April 7 — Cairns

Donna and I got a ride into Cairns with Grant and his coworker. They dropped us off in town and we checked in at the YHA. We walked around town and I bought an Akubra (high quality Aussie cowboy hat) with a crocodile band. There were night markets that had a lot of interesting things. We learned to play the didgeridoo (a long wooden log that you blow in). We booked boat trips to the great barrier reef. The beds at the YHA were really uncomfortable.

April 8 — Great Barrier Reef

We took separate boat trips to the reef. Donna took the Passions of Paradise, and I rode the SuperCat. Sometimes its nice to do things apart for a change. It was a perfectly clear calm day. My boat departed at 8:00 am. I met a guy named Garvin from Ireland. We first dove at Norman Reef on the outer edge of the Great Barrier Reef. I was some really big parrot fish, a huge shell from a giant clam, and a big cod. I snorkeled for 2 hours. Our second dive was on Saxon Reef. There was a low tide so parts of the reef were exposed. I swam for an hour and saw a barracuda close enough to see its sharp teeth. Then we had a nice trip back to shore at 6:30.

April 9 — Cairns

We checked out of the YHA and I went for a walk around town to find the campground. There were some white Herons on the mud flats along the coast. I ran into Donna at the post office. We checked into the International Backpackers Hostel, room 50. We got a free meal at the wool shed for staying at the hostel. We met Rebecca and Gertrude at the same hostel and made plans to ride back to Brisbane with them in their little yellow corolla.

April 10 — Tjapukai

We rented a little Daihatsu to run around for the day. We drove to see the Tjapukai aboriginee show. It talked about the Dry and Wet origins. There were good shows on their dreamtime story with special effects. We learned how to throw spears and boomerangs. We saw a dance show of fire making, cassowary walking, and didgeridoo too. We drove to Mossman and got our esky (freezer chest) and to say bye to Grant. We returned to Cairns and joined Rebecca and Gertrude to start the drive south. We stopped at a rest area near Ingram, and slept in my tent. It was a little cramped with 4 people in a 2 person tent.

April 11 — Airlie Beach

In the morning we saw a huge tree frog in the ladies toilet. I helped it out and gave it a rinse. It climbed up my arm. I set him free in the grass. We continued our way south and stopped in Townsville for groceries and I took the wheel and drove to Airlie Beach. We got a room at the same place I stayed in '93. We had a nice barramundi dinner and beer at Beaches Backpackers. We walked around town and saw a wet T-shirt contest back at the backpackers. It was was rather dull.

April 12 — Eungella

We had a look at the markets in Airlie Beach before we left town. We get stuck in traffic on the highway where there was a bad accident. We ended up driving around it through a cane field. We made it to Eungella park and had a look at the platypus again at 5:30pm. We also saw a kangaroo that chase me around. There were a lot of noisy cockatoos that evening. This time I only saw four platypus. That evening we stopped and visited Ray and John McClain in Walkerston. Ray is the sister of Alan Bretzke.

April 13 — Bottle Tree

I had a good sleep at a rest area halfway between Mackay and Rockhampton. Donna and I had stopped at that rest area on the drive up and had a free coffee and kit kat (a service to help keep drivers awake on the highways). While I was waiting for everyone to get up I walked down to a river and saw some cows and a Kookaburra. We all got packed into the car and I drove to Rockhampton. We stopped and took a look at the caves but didn't enter. There was a big festival going on in town called "Beef 97". We went to check it out and I sampled some different beef foods. We saw a parade of cows, listened to Aussie singers, and watched some belly dancers. We drove on to Hervey Bay and made some soup at a rest area on the way. The car began to run rough. By the time we got to Hervey Bay it was running really bad. We ended up camping on the beach.