For our final day in Australia, we took a trip up to Cape Tribulation, which is where the rainforest and the reef meet. We didn't want to have to deal with the hassle of renting a car and driving ourselves, so we just booked a day tour through our hostel. We were picked up in a 24 person van/bus and then rode around picking up the other passengers before leaving town. On the drive up, we rode all along the coast and saw some beautiful scenery. Here's a photo I took at one of the picture stops:
It's worth noting that by this time in our trip, we were pretty exhausted and wiped out, so we both dozed off on the bus at several points during the day. Our first stop was in a small town where we went to a cafe and had the option of buying something to eat or drink. Kelly and I walked around the town and went into 5 other cafes searching for a muffin or some type of snack. But of course, just to go along with how things had been for this whole trip, since we were actually LOOKING for muffins, none of the 6 cafes we went to had any. So, we just got iced coffees at the cafe where everyone else was before we hit the road again. Then next stop was at the Daintree River Crossing. We took a river boat cruise for about an hour, on a search for crocodiles.
We actually did spot a few and it was kind of scary being so close to them in their natural habitat. (And the fact that the guide was telling us all of his stories about close calls he'd had over the years with him just narrowly escaping crocodile attacks didn't help too much!) But we did make it across the river safely, since I am still here to tell you about it.
Our next stop was at a rainforest, to walk on a short trail through it. At this point though, my coffee had run through me and I had to go to the bathroom really badly! I looked on the map at the start of the trail, and it showed a bathroom just past the car park. So the group started along on the trail, and I said I'd catch up. Well, I walked up and down the road, searching for these bathrooms, which were no where to be found! I did find a small clearing right around where the bathrooms SHOULD have been, so I think that they really were gone (not just that I couldn't locate them). So, I had no choice but to make my own little trail to a hopefully secluded spot in the forest, where I could use the "bathroom" before my bladder exploded! I then caught up with the group and we saw some pretty interesting trees and other such flora in the rainforest.
All those knobby looking things on the are exposed roots of the trees:
We all piled back into the van and continued our drive up to Cape Tribulation. We stopped at a hostel-resort type area called "PK's Jungle Village" where we were supposed to have lunch. To be honest, it was pretty gross food though, so Kel and I wound up going to the little shop there to find some other source of food. We ate our "lunch" as we walked along a trail through the forest. Never before have I emerged from a rainforest right on to a beach. The scenery was just beautiful. 
Now, neither of us were wearing watches, but we knew we were supposed to meet back at the bus at 2. As we were heading back we were kind of just strolling along, thinking we had plenty of time. Just to get an idea though, we stopped and asked someone what time it was and discovered that it was already 2:20! We ran back to the bus to find everyone else sitting waiting. At least they didn't leave without us, but it was kind of embarrassing. At the next spot, along our drive back, the driver/guide said to everyone, "And for the two girls without watches, please make sure you stick with me or with someone else who has a watch, because we can't wait this time." So, we made extra sure that we were back at the bus on time! This stop was just a short one anyway. We were at a place called Mossman Gorge. It was a short walk along a stream/river to a place where some people went swimming, but Kelly and I just took the opportunity to write some postcards.
Our final stop along the way back was at a town called Port Douglass. It was a nice looking town, a little more upscale but somewhat similar to Cairns. We basically just walked around there for a little bit. When we got back to Cairns, we were exhausted from the day. We checked out a couple of restaurants, but ultimately decided just to go back to "The Banana Leaf," the Asian restaurant we had eaten at the other night. Since both of us had enjoyed out meals there so much, we decided that we would just eat there again instead of risking trying a new place and having a mediocre meal our last night. We got back to the hostel, packed and went to bed. The next morning we went to the shopping mall for breakfast again (at a different place this time!) We both had omelettes which were very good. Since we were catching the bus to the airport from the center of town, and we had to check out of our hostel in the morning, we had to bring our suitcases with us. I can only imagine how funny we looked, rolling our suitcases not only down the streets of Cairns, but also through the mall! Everything went smoothly in terms of getting to the airport and our flight. We had an interesting experience on the plane. (I'm hoping that the fact that Kelly and I somehow always seem to have these "interesting" encounters is becoming less surprising to you by now!) There was a little 2-year-old Maori boy sitting a couple of rows ahead of us on the plane. When Kel got up to go to the bathroom, he ran over to her and started running down the aisle. Kelly picked him up and brought him back to his mom, but somehow the mom thought it would be great if he came and played with us, since we had an extra seat in our row! So, we spent about an hour of the flight entertaining this little Maori boy, and I think he probably entertained us about as much as we did him. Kelly and I each tried on different occasions to bring him back to his mom, but he was holding on to us and would not let go. (We eventually did get him to go back to his seat, but then he kept popping up and yelling back to us, "Hey!" until we would look up at him!)
Anyway, the plane ride also gave us some great aerial views of the Great Barrier Reef:
And the sunset was pretty cool as well:
When we finally got back to Empire Apartments, it felt really great to be back in Auckland. I am so happy that we decided to take this trip together because it really was a once in a lifetime opportunity. Kelly and I will have lots of stories and funny adventures to remember from our Easter trip to Australia.
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