(1/07/01)Touched down in Cairns on Thursday, and we have been thawing out our frostbitten limbs beside the hostel pool ever since. Cairns, like Darwin and Alice Springs is a small town. The skyline is uncluttered by skyscrapers, the pavements are wino-free, and a twenty minute walk in any direction will lead you into a dense mass of tropical rain forest (except East, which would plop you in the Pacific).
We took a day trip to the Blue Mountains - which did not involve any prisons, so with my conscience clear (except for the subliminal calorie-counter in my head which went bezzerk at the eat-all-you-can free lunch) we were able to enjoy a fantastic day out.
We went to Featherdale Wildlife Park, where it took three large members of staff to prize Natalie off the ''hug-a-koala'' stand,
and we were able to get a peep at a good cross section of all the Australian wildlife that might somehow have managed to escape our camera lens thus far.
Three fantastic valleys, three magnificent waterfalls and some spectacular rock formations, the only thing that put a slight damper on the occasion was having to physically restrain Natalie as she tried to bite the throat out of our tour guide for failing to deliver the free ice-cream promised in the brochure.
Going back to Cairns, we spent our last day there on a day cruise to the Great Barrier Reef. A superb day, if a bit wavey, the passengers divided themselves into two distinct categories - bronzed and tanned bodies splayed on the left and the sunny side of the boat while green and yellow figures hung limply over the rights. The reef itself was magic, and we came face to face with an enormous array of brightly coloured fish and different corals. We snorkelled and scuba dived (and, to the soon-to-be Civil Servant amongst you, yes, it was truly fantastic).
When we found ourselves on a small sandy island, ''Upolu Cay'' a good ten minute swim from the boat, our guide suggested that those of us with cameras keep a special eye out for the sharks that would be accompanying our return swim. We shamelessly swam back in the centre of the group, making sure that we were flanked by fatter and tastier touristic titbits than ourselves.
Well, got to go now. It's a fair old walk into town to the cheapest email. All this walking is raising some fine varicose vains, and when we stand side by side we present a passable braille map of the London Underground.
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