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Woke up to find out Garth had got a migraine in the night so I ate breakfast alone which included being accused by a staff member of having my second fruit salad - I must look very average/like other girls...(not impressed). I prepared our plan for the day on the iPad as my phone was still in the rice, packed, made our lunch, said goodbye to our Korean homies and headed off.
We stopped at the Flagstaff Lookout as the weather was much nicer - sunny but windy, for Garth to see. We posted our postcards and checked out the beach in Port Douglas which was lovely and surprisingly filled with people considering the wind and the lack of swimable seas due to stingers! We bid Port Douglas fairy well and on our way to Carins stopped at Ellis Beach and Palm Cove to check out the beaches which were all gorgeous but tainted by the possibly of crocs and stingers. Last night we watched a tv show about dangerous animals in Australia and one story was about a snake attack on a child in Port Douglas and one about a stingray sting near Port Douglas - so there was no testing the water temperature today!!!
I drove down to Carins where we stopped at the Botanical Gardens and spent 30 mins walking around. They were huge and you could easily spend a whole day there! We then attempted to find St. Monica's Cathedral which was poorly signposted and very unextraordinary on the outside. The heat was getting to me, but we eventually found it and went in to look at the Creation windows. These were quite extraordinary! The church was filled front to back with modern and very detailed stained glass windows showing creation and were very beautiful and thought provoking. There was some very challenging imagery each side kid the door where the windows quoted anti war verses from Micah and showed images of rusting submarines, tanks, guns and armour at the bottom of the ocean surrounded by the Great Barrier Reef (well that was my situational interpretation). It was very different and I wished I could take granny there to see them!
Garth felt a litter better and drove south for an hour. We passed many sugar Cain and banana farms. I never realised Australia would be this green and tropical!!
Garth took another migraine pill at this random place where we ate lunch and I took over driving the last big whilst he slept. I can't get over the fields of bananas with rainforest covered mountains with moving clouds over them in the distance - just not what I ever pictured Australia to be like!
I somehow managed to find our Jackaroo hostel very easily. It's 'out in the sticks' but in a beautiful wooden building surrounded by rainforest (and a lot of rain by this point) with a swimming pool with a view over the tress down to the sea. It was 'free wine night'. I struggle to see how these massive corporate and boring hotels have a future when these hotels have so much personality and are much better value for money!! (Watch this space)
We took a drive to mission beach and walked for a bit which was nice. It then paired with rain, very heavily, for the rest of the evening, which made us glad we decided not to camp or campervan it. We chilled in the evening in the hostel where we ate pot noodles for dinner and I enjoyed the free wine whilst Garth got an early night ready for our long drive tomorrow! I chatted to a guy from Knysna of all places!
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