GUEST ARTICLE: Hello from the North of Australia ~ Cairns! We arrived in tropical paradise after a quick 3 hour flight from Sydney picked up our car rental and headed to our hotel located about 30 minutes north of Cairns in a beautiful little town called Palm Cove.

Our first adventure was on the Foaming Fury (yeah I know scary name eh!), a white water rafting trip down the Baron River. The rapids at that time weren’t exactly foaming with fury which made paddling quite the effort in some spots.

There were 5 of us in our little raft with a rough and ready “She-Ra” as our yes sir/no sir Sarg for the day. Before heading out we were coached on what to do during any dire emergencies and major rapids/drops we may encounter. 2 hours later after a few 3 meter drops (fun!) and some really scenic viewing we arrived back on shore with spag arms in tow. Next time I’d love to go when there’s a bit more water for that extra push.

The next day we hopped on a catamaran (Ocean Freedom) and headed about an hour out to the outer Great Barrier Reef. The day was perfect making the reef light up in its awesome array of blues and greens. The water was warm and the fishies both big and small abundant. So abundant in fact that at one point I was surrounded by these giant Spangled Emperors, those babies weigh in at about 10kg each.

Not much you say? Well try being surrounded by about 20 or more of them staring you down with their big unblinking fish eyes, yikes! I actually had to kick two in the head from getting too close to the fish food – yeah me! Nah, just kidding (not about the kicking), but it did freak me out a bit, I think I looked like a fish popping out the water at mach speed trying to get back on the boat!

Overall the day was absolutely wonderful. The Great Barrier Reef is a definite must do! (PS – The boats going out to the reef are various prices. If you want to join a tour that has less people then avoid the really cheap ones if you can.)

Just outside of Cairns is this really cool water park called Cable Ski. It’s a huge lake that has a network of cables running above it. The idea is that it acts like a pulley and takes you around the lake allowing you to water-ski, wakeboard or kneeboard.

The lake is also full of trick ramps and poles for the really talented show offs out there. Did I give it a red hottie? Nah, no way mate, I felt way more comfortable being on the laughing and pointing end of that stick! Although, if no one was looking…

Situated right next to the Cable Ski is one of the best cable cars we’ve ever been on called the Skyrail Rainforest Cableway. It’s an awesome 7.5 kilometre journey from Cairns to Kuranda. It travels over the beautiful lush rainforest and stops at 2 different stations along the way, each of them having their own very interesting scenic attractions, giving you a real rainforest experience.

At the end of the line is the beautiful little town of Kuranda. You can also take the Kuranda scenic railway in conjunction with the cableway if you like.

If you’re looking for a great vacation spot Cairns would have to be it. There are just so many things to see and do. We only touched the surface. We went just at the end of winter (end of Sept), a perfect time to go because the box jellyfish aren’t there yet so you can swim with no worries and the weather is dry and beautiful!

Rob Gower’s Cairns, Queensland Photo Gallery

This travel diary has been written by Rob Gower, a traveler who works part-time for a bus hire company and enjoys traveling along roads less traveled!

If you’ve travelled somewhere off the beaten track, can write well and have good quality photos I encourage you to contact me and I’ll consider publishing your travel diary here including generous attribution and links back to your website as thanks for your contribution

GUEST ARTICLE: When travelling through outback Queensland I always try to take the time to turn of the highway into the small towns that dot the country side.

These days the roads no longer go through these towns which are slowly dying as people travel past them on highways at 110kph.

The photo above is from a town called Wyandra.

Pulling off the main road into this town where there were literally emu’s walking on the main street, I spent nearly an hour taking photos in and around the town.

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This photo I felt not only captured the outback, but the way that life is conducted. These days the Pub is often the only shop left working, becoming the corner shop, the post office and in this case the petrol station.

I saw all three people wandering around the town and yet could here a community of activity inside the hotel.

My only regret was not having enough time to stop for a beer, to sit and listen to the locals and the towns living history.

This guest article has been written by my friend Wolf Cocklin (@wolfcat on Twitter). Wolf is interested in photography, mobile, GPS, tech stuff and what the future holds in all of these

If you’ve travelled somewhere off the beaten track, can write well and have good quality photos I encourage you to contact me and I’ll consider publishing your travel diary here including generous attribution and links back to your website as thanks for your contribution

GUEST ARTICLE: The famous Daintree Rainforest is located 90 minutes drive out of Cairns, Queensland in North-Eastern Australia. The drive is really scenic as you meander along the beautiful rocky coast, with fields of tall sugarcane and of course the lush mountainous rainforest.

Along the way we stopped at a place called Bruce Belcher’s Croc Cruises and for $20 we hopped on one of his little river boats and went up and down the Daintree River in search of crocs along the muddy banks. The cruise didn’t disappoint and we spotted quite a few crocs both big and small. Afterwards we hopped back in our car and took a ferry across the river to Cape Tribulation and the Daintree National Park.

As soon as we entered the park we came across numerous “Cassowaries Crossing” signs. The Cassowary is a giant flightless bird that can be up to six feet tall and weigh up to 104lbs. They are known to be notoriously vicious when it comes to protecting their young and they’ve also been known to have killed men with their sharp razor like toenails.

Don’t even think of trying to outrun them unless of course you clock faster than 30mph or have some funky wolverine like toenails of your own. Unfortunately we didn’t come across any of these beauties, next time!

We went into the Rainforest Discovery Centre and climbed up the Canopy Tower but unfortunately once again we didn’t see anything, even at all levels of the canopy looking into the different levels of the rainforest, not sure it’s worth $30 each.

We did get to go on a really good walk after that though and for free. It’s called the Marrdja Botanical Walk, an excellent 540 meter wooden boardwalk that takes you through both the lush rainforest and the mangroves. There’s also a very peculiar tree there that’s like one I’ve never seen before made up of a mass of intertwining roots, very cool.

After all of that walking we decided to cool off and drove to Thornton Beach and took a dip in the beautiful lukewarm waters. The beaches run for miles and you can almost get them pretty much to yourself – perfect. Being the end of winter the dangerous Box Jellyfish weren’t around yet, so it was okay to go in but in the summer months they don’t recommend entering the waters without stinger suits.

We had a wonderful trip through the rainforest, there are plenty of other attractions throughout the area and if you’re feeling really adventurous you can 4×4 it even further north to Cooktown or Weipa and experience the real Aussie Outback!

We saw lots of bus tours into the Daintree Rainforest but we reckon the best way to see the park is to rent your own car and be free to stop and see things at your own pace. September/October is the perfect time to visit the area – not super hot or humid and no days spoiled by rain or box jellyfish!

This travel diary has been written by Rob Gower, a traveler who works part-time for a bus hire company and enjoys traveling along roads less traveled!

If you’ve travelled somewhere off the beaten track, can write well and have good quality photos I encourage you to contact me and I’ll consider publishing your travel diary here including generous attribution and links back to your website as thanks for your contribution