Daintree and The Great Barrier Reef and Cairns Again

So get ready for a lot of scenic boardwalks.... its Daintree in the Winter! So I think the super appeal of this place is that they have those trees that grow under water. Our problem was that it was the dry season... so no water. However, we also missed out on Stinger season and got just a taste of the mosquitos (which was a lot... until Kakadu, more on that later). It was still pretty impressive wandering through the rainforest, Mossman Gorge, and watching Dad drive on the other side of the road with minimal problems. We drove up this very windy road, getting out for scenic lookouts and loops. Here are some pictures.

former underwater trees

more former underwater trees 

pokemon?

a totally empty beach... amazing!

So now the Great Barrier Reef. No pictures here. It was a miserable weather day. We walked onto the boat and they immediately offered us seasickness medicine. If you don't already know, me and boats really don't get along. My dad and boats even less so. So we took the miserable rocky 1 hour boat ride to a small island. Did I mention it was overcast too? So the guide took us on a tour of the island and taught us about how shells come to be, citing it wasn't worth going in the water. When we eventually did (with wet suits) it was really really cool! I'm not much of a snorkeler, but the reef was really cool. Floating about the wiggly coral... I could only imagine how amazing it would be on a clear calm day. Will definitely have to come back there someday. 

 After all this, it was on to Melbourne! But we stopped at a gorge first!

Stinging Plants! Aus trying to kill us again. 

Onto Melbourne!