The Great Barrier Reef!

Nevertheless, the absolute highlight in Cairns was the sail excursion to the Great Barrier Reef, one of the seven wonders of the natural world and UNESCO world heritage! Every travel supplier has his own small place in the reef he may drive on. The further the reef is from mainland the better it is. We had several stops on different places where we did some diving. Unfortunately real diving lessons are so overpriced in Australia that i had to stick with my snorkel :). So i definitely have to catch up my diving license later, maybe in Thailand or Bali. Whatever even as snorkeler i was lucky enough to dive with reef sharks and turtles on one spot! Total insanity! In total a unforgettable excursion, also because of my bad sunburn on my back! 

sand island on the reef populated by seagulls 

two hours by boat to the reef, thats how we spend the time

see ya later Cairns

my ride to the Great Barrier Reef

let's race! We are first!

Finally, a car!

Finally, a car! After 1 1/2 weeks of reading announcements, phoning and sending messages, we bought a car. We got the it from another backpacker who stayed in our Hostel. It is a Ford Falcon Station Wagon from 2006. Actually the plan was to buy a Van because we need enough space for three persons. However we have ascertained that the risk and the costs for the car would be too high. 

We have decided to buy a car and not to go with the Greyhound, because we plan to work on a farm on our way down the eastcoast. Because generally farms aren't close to towns, in the case of Australia easily seven hours away from any zivilisation, we can only reach them by car. We don't have enough money to spend it on expensive hostels so we will although sleep in the Falcon for a while. Now we can finally start our trip to Sydney! The only disadvantage is that we have only 28 days to register the car in New South Wales which is about 2000 km away from Cairns but I think can make that!!

hello new home! 

my bed for the next month

yes its green but i don't care! :)

came with some additional camp-stuff

Hello Cairns, Goodbye Luggage

Finally in Cairns and in the Hostel. Unfortunately without my luggage up here! My backpack has remained in Brisbane. So half a day waiting for shampoo and new clothes and anyhow fighting against the jet lag to not fall asleep. Luckily I got my backpack delivered on time at 17 o'clock free of charge to the hostel and was able to go to bed finally. The Hostel for Cairns was booked for two weeks to have enough time to do all important things like opening a bank account, getting a mobile phone and buy a car to to begin our journey to Brisbane.

In the first week we booked some excursions in Cairns and region. The first one went 140 km north to the Cape Tribulation. A white sandy beach surrounded from rain forest, really worth seeing!

Before we went back to Cairns we did a boat trip by a nearby marsh. Here we have actually seen wild-living crocodiles on the shore! Very impressive!

After the boat trip and lunch we stopped in Port Douglas on our way back to Cairns. Port Douglas is a little village with a high rate of celebrities from Hollywood!

Esplanade Cairns 

Wild Crocodile!

Cape Tribulation

Calypso Hostel Cairns

Fun in the Rainforest

Tourist Walk through the Rainforest