Day 97 – 13th Feb – Airlie Beach – Cairns
We got up and checked out of our hotel and walked to the bus station for our bus up to Cairns. The bus was at 10am and we arrived into Cairns at about 9pm. We went and checked into our hostel which was really nice and had recently been refurbished. We went to the hostel bar and had a couple of drinks and picked up a take out pizza to eat with our beverages!

Day 98 – 14th Feb Cairns
Today was our only full day in Cairns and we got up and had a wander around. It was so hot though that we didn’t last very long!! We walked along the espernange and also saw hundreds of really big flying fox bats in the trees. In the evening we stayed at the hostel and had a couple of drinks.

Day 99 – 15th Feb – Cairns – Port Douglas
We checked out of the hostel at 10am and got picked up by a mini van for our transfer to Port Douglas. We arrived at about 11:15 and checked into our apartment. We had booked in for six nights and were excited for a bit of a chill and being able to cook for ourselves for a few days! Sometimes you just miss the simple things in life! We went to the supermarket to pick up some food and then spent the afternoon doing washing! In the evening we cooked a spag bol and watched some tv!

Day 100 – 16th Feb – Port Douglas
We got up early and had breakfast and then had a pretty chilled day. We walked into the town centre to book a snorkelling trip to the barrier reef and also a trip to the Daintree / Cape Tribulation. As it is off season at the moment we got a free sunset sailing trip thrown in as well!
The place where we were staying had a biggish outside area with a pool, sun beds and a couple of bbqs. In the evening Dan cooked us a lovely bbq!

Day 101 – 17th Feb – Port Douglas
Today we spent the day by the pool which was lovely and relaxing. In the afternoon we walked to the marina ready for our sunset sailing cruise. Unfortunately it was raining a little bit and there were quite a few clouds around so we weren’t too such how much of the sunset we’d actually see! We set sail and got chatting to an elderly couple who had come over to Australia in the 1960s on the £10 ticket! The man trained in the navy in Wetherby! We sailed around for about an hour and a half before we docked back in the marina. It was a pleasant evening even though we didn’t see the sunset!

Day 102 – 18th Feb – Port Douglas / Great Barrier Reef trip
We were picked up from our hotel at about 8:30 for our Great Barrier Reef trip. We were both excited about the day ahead. When we got on the boat Dan went to be briefed for his introductory dive and I sat out at the front of the boat enjoying the view and doing a bit of sunbathing! We arrived at the Opal reef about 90mins later and stopped at our 1st spot for diving / snorkelling. Unfortunately I wasn’t allowed to dive due to my asthma and I had to put red tape around my snorkel so they could recognise me. They also suggested i wear a life jacket for the 1st snorkel. I did feel quite special and resisted taking a life jacket although they insisted I take a noodle (long float) out for the 1st snorkel! There was something called the king tide today which meant the current was quite strong in the sea however armed with my noodle I was fine! The coral was amazing and there were a lot of different types of fish to see. Dan really enjoyed his dive and after he finished he joined me for a snorkel at the 1st site as well.
We left the 1st site and sailed for about 5 minutes and then arrived at our 2nd snorkel stop. We both decided to join a tour in the water to learn some more information about the reef. We then set off on our own and snorkelled. This site had the most amount of fish, there were thousands and lots of different types as well. It was brilliant.
We got back onto the boat and had lunch before our final snorkel stop of the day. This site didn’t have as many fish however the fish were much bigger in general here, although we did see nemo!
After our third site we set sail back to port Douglas. We’d had such a great day and although there was some bleaching of the coral reef in places it is still an absolute must for anyone who goes to Cairns / Port Douglas.
To top off a great day, Dan cooked a lovely bbq for tea!

Day 103 – 19th Feb – Port Douglas / Daintree rainforest / cape Tribulation tour
It was an early start this morning as our bus picked us up at 7:20am. We drove for about an hour and then hopped onto a car ferry to take up over the Daintree river and into the National Park. We parked up and went for a walk in the rainforest looking out for local wildlife. We saw lots of spiders and we were lucky enough to see a cassowary which is a bird native to Australia and the 3rd biggest in the world. It was quite similar to a emu. After the walk we went to Cape Tribulation which is where the rainforest meats the ocean and where two UNESCO world heritage sites meet; the Daintree rainforest and the Great Barrier Reef. We went up to a look out point dodging the spiders hanging in the trees on route and took some photos at the top. We then walked to cape Tribulation beach but the tide was really high due to the King Tide so we couldn’t really walk much on the beach. After this we got dropped off at Cooper Creek for a boat trip on the river to see if we could spot any crocodiles. Unfortunately we didn’t see any crocodiles due to the high tide although one guy on the trip was adamant there was one but he was the only one who saw it! The next stop was lunch and then a dip in the creek if we wanted to before the last stop of the day which was the Daintree Ice Cream Company. It is basically a fruit orchard that has diversified into making ice cream but with all the different tropical fruits. We hadn’t heard of half the fruit that they sold! We shared a tasting pot which had scoops of four different flavours including mango, banana, wattleseed and black sapote.  We then got dropped off at the apartment after a great day trip.

Day 104 – 20th Feb – Port Douglas
We had a very chilled out day after the previous day trips and spent the day by the pool relaxing. In the evening we had a bbq making the most of the cooking facilities while we had them! We’d really enjoyed our few days in Port Douglas and would recommend it to anyone who wants to see the Great Barrier Reef and Daintree Rainforest.