Townsville - Cairns

Well I joined a couple of agencies, did half a day of work - envelope stuffing, even though I called them daily! Spent alot of time wandering and watching crappy old videos. Walked up Castle Hill a couple of times, went swimming in the pool and chilled again!!! Finished a book, started a new one.
After a week and a half and a very drunken evening I decided to jump back onto the Oz Bus up to Mission Beach then Cairns. So with a hangover I caught the bus at 1.30 on Saturday and off we went to Mission Beach. Not too much happened. I read some more and we had a few stops for food and views. We did however reach part of the area that Cyclone Larry hit in March. Cyclone Larry was a grade 5 Cyclone and took out alot of the rainforest and destroyed crops and homes. Apparently the only difference between a Cyclone and a Hurricane is that a Cyclone spins anti-clockwise and a Hurricane clockwise and they are graded the same. Quite strange seeing the thinned out rainforest with trees snapped in half and some destroyed buildings, bit shocking.
Had a chilled out evening in Mission Beach. Tried Kangeroo Steak, it was just like beef, don't really agree with eating Kangeroo but thought I'd try it. No need to ever eat it again.
The next morning we left at 8am and headed straight to grab some breakfast. After that we jumped back on and off we went to The Johnstone River Crocodile Farm. I like to see the crocodiles but I really don't agree with farming them for meat and skin, its just wrong. Anyway we saw a feeding and a massive crocodile that didn't really do anything, looked a bit fake but ate a chicken leg so must've been real. I held a crocodile which was great and also a carpet python and I loved that. Really love snakes and crocodiles and would love to learn more about them.
After seeing the crocodiles etc we headed to Milla Milla Falls, I came here last time I was in Oz and there was hardly any water, and it was beautiful, plenty of water coming down.
We grabbed some lunch and headed to a lake to eat it. The lake was purely rain water which is quite amazing for such a drought stricken place. It was so clear and large. We left there at 2.30 and had a quick stop at a look out over Cairns to take photos.
Had a really chilled out night, ate dinner then watched tv....
So now I am in Cairns and I start my Padi Open Water Dive course tomorrow morning for 4 days, Sunday and Monday I am on a Cape Tribulation Tour and then, here is the exciting stuff, Wednesday I am doing a 14,000ft Skydive (oh shit!!!) and white water rafting in the afternoon!! Should be great. I am then heading to Alice Springs on Sat 23rd where I'll see Ayres Rock and then head upto Darwin. Emma will be there so after I have done my Kakadu tour on 1st October we'll meet up and I will finally get a job, with proper determination!!
Hope everyone is well.
Dawn
xx