Lou & Jessie, Mobley’s friends from Geelong, were also in Cairns while we were, so they took us around the whole time. It was so fun. Wednesday I got there super earlier, so we went back to the girls’ hotel for some buffet brekky & a quick sleep. Then we loaded up the car & drove north to Port Douglas. Along the way we stopped a few places, checking out the views, rainforests, & gorges. We went to the Kuranda rainforest village, which was super rainy & hippy. Once we got to Port Douglas, we walked around the town & had some chicken burgs for lunch. That night, after cooking spinach ravs in our cute, little beach apartment, we went to the Iron Bar for the cane toad races. The host picks numbers out of a bucket & if you’re ticket matches, you get to be the “jockey.” The jockeys have to get their designated toad off the table using a sound maker & then place it into the finish bucket. It was hilarious to watch. Whenever the host talked about the toad “Aussie, Aussie, Aussie” we all had to scream “Oi, oi, oi!” It was so fun.
The next morning we had fabulous yogurt & muesli for brekky & packed into the 2-door sedan. We drove all the way up through the mountains to Cape Tribulation. Here we checked into PK’s Jungle Village. It was literally in the jungle—well the rain forest. It was amazing: extremely humid, wet, & tropical. It wouldn’t stop raining. We just couldn’t stop laughing at how ridiculous the weather was. We finally started unloading the car when the girls noticed a MASSIVE spider outside our hut door & then another deadly looking spider above the door. The gardener came out of no where & started spooking everyone, talking about the snakes that fall out of trees. (Not to mention the receptionist talking about the leeches along the jungle paths). Anyway, Lou claims she has arachnophobia so we decided to leave the hippie town behind. Mobs & I were ready for the adventure, but Lou & Jessie rented the car, & we weren’t about to be left in the rainforest.
We drove back to Cairns, singing to all the weird Aussie music the whole way. We booked into the Cairns Plaza & then went for fish & chips down the street. It was kind of nice that we ended up there because I hadn’t spent any time in Cairns. Later that night we went to PJ’s for ladies night champagne & then went dancing. We had so much fun! Lou & Jessie are hilarious. Mobs & I were just cracking up at everything (big surprise... Mal we need you!) It’s crazy that you can find people just like you all the way across the world.
The next morning the weather was a little better. Lou, Mobley, & I went on a picnic with Lou’s sister & family at the Crystal Cascades, which are located in the hills of Cairns. It was similar to the Cape Trib rainforest… waterfalls, deadly spiders, & stinging trees… that was a new one. The sign said that you needed to dial 000 (their 911) if you touched the plant. Lou’s sister has 2 beautiful boys. James, only 3, kept walking up to other visitors saying, “Hi. What’s your name?” And his little Aussie accent made it 100 times better. The picnic was delish, equipped with prawns, chicken, salad… yum. Later we met up with Jessie & went to the lagoon for a swim. The lagoon is a massive pool that, like an infinity pool, looks like it runs into the ocean. Also, at some parts, you can walk into it like you do a beach, & there is sand. It’s really strange, but free, so we love it. Later that night we had a nice Italiano dinner before we had to pack up. Lou drove Mobs & I to the Grey Hound bus stop at 12 am. Right before we pulled into the parking lot, Lou got pulled over because Mobs had her arm out the window. Apparently it’s some big offense. They kept talking like their were going to charge Lou with a $600 fine, giving her a breathalizer. They were so intense, but it ended up being something to laugh about.
Mobs & I boarded the Grey Hound at 12:20 am. We stopped about 3 times down the coast, including Bowen, which is where they filmed part of the movie Australia. Our bus driver, George, pointed out the road where all the cattle ran down in one of the scenes… Some of the stops were 1 hour long because George was worried we wouldn’t get food or something. But it honestly wasn’t too bad & we saved money on accomm. We landed in Airlie at 11 am-- what a long trip. It was nice, too, because once the sun came up we did a little sightseeing. It was quite the adventure.
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