Cairns

Having left the dump that is Townsville (as Joe said why name is twice?!) we headed for a lunch-stop at Big Crystal Creek's "Paradise Well". Maybe they took it too far with the name. On arriving we finally worked-out what the hyena-like sounds we'd been hearing at our Airlie Beach campsite were - they were Kookaburras...noisy fekkers! Oh yeh - and then some girl ran screaming out of the toilet chased by a large toad (no an actual one, not a reflection of the clear evidence of a small gene-pool exhibited in the locals).

Jumping off rocks into water is awesome fun...its all healthy regression to an earlier stage in life and I'm pretty sure we've managed it in about every country of the trip so far!

Having over-indulged in the beauty of the watering hole we left on the late side of the afternoon for our drive through the mountains, arriving in Cairns well after dark and with nowhere to stay. Fortunately the owner of one campsite was more than happy to give out the code for the gate over the phone so in we went. Joe and I then went to check out what was going on. Being in the suburbs this didn't amount to much though...just a quiet beer in one of these places which look a bit like protus clubs. The barman gave us a whole list of stuff to do in town the next evening though so all was not lost!

After a dip in the pool it was time to say a teary good-bye to our John Lennon Wicked Campers van which had got us through the last 3 weeks without much more to worry about than an overheating engine (apparently quite normal) and one flat tyre.

Beautiful beaches being the norm in Australia, it was a surprise to find just how ugly Cairn's beach was on our long walk back from the camper shop. It was at least made-up for with a lovely free lagoon-style swimming pool like Airlie's and an airshow of helicopters landing on a rather precarious-looking platform over the sea.

Having checked-in to the Global Palace hostel in Cairns and under-indulged in our free but small portion of fish and chips at P J O'Brien's, our games of pool were interrupted by a huge organized pub-crawl. Did we have to join? Well according to Joe we did (what a shame!) so off we trundled to join the gang. So yeh lots of free drinks and then they got playing this Cavaliers, Vikings and Knights game...one which will have to be replicated back home on a Kung Fu night out as it involves more than enough falling over! At somepoint Joe and I busted into our room and saw something I didn't want to see...maybe that's why Martin was so busy looking at his watch!

Morning after it was an early flight to Sydney with none of us really feeling it! Then after ringing every accommodation option we finally found one which was free...we'd better start booking in advance. Amazingly it was run by on of the guys who we'd been on the Frazer Island trip with! Random! Spent the afternoon lazily at Coogee beach which was beautiful. Stupidly forgot to take a photo though...grrr.