Down under and back again: Rainforest, finding Nemo and jumping crocs!

Quick update in between, otherwise it will take me too long if I do it all at once (and all y'all would have to wait). The Monash semester is over! I've said goodbye (for now) to the majority of the people, which is really sad. Exams went well though, better than expected considering my not so studious attitude during the semester...

Anyway, I'm at Mission Beach now! The plan was to spend a day at the beach, but unfortunately, it is raining season so I'm in an internet cafe now to wait for the bus bringing us to Townsville. The past few days, me, Sharlen, Kim, Larissa and Clara have spent some time in Cairns and surroundings. I'll give a quick overview before turning to pictures to show what has been going on!

On the first day, we arrived in Cairns. The climate here is warm and humid, just the way I don't like it! However, as it is raining season, it is mostly cloudy and rainy, which makes it a bit bearable (although some things are less beautiful without a little bit of sunshine). We picked up the car and went to the Atherton tablelands, where we saw some nice waterfalls, platypuses and a cathedral fig tree (absolutely stunning bigass tree!).

On the second day, we went to Kurunda, a rainforest village north of Cairns. Here we visited a koala garden, where I could finally hold one of these cute little buddies! After that, we went to an aviary, where the birds were more than enthusiastic to see what you're coming to do. To finish with a bang, we got some self-made icecream, and I must say, it was amazing! Everything is made with the real thing! So after the rum and raisin icecream, I was seriously not allowed to drive anymore as there is 54% alcohol rum in it...but that was totally worth it. After that, we went back to Atherton to see some nice gems (forgot the name, you'll see it on the pictures).

On the third day, we picked up Clara and went to Cape Tribulation and Daintree Rainforest. Cape Tribulation is one of the few (if not the only) places in the world where the rainforest runs up to the beach! Very nice to see. After that we did a rainforest walk, in which we experienced the rain part...it was pouuuuring! At least it was an authentic experience. Furthermore, we spotted some Cassawari's, quite rare birds of which there are less than 1500 in the wild. They're like colourful emus, so I quite like them.

On the fourth day, we went snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef! It was amazing and we finally had some good weather as well. We saw sharks, Nemo, parrotfish, tons of other colourful fishes and at the end, a huge sea turtle! Unfortunately I can't upload the videos, but I have pictures of most of the cool stuff we saw there.

On the fifth, and final day in Cairns, we went to Hartley's crocodile farm. Yes, a crocodile farm. They harvest them for skin and meat (which doesn't really taste like chicken I think, more like fishy chicken...kind of sweet flavour). We saw jumping crocodiles, crocodile feeding and we even fed some of them ourselves!

After this, we had a quick look at the botanical gardens before we went to the airport, where I sadly had to say goodbye to my beautiful lovely girlfriend...who I'll see in slightly less than two months! Looking forward to that and to see all of you guys again, to be honest, even though I'm looking forward to the travels I'll be going to make as well.

So here I am, sitting in this internet cafe, trying to keep the public happy! The next few days, we'll be going to Magnetic Island and the Whitsunday Islands! Blue water and white beachesss, Australia as everyone imagines it to be. Anyway, I'll be going now, picture time!

Atherton Tablelands