent pools as it descended through the valley. The force of the water has eroded the rocks it passes over, and made them all smooth and round, but they are huge, which is how it got it's name, The Boulders. You're sick of hearing it, but this place is also beautiful, and well worth the effort of a visit. Both the boys had a swim in the top waterholes, but I'd seen the crocodile warning sign back at the carpark, and didn't want to risk it... We had lunch in the picnic area here, and then returned to the highway and our trip to Port Douglas.

It wasn't long, and we found ourselves in Cairns. (This is good, it meant we were going the right way). As we passed Cairns Coconut (only the best holiday park IN THE WORLD!!), and pointed it out to the boys, they went psycho ballistic. Dylan nearly bailed out of the car on the highway. The new waterplay feature is against the fence on the highway, followed by the worlds largest jumping pillow, then the huge playground with bike track around it, then one of the large resort pools and finally, the enormous mini golf course... They couldn't believe it, (it does make an impression, when you see it), and wanted to skip our stays at Port Douglas and Cooktown. Jeremy is going to ask him for a job when we arrive, but Dylan is going to ask to be adopted... Our park feels very small all of a sudden, but we were having none of it. We didn't even slow down. Their fun in Cairns would arrive soon enough, but I have to agree, that driving through Cairns the excitement started to build, and we were starting to feel that the real adventure and fun part of the journey had arrived. This was the rainforest and reef section, and we were all excited at the prospect...

The drive from Cairns to Port Douglas is just sensational. It's only an hour or so, but the road hugs the coastline most of the way, and winds and weaves its way around the edges of the mountains, down into pretty little secluded beach areas, where you could sit for hours and watch the day disappear... if it was sunny... which it wasn't... The rain had stopped, but the sky was grey and heavy, and had the feel of more showers on the way, and we just wanted to get to the park and set up, before they hit. We're here now, and fully established on our ensuited powered site. The boys have worn out the jumping pillow while we set up, and we've been into town to the visitor information centre, and had dinner at a wonderful little italian restaurant in the main street. Port Douglas is a gorgeous little town, and is full of tourists, very different to our experience in Mission Beach. Our list of things to do is growing all the time, and we've decided to spend one night up in the Daintree. If you think the daily blog has been lengthy so far, I dread to think what it'll be like for some of the days we have planned...

I hope the computer doesn't run out of ink... I hope the internet doesn't run out of... internet??