Fair Warning: this is my last travel post from our six week vacation and it is a LONG one.

After our kanga/koala day trip excursion, we tried to get ahold of our travel agent, but it was a Sunday night. Our Qantas flight up to Cairns Airport had not been canceled. We were seeing reports of a Cyclone (Cyclone Debbie) off the coast of Eastern Australia that could potentially hit as far north as Port Douglas, but more likely would hit our end-of-the-week destination, Hamilton Island. We decided there was nothing we could do at the moment, so we continued on as planned. We flew to Cairns without incident and were driven north to Thala Beach Nature Reserve where we were scheduled for three nights.

I wasn’t sure what to expect of Kuranda, it looked really touristy from the brochure we were given at the skyrail office down in Cairns. We walked around a bit. It was excruciatingly hot in the rainforest at this time as the cyclone was pushing all kinds of hot air up into North Queensland from the desert. By this time we were hearing that the cyclone would not venture as far north as Cairns or Port Douglas, but it was set to hit Hamilton Island (and the surrounding areas) really hard. We were in wait-and-see mode. The travel agent from the U.S. had contacted us and told us their liaisons in Australia would call us shortly. Turns out, they never did, but for the moment we were focused on Kuranda, and staying hydrated, and finding something to do for the 2-3 hours before our train was scheduled to depart back to Cairns.

Kuranda Village felt a bit like a cruise ship town in the middle of the tropical rainforest. Souvenirs galore. We did some window shopping and then I came across the artist’s gallery from which we would purchase that piece for the beach house. Here’s another look at it.

While I was perusing the map of Kuranda Village, I noticed there was a Koala Garden near the gallery and, the opportunity to hold a Koala. I am not enamored with zoos and animals kept in captivity, but my desire to hold a Koala overpowered my politically correct nature and I figured… when in Australia…

Eventually, after meeting a really special artist, and hanging out with some adorable marsupials, it was time to catch the Kuranda Scenic Railway back to Cairns.

The next day, Wednesday, we were getting a bit antsy as we had not heard from the Australia travel agent and we had no idea what was happening with our Hamilton Island Resort. We knew the storm had set down in the area of where we were headed, but we had no idea what the damage was, mainly because phone service was out down there. We took the shuttle from our resort into Port Douglas and headed into a travel agency to see if they could give us any information. We ended up finding out that our resort had been hit heavily and they would be closed for at least three to four months. Strange that our flight down had not been canceled yet. The agent called Qantas and they confirmed that they were in the process of canceling all flights to the Islands.

We had some choices, but at this point, the original travel agency had our money. We figured we would be given the opportunity to stay at Thala, but we were kind of wanting a change at that point. Our last few days were scheduled to be spent relaxing by the pool or beach at a luxurious full service resort and spending one day out at the great barrier reef. What to do, what to do. The Sheraton was the nicest Port Douglas beach resort and the travel agent was warning us that it probably wasn’t going to be up to what we were expecting. It was not in the same class with the resort we had booked at Hamilton Island.

She suggested we look into Silky Oaks Lodge. Another North Queensland location, deeper in the rainforest, but a more luxurious resort. We ended up calling directly the agent that was supposed to have been working with us, but whom we had not heard from and she did end up booking the Lodge for us and they also comped us a Daintree forest day excursion for Saturday. We then went and booked a catamaran day trip to the Great Barrier Reef for Friday, and we were set.

Friday was all about The Great Barrier Reef. We had to see the reef. I cannot imagine going to Australia and not seeing the reef, but it is true that some of the reef is dying off. There are lots of areas where the coral life is still thriving, but we weren’t prepared to go that far out and I am still not comfortable snorkeling, but we thoroughly enjoyed our catamaran ride out to and our relaxing afternoon at Low Isles.

We took a guided walking tour of the interior of the island and learned some fun plant and birdlife facts. We also learned that this was the small island where they transported Steve Irwin’s body to try and revive him after he was stung by the stingray in 2006. He was pronounced dead on arrival.

Our final full day in North Queensland was dedicated to intimately exploring the Daintree Rainforest. There were five of us on the tour including the guide. Our first stop was to Walu Wugirriga (lookout).

Our guide then drove us to the Noah Valley area of Daintree Rainforest and gave us a little lesson on spotting poisonous snakes before we embarked on our proper forest hike. Our guide is a snake expert. He was actually excited to potentially spot a poisonous snake. I was not so excited. Thankfully we did not spot any snakes.

After our rainforest hike and learning all about the types of trees indigenous to the area, we headed to Cape Tribulation:

Cape Tribulation was named by British navigator Lieutenant James Cook on 10 June 1770 (log date) after his ship scraped a reef north east of the cape, whilst passing over it, at 6pm. Cook steered away from the coast into deeper water but at 10.30pm the ship ran aground, on what is now named Endeavour Reef. The ship stuck fast and was badly damaged, desperate measures being needed to prevent it foundering until it was refloated the next day. Cook recorded “…the north point [was named] Cape Tribulation because here begun all our troubles”. (Wikipedia)

After visiting Cape Tribulation we ventured back to Noahs Valley for a delicious outdoor lunch and another short hike. This time down to a gorgeous swimming hole. It was raining (in the rainforest, imagine that–still 90+ degrees) so we opted not to swim, we were plenty wet already.

After our post lunch hike, we headed to the Daintree River to see if we could spot some crocodiles.

After our tour, on our last night in the rainforest, we decided to check out the swimming hole at Silky Oaks Lodge.

The next morning we were back to Cairns for our uneventful flight back to Sydney Airport, and our eventual flights back home. I was really worried about the 13 1/2 hour flight from Sydney to Los Angeles, but the flight was actually quite comfortable. I had opted for a small upcharge to Premium Economy on Virgin Australia. We had lots of leg room, entertainment galore, and our meals were actually served on real china. Totally worth it. Jet lag turned out to be a real bitch, but considering we had an amazing six weeks, I’m not complaining (anymore, ;)).