5 February 2008 - Australia

Day 118 - After a lovely week in the company of Keith and Irene and Lynne's mum and dad we checked into a hotel for our last night in Cairns.

Day 119 - In the morning we picked up our hire car for our trip further up the east coast. We stopped at Mossman Gorge - a series of rock pools in the rainforest. Then it was on to Cape Tribulation and the Daintree Rainforest. We stayed overnight in Port Douglas.

Day 120 - Off on our second reef trip to the Low Isles (a small sand island surrounded by reef). We went on a snorkel tour with the Marine Biologist. He showed us lots of different fish and picked up sea cucumbers to hold. We went off on our own and were lucky enough to get up close and personal with a green turtle. We watched it sit on the coral and followed it around for a short while - an amazing sight and one of our highlights.

Day 121 - A chilled out day around Port Douglas.

Day 122 - We left Port Douglas and took a slow drive back to Cairns. We stopped at the small town of Palm Cove for lunch by the sea. It was then time to drop off the car and head to the airport for our flight to Darwin.

Day 123 - A day of organising in Darwin so quite uneventful.

Day 124 - Tour of Litchfield National Park. We visited a number of waterfalls (Florence Falls, Buley Rockhole and Wangi Falls) where we swam in the clear waters. We then went to the Tolmer Falls lookout and watched a lightning storm in the distance.

Day 125 - Day 1 of the Kakadu National Park tour. After a couple of hours driving we arrived in the National Park and had a short walk to the Narwurlandja lookout. This spot had views over Nourlangie Rock and Anbangbang Billabong (near where Crocodile Dundee was filmed). Next was a closer look at Nourlangie Rock where we saw various examples of Aboriginal rock art (some from the last century and some hundreds of years old).

Day 126 - Day 2 of Kakadu tour. We visited three different sites where we got to swim under beautiful waterfalls (Motorcar Falls - which was reached after a 3km walk in extreme heat and humidity Boulder Creek and Moline Rockholes).

Day 127 - Day 3 of tour. A rather more strenuous walk (6km return and wading through creeks and climbing over and under fallen trees!) to reach a place called Gubara (more waterfalls!). Last stop was a Crocodile Cruise down the Adelaide River. We were lucky enough to see about 5 crocs (ranging from 2-5 metres in length!). The guide fed them meat from a pole making them jump out of the water to get their supper - a very impressive (and a bit scary) sight.

Day 128 - A final g'day to Australia. We had 3 days worth of sweaty clothes to get washed and then headed into town to kill a few hours in the cinema (watching Sweeney Todd - very bloody!) before our evening flight to Auckland (via Sydney).