Tropical North Queensland

I never thought I'd enjoy the weather and landscape up here, as I'm a cold frog at heart, but it's surprised me. We're over 10 hours north of the Queensland/New South Wales border near Cairns but it feels a lot like Northern NSW. It is April though, and a balmy 31 degrees. Vaughan's returned home after a quick weekend away with us because his teachers granted him absolutely no leeway on a holiday booked before the classes were even set so just today he completed the first of 2 exams. In the short time we had we managed to get a lot done. After Friday's plane trip up we hired a car and spent the evening sharing pizza at a sweetly tacky pub by the ocean, gently lapping just beyond the strip of green grass and sand. Saturday involved catching a train (done up period-style, with timber interior) up into the mountains where we stopped along the way to check out some of the absolutely majestic scenery in the gorges. 

We made it to the little tourist town of Kuranda. It's full of mostly cheap, tacky tourist traps but when you go another block or so you find a little rainforest haven of the original Kuranda markets. More alternative and a much more relaxed atmosphere. 

From there we caught the sky rail back down to the out skirts of Cairns and stopped along the way to admire some of the awesome rainforest and while mid air, the lengths they've gone to with the engineering of the sky rail.

Sunday saw us catching a catamaran out to the reef. The one opportunity we had to take this time because who knows how much longer it will be around? We left the jetty in the pouring rain and the further out we went the more it seemed to clear. 

Because of the recent change from the wet to dry season the ocean was slightly murky but still an amazing turquoise colour. 

My sisters boyfriends Go-pro didn't quite capture the lucidity of the sea but you get the idea...TURTLES! We saw a couple. And a huge variety of fish, from those smaller than your little pinky nail up to over 1m long! Many hours were spent snorkelling, exploring and accidentally swallowing the hallowed waters of the Great Barrier Reef until we had to turn back and return to solid ground.