Ah Cairns, I have such happy memories of you. Of your sticky humidity, where walking anywhere – even at night – was a sweaty ordeal. Of the Great Barrier Reef which was everything we dreamed and more; where I snorkelled through another planet, may or may not have seen a shark, and spent the rest of the day on the nicest boat with the nicest people. Of the waterfalls we visited – including the Peter Andre Mysterious Girl waterfall, wahey – and the natural rock slide into the freezing cold waters below. Of the baby turtle we rescued from the side of the road on the way home and which became my single favourite memory of the trip (screw the waterfalls, what about the dehydrated baby turtle). Of the city where we partied. Hard. Like 4 nights of 7. Like until ridiculous times when we had to be up in the morning at the crack of dawn.

We took a two day trip into the heart of the jungle too, to Cape Tribulation where the rainforest meets the ocean and where you are not allowed to swim because of the stingers (jellyfish) but also where you should be careful where you walk because of the alligators. I feel like everything is trying to kill you in Australia. Not to mention the spiders…The place was beautiful though and in between dodging the spiders and the jellyfish and the alligators we went zip-wiring through the rainforest, explored the beaches next to our hostel and generally got very sweaty.

On the way back from Cape Tribulation, on our last night in Australia, we witnessed the most beautiful sunset through the clouds over the ocean, and it was such a perfect send-off from this amazing country. That, and the seedy club we spontaneously visited later that night in Cairns which included a Jell-O wrestling arena, but the less we talk about that better. Ahhh Cairns, thanks for showing us a blast and for ending our time in Australia on a high.