10. The one in the not-so-wet tropical rainforests

Current weather: 26/18°C, sunny
Total distance travelled: 4295km (+290km)

Our only full day in Cairns started with the Skyrail cable car journey up through the Barron Gorge National Park to the town of Kuranda. The stops along the way provided interesting insight into the incredible rainforest ecosystem.

While the new glass platform provided amazing views of the Barron Gorge waterfall, you can only imagine what it would look & sound like in the wet season. Water was only flowing over a small section of the 250m cliff, although the mental capacity of a group that had hiked out, and were sitting on the edge of a dry ledge had to be questioned.

The famous markets of Kuranda were somewhat depressing, with many streets empty and stalls closed. The closure of international borders has obviously taken its toll here; the local crowds not so keen to hand over cash for kitch souvenirs. The local Aboriginal art displayed at a number of galleries was a clear highlight, along with a delicious lunch.

Our downhill journey was aboard the scenic railway - a tediously slow and noisy train by modern standards, but an amazing feat of late-1800's engineering and manual labour. Originally built to shore-up supply lines to the mining towns in the Tablelands, you quickly understand why it was soon overtaken by tourists.

For our last night in Cairns, we headed down to The Esplanade to enjoy some ice cream while walking along the foreshore.

The next day we drove further north, stopping briefly in Palm Cove to walk the bustling foreshore footpath, past all the Hamptons-style resorts overlooking the beach. Josh had a quick swim in the warm ocean water, making the most of a patrolled beach with stinger net.

The coastal drive north of Palm Cove rivals Victoria's Great Ocean Road, both for water's-edge scenery and frustratingly slow drivers. One thing you won't see in Victoria though is crocodiles - we finally saw our first wild croc, basking in the sun on the riverbank as we rolled past.

Upon arrival in Port Douglas, we were escorted to our site and guided while reversing our van in - an unexpected, but helpful service. The remainder of the afternoon was spent in the pool and on the waterslides.

We embarked on a daytrip to the Daintree National Park, stopping to learn more about the rainforests in the discovery centre. Josh loved the reptile & insect displays, while Acacia was intent to hear every available fact on the audio tour! My favourite fact: 1 hectare of Daintree rainforest has more tree species than the entire North American continent!

Driving to the end of the Great Barrier Reef Tourist Road brought us to Cape Tribulation, where world heritage rainforest meets world heritage reef, and asphalt turns to 4WD track. Thankfully we didn't get stranded here like Captain Cook, although our car failed to restart when attempting to get off the Daintree River ferry, which required a mad scramble to pop the hood and reseat the loose battery terminal without holding up a line of vehicles itching to disembark! I really need to fix that before road conditions deteriorate further inland!