After a couple of looong flights, half a box set of Madmen, two run throughs of the Anne of Green Gables audio book and a film that made me sob uncontrollably in front of Hans, my German co-passenger, I finally arrived in Cairns (or “Cans” as the locals call it) and was reunited with Pete. It was so good to see him after three long weeks apart and I was excited to start our Australian adventure together!

After taking in the sights of Cairns (not exactly the bonniest of towns!), enjoying a few schooners and some questionable Vietnamese food, we were on our way to Port Douglas. Our first day consisted mostly of snoozing on the beach, eating, enjoying happy hour wine and more sleeping!

We took a trip up to Cape Tribulation – one of the first places Captain Cook crashed into when he discovered Australia in 1770. Our first stop was the Daintree River for a “croc cruise”. We had a brilliant tour guide who explained all about the river’s amazing eco system and found us a couple of crocs to spy on. Unfortunately the huge adult male, Scarface, wasn’t around so we had to settle for a couple of 3-4m young males – they were still pretty huge though! We also saw some beautiful tropical birds, enormous bright blue butterflies and wild orchids.

Spot the croc

The amazing root system of the mangroves

We stopped at three stunning tropical beaches for walks – and the occasional snooze in the sun – Cape Tribulation beach, Myall beach and Cow Bay. They were all just beautiful – rugged and lined with huge palm trees, backing onto the oldest rain forest in the world. The pictures don’t do justice to how beautiful and deserted they were!

Cape Tribulation beach

All smiles on Cape Trib beach

Tough day at the beach

We managed a quick dip in Mossman Gorge, having missed the last shuttle bus of the day (too much snoozing on the beach!) The Gorge is part of the traditional homeland of the indigenous Kuku Yalanji people and is famous for its crystal clear, soothing water.

Mossman Gorge

Much of the rest of our week was spent relaxing at the beach, eating gelato and sampling the many tasty restaurants in town. In between all of that we managed to fit in a memorable sunset sail with the local yacht club and a couple of eccentric ozzies.

Pete just before he got smacked in the head with the boom!

Port Douglas sunset

The highlight of our week was our trip out to the Great Barrier Reef. I knew it would be amazing and it’s something that’s been on my bucket list since forever but I was completely bowled over by the whole experience. We saw every species of fish under the sun including sweet little Angel fish, sword fish, a sea cucumber that was as soft as velvet and a giant Groper (it’s a fish!) that was bigger than Pete! The coral was absolutely out of this world – huge 50 metre towers and the most beautiful colours! A completely other worldly, unforgettable experience.

Just after I lost my nautical theme pashmina afghan!!

Pete’s put together a short video of our week in Port Douglas. If you fancy a quick look, just type the password “portdouglas” into the link below.