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Cairns-our last stop in Australia. There isn't much to Cairns itself, it is basically just a base for trips to the surrounding areas. We stayed in Cairns for 4 days and it rained every day we were there! On our first day we went on a day trip to Cape Tribulation. On the way we stopped first at a place called Mossman Gorge, here we had a little walk through the rainforest which was good and then had a chance to swim in a water hole in the creek. The water was so clear, I didn't get in but Phil braved it, the water was freezing! We then went on a cruise on the Daintree River where we saw crocodiles which was good, we also saw a Python in one of the trees, it looked huge. From there we drove up to Cape Tribulation and just had enough time to have a walk on the beach. This is where they say the rainforest meets the reef, the only place in the world where two natural wonders meet each other which is pretty cool. The beach was beautiful but you wouldn't want to hang around too long because there are two resident crocodiles! Another day in Cairns we went on the Skyrail which was great. The skyrail goes across a huge area of rainforest and the views are spectacular, after about 40 minutes you arrive in a village called Karunda. On the way up to Karunda there are two stops where you can get a guided walk through the rainforest and go into the interpretive centre, it was really interesting to learn about the rainforest and Australia being Australia there are even leaves in the rainforest that can sting you! Karunda is a pretty small place, there are some small markets and a few wildlife centres. We went into the Koala gardens and I got to cuddle a Koala! It was so cute, one of the things I really wanted to do in Australia as well! We also fed some Kangaroos and looked at some pretty scary looking snakes. On our last day in Cairns, and last day in Australia, we went on a snorkelling trip to the Outer Great Barrier Reef. This was one of the best things we have done in Australia, the reef was amazing. It didn't look good in the morning, it was raining and pretty windy and the journey out to our first location was pretty hairy! At our first stop, Saxon Reef, it was really hard to snorkel, the sea was quite rough and the current was so strong, it moved you so quickly, there were some amazing fish though. Our second stop was by far the best though, it was called Hastings Reef. The area of reef was huge and protected us from the winds so it was much easier to float around here and enjoy looking at the fish more. The coral here was unreal, so colourful and everything was on a huge scale, the fish were huge and the coral was vast, it was just breath taking. We hired an underwater camera and managed to take about 400 photos in 4 hours!! Another amazing thing about this location was that we took a helicopter ride to view the reef from above. There was a floating helicopter pad near where our boat was anchored and we were taken across by a little boat for our ride. This was just AMAZING, the reef looked awesome from above, it just took our breath away. It was a perfect way to end a great 4 months in Australia, hope everyone has enjoyed reading about what we've been up to in Oz, watch this space for the next journal which will be from New Zealand...
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Ashley Being the rude' participant of the aenumnd wedding, I feel like the only honourable thing to do is to own up, it was me, Harry. I hope you have an amazing time and look forward to seeing you in Blightly, probably around April time, how about a wedding there instead?