Australia

The road North from Cairns to Cape Tribulation crosses a river. So the bus took the ferry across and I took the flatbottom boat to look for salt water crocodiles. Saw quite a few in the muddy banks of the river, lots of babies but the largest was 5 metres long. He is known to the locals as Big Albert. He's the dominant male in the area and rarely does he make a public appearance, so felt lucky to see him. Met the bus on the other side of the river and continued the journey.

Next we stopped at a place which has a short boardwalk through the Daintree Rainforest. On the walk round the guide pointed out plants and bugs. One of which was the green ant. It's a fairly large ant with a bright green sack on its back. He ate one, and said the green sack is filled with an intense amount of vitamin C. So we stopped to chase the ants, I ate mine. It had a really strong citrus taste that wasn't pleasant, it was so strong it made my tongue go numb! Later when talking to locals at the hostel, they laughed at me and said I was only suppose to lick the green sack - my tongue went numb because it bit me! Dam that guide.

The hostel I stayed in was set back in the rain forest, 600 metres from the beach. Cape Trib is the only place in the world where 2 natural wonders meet each other - the Daintree rain forest meets the Great Barrier Reef. It's so small, just 2 shops... a chemist and a supermarket on a dirt road in the rain forest.

Staying here, sounds and feels every part like living in the rain forest. The massive trees and vegetation make you feel really small and the bugs are big and nasty - everything that moves wants to bite a chunk out of you! The regular monsoon rain clears the air for up to 20 minutes before the high humidity returns. As it's the wet season, the place was near empty. I had a walk to the beach and just chilled out. Later on I spoke to a few people working at the bar, they were locals that were driving to the next town to do some chores, banking and stuff. They asked if I'd like to join them so off we went. Only we didn't get as far as the town, we stopped at the Cow Bar Hotel for a beer. It was just full of locals, as you'd expect in such a small place, everyone knew each other. We sat with them on the verandah outside and they made me feel welcome. A mix of people, women, men and children of all ages, all seemed nice apart from a bloke they called Possum - don't think he likes pommes. Pat invited everyone back to his house for a drink, Possum declined but everyone else came. So off we went again in the 4x4s to Pat's.

The houses are really spread out from each other which gives a real feeling of isolation. The outlook from the verandah was great, just forest in all directions. There were about 10 of us there. Most of them worked in the local hotel or hostels - which is the main source of employment for them.

The music played and we had a boogie in the front room and before I knew it the sun was coming up. Pat and Mickey had to get to work at my hostel so Pat drove me back via Cow Bay beach where we stopped for 5 minutes to see the sunrise. Then back in the truck a Cassowary crossed the road in front of us. It was too quick for me to get a picture, but I was so fortunate to see this endangered bird. It's like an emu with a horn on it's head.

That afternoon I caught the bus back to Cairns.

Sunrise at Cow Bay