The advantage of staying at a caravan park is the facilities. The shower at this park was amazing. Good flow of water, which could be properly temperature controlled. It made getting up early so much easier, and then combined with the fact there was a kettle, and I was in a fairly good mood for the morning considering.
Heading off, we knew there was only a few hundred kilometers to Cairns. What we didn't realise was how twisty those last few hundred would be. When I'd come to Cairns before, I'd approached from the south following the highway and appreciating the pretty hills in the distance. Today we were driving through those pretty hills, at times along what must have been washed away road which was still undergoing repairs. The twists and turn kept Doug endlessly occupied, and eventually he spotted a river and a sign for a picnic area for us to stop for lunch. As we turned off the main road we crossed the river, looking around us for the picnic area. We tracked along, and crossed a narrow gauge railway line still not seeing this area. We passed the rail sidings, with carriages piled up ready for transport, and still no picnic area. We gave up, returning to the river where we spotted a small spot we could park at and maybe sit nearby. I wandered around and came back a few minutes later. The outback adventure was over but I'd spotted an opportunity to use the 4wd mode. The path was horribly uneven, a regular car would never have even got started along it, with with a few directions on how to navigate it Doug was able to pull the car in to a lovely secluded spot. A small river trickled next to us, shallow enough to wade through with lunch and sit on the sand bank on the edge of a enclosed lake. Hopefully, there wasn't a lot of crocodiles here, as this would be the perfect spot for them to sunbathe or to lay their eggs. with that in mind we didn't venture too close to the edge of the water, incase our vibrations made them angry. It was an idyllic setting, especially when the little train came in to carry off the carriages we'd seen sitting by the road. After lunch it was time for a driver change, and I led us off the rugged path back to the main road. Before long we joined the Bruce highway, and followed this all the way into Cairns.
It had been over a year since I was last here and my memory of things was a little hazy. Id enjoyed the hostel I was in so much we were planning on going back there, but I couldn't remember the name of it. Seeing what I thought was it, a hostel named Shenanigans, we booked in for 2 nights, ready to explore. It didnt take long for me to realise it wasn't the same hostel. It was very similarly located, and similarly named, but I'd been looking for Gilligans. Once we'd found Gilligans I suggested we stop in as the tour desk next to it was excellent and really friendly. We asked about reef diving, and instantly, Mags (the chic behind the desk) was off. She gave us a few options, but in the end were sold on a 2 day 1 night livaboard option as it offered the best value for money and gave us the most dives in the available time. The downside was that when she talked about the night dive that was included, she mentioned how great it was to see so many sharks. Uh oh. The 1 thing I didn't want to see on the reef was sharks. At all. Doug was highly excited by the idea, he'd love to swim with sharks.
Once we'd been sold and it was all paid for we spent about the next 30 minutes chatting to mags, before we eventually let her get back to work. We headed to the shore to see the lagoon. Because of the possibility of crocs in the water along here, the lagoon had been specially built on the front to allow people to swim and relax in water but with less of the danger. Doug and I wandered down past the lagoon and along the shore, heading to the marina to see if we could spy our boat. There were lots of boats of all shapes and sizes, and even a drilling platform making its way through the harbour, but no OceanQuest boat. We watched the comings and goings for a while especially interested in the real canoes being loaded into the water. The additional stability they had was fascinating to watch, as we saw someone run the length of the canoe after launching it to get in position to paddle - the canoe barely rocked. Giving up on the harbour, we went for a beer in the pub nearby. It was here at 6.30 we remembered we needed to book the car in for a service while we were here and weren't going to be around over the next 2 days so should have done it today. It was this point also that the phone signal in Cairns failed me, as I was unable to make any calls to try and book it in. Giving up, we decided to leave it until we returned.
We strolled back to the hostel to start some washing and prepare for dinner. When the hostel bar informed us they only served food on a Wednesday, we started looking elsewhere for dinner. For a change, I was being fussy and had a particular type of food in mind. We spent a long time walking around checking restaurants until finally asking a taxi driver. Following his directions we turned up at the restaurant and yes they did have what I was looking for. Despite not having seen a live one, i really wanted to try crocodile. Although it tasted mostly like chicken, some of the sauces it was served with were great and it was a food filling meal. Plus it was a good last meal, tomorrow I'd be swimming with the fishes. More importantly, id be swimming with sharks, and so wouldn't be enjoying many more meals with all my limbs attached. While we ate dinner, we sat outside watching the crazies go by, finally realising it was Halloween - which explained some of the crazies. Still, it was a warm evening, we were sat outside enjoying a bottle of wine and good food - all in all a pleasant evening.
By the time we got back to the hostel, reception had closed. We'd booked in for 2 nights but because of the livaboard would only staying one, and needed to get our key deposits back somehow. Because of the early start tomorrow, and the 7 dives in the next 2 days we decided against going out on the town and had a very sensible early night instead! The sacrifices we make for diving.
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