Cairns to Cooktown

Whilst in Cairns we went for a swim in the beautiful but cold, clear waters of the Crystal Cascades swimming hole just north of the town.

 We also took in downtown Cairns, walking the esplanade and the various malls.

 Our backpacker friends cooked damper for us and then, with some help from some Swiss backpackers cooked a full repast for us. All these backpackers had been in the country for over six months and it was interesting to see how people from other countries viewed Australia and our idiosyncrasies.

We then continued travelling north to Mossman 'gateway to the Daintree' and stocked up with supplies for our trip to Cape York.

After a quick trip to plastic land (Port Douglas)

we spent the day in the rainforest. After crossing on the Daintree ferry we went to Cape Tribulation and stopped at some great lookouts and beaches.



 We then had a fantastic time jungle surfing for a couple of hours. This involved speeding along the top of the forest on ropes and in harnesses, sometimes even upside down and 'look Mum no hands'. It was exhilarating.

The next stop was the Daintree River where we went on a river cruise. The cruise boat got up close and personal with a couple of large, male saltwater crocs that were sunning themselves on the river bank. The crocs were very photogenic.

We also got quite close to a number of smaller crocs, a couple of green tree snakes and various native birds and frogs. The trip was both educational and great fun. We had dinner in the rainforest at the Cow Bay Pub.
We continued north via the inland route to Cooktown. After breakfast at Cook's landing wharf we visited the iconic Lion's Den pub

 and went to an art exhibition.