Err, what can I say.... I failed to update my blog within a week - it's now 2 weeks! Arghhh But hopefully there's not too much to say coz some of it we've been just lazing about near the pool tanning ourselves!
We stayed in Airlie Beach until Sunday 16th as on Saturday there was a beachside market and a Reef Festival going on which included having a firework display on in the evening. In the afternoon we lazed around the pool and later on I had yet another upset belly - I really should stop eating food from cafes etc!
Sunday we left Airlie Beach and headed to Bowen which is one of the locations used in the new Baz Luhrmann film 'Australia' (just released over here). It took a little while to get there and we eventually found a site and became acquainted with their permanent residents; turkeys and peacocks. Had a spot of lunch and then as nothing was open due to it being Sunday we entertained ourselves by playing noughts and crosses and hangman... little things please little minds and all that!
Monday we woke up to the sound of very loud peacocks squawking at 5am - how lovely we thought (hmm where's my gun?!) lol Managed to get back to sleep and finally left the site and headed back into Bowen town centre to the information centre so we could find out exactly what buildings they used etc. Drove to the sites and took some photos and as there was nothing much else to do we made our way to our next destination of Ayr. Found a site and lazed by the pool then we were naughty and ate KFC for dinner but it was a special occasion for us 
There really was nothing much to see in Ayr and so we drove to Townsville on Tuesday where we also discovered there wasn't much to do there either! We found an internet cafe and attempted to burn a photo CD for Ria so that I could use the spare XD card for my new camera but we found a virus on it and weren't 100% sure of how to make a photo cd but we figured it out in the end. Afterwards we found a site and went back into town to find out some information about the boat times to Magentic Island.
On Wednesday we woke up to a very overcast sky so after umming and erring we decided we'd forget about Magnetic Island as we weren't fussed about doing it. From there we drove to Mission Beach and finally found a campsite (we checked it out an hour earlier but decided we'd go back there as it seemed the better one of the lot). We did a bit of food shopping and went on the net so Ria could email her uncle and later on had a delicious chicken and veg meal. Although whilst we were cooking it Ria saw a rat go past and we saw a massive mutated cockroach (well, it seemed like it was anyway!)
Thursday we discovered what little there is to do in Mission Beach so we headed for Port Douglas and stopped at Jospehine Falls and took some piccies and as it was lunchtime we stopped at the Hogs Breath Cafe in Cairns and had a chicken burger each (no upset belly - yey!). Drove some more and found a site and then headed into the town of Port Douglas to have a look around.
Thursday evening/Friday morning was so humid we didn't sleep too well but we decided to go even further North and head up to Cape Tribulation, however we ended up in Daintree Village which is nearly as north as you can get (besides Cooktown) where we got some information about Cape Trib and the ferry crossing and where we also picked up a sandwich each as it was getting close to lunchtime. Found the car ferry and went over in our little campervan and headed deep into the dense rainforest - it was bloomin' hot! Drove all around and went to the lookout point and took the usual photos etc! Got a homemade ice-cream on the way back and then got the car ferry back over and decided we'd stay at Wonga Beach for the night. As it had a pool and we were baking hot we played about in there. Also at the site was a family of peacocks and 3 very cute baby chicks.
On Saturday we booked another two nights as we thought we'd take it easy for the next couple of days before heading back into Cairns. So basically all we did was sunbathe and play in the pool. Although we did get quite excited when Ria spotted a tree snake which was very cute. Over the days we spent there we encountered a woman with her two grandkids battering cane toads with their golf clubs (as you do!), we also saw bandicoots, massive bugs and beetles, a big goanna (3ft lizard which I tried to run after to get a photo - quite hilarious thinking about it now!) and a 'golden orb' spider - very scary big spider! Oh and I had also been reading Harry Potter number 4 and finally finished it so am now reading an alien abduction book...not as good though 
Monday we headed nearer to Cairns but stopped at Mossman Gorge on the way and went for a swim - it was bloody cold but it was refreshing. Went via Port Douglas and stopped to take some pictures at the lookout etc and had a spot of lunch. We ended up at Lake Placid which is just outside of Cairns and as per usual decided to cool off in the pool, unfortunately the pool was like a hot bath and then two very odd immature foreign male 'things' jumped in and so we decided to get out!
For the past few days we'd noticed that the temperature had been increasing somewhat and later found out that it was a mini-heatwave and temps had peaked at over 100 so being in the van just made it worse. Tuesday I managed to get a well-needed haircut - feels so much better. We then went into Cairns and booked a Great Barrier Reef trip for the following day and then we checked into our hostel which was a dive then finally we unpacked our van and took it to the depot and said a sad goodbye to it...it might have been hot in there (we had air-con in the cabin bit) but it was still sad - we'd spent 5 weeks together for us to just abandon it
Wednesday we were up at the crack of dawn (ok, not exactly but it was early) and got the minibus to the wharf and boarded our yacht at 8. We got to a reef a couple of hours later and did some snorkelling and used our new underwater camera only for it to let in water - arghhh. After debating for ages we bought another one on the boat just in case we saw a turtle (which we didn't) and then we decided to do a 'free' introductory dive - basically they showed us how to breathe and deal with the pressure etc...we had a whole 3 minutes in the water and whilst I was down there I saw a jellyfish just float right past my face - soon as I saw it I put my little mitts over my hands. Apparently it's the jellyfish that you can't see that are the dangerous ones! Had some lunch and then we sailed over to Michaelmas Cay and did some more snorkelling which was a better site. We got back to the wharf about 5ish so we had about 4 hours on the Outer Barrier Reef. An excellent day though.
Thursday we left the dodgy hostel (no air-con and a little way out of the CBD) and went to a more central hostel with air-con! Sold some books at a nearby shop (we picked em up for free....but we did read them!) Looked around some souvenir shops and then decided we'd finally go and see the new Bond movie - I thought it was brilliant - so did Ria! Had a nap back at the hostel and then went out for some dinner.
Today we had a big lie-in - 9am! Did loads of shopping and then spent a load more money sending it back home - that's about it really!
And tomorrow we are flying out to Alice Springs for our next adventure where we've booked a car so we can do sunset and sunrise at Uluru and we can't wait .....
