We're out with a company called Foaming Fury today, recommended by the hostel in Sydney. Were on a day trip to Cape Tribulation, two hours north of Cairns, where Cook ran aground. The driver meeting us has us listed as Kathy and Ian Drogen - a hat trick of misspellings.

As we get on the bus Mr Controversial Opinion is loudly berating the loss of corporal punishment in schools. We sit further back. After quite a few pick-ups around Cairns, we have a full bus of twenty people. There's a mix of ages from 18-70, all European/Australian. We have a couple of pick-ups in Port Douglas also, an ex-exclusive resort one hour north.

[...a dingy roadside café]

The first stop is a dingy roadside café, where we'll be enjoying a tasting of exotic fruits. Its stuck in the 1980s, fashion wise, which is a bit surreal. The toasties we get are terrible, and the fruits dull. Half an hour later we're really ready to move on. Not impressed. Neither is anyone else; everyones back on the bus ten minutes early.

We see fields of sugar canes, the local product, which is apparently in deep recession. Behind the fields, the mountainous Great Dividing Ranges, which start here and work down to Victoria, probably 3000km away, are green and covered by startlingly low and dense hanging clouds. Its raining a little, and a bit cold - we're not prepared for this, having left all warm clothing in the hostel.

We have a very scenic coastal drive, round twisty roads at sea level then up hills. Unfortunately the Great Ocean Road is better - we're starting to feel a been there, done that attitude. Its the only place in the world where two world heritage sites meet - the reef and Daintree National park - the wet tropics. Its one of the most important environments in the world.

[Daintree River mangroves]

[Daintree's best croc]

We are crossing the Daintree River on a boat, which is another croc spotting trip. I'm quite wary, after the last experience. The boats medium size, around 100 of us. But low, with almost no protecting sides. I sit in the middle! Tides in and its cloudy - not good croc spotting time, as they like to sit on mud banks in the sun to warm up. Still we see two small ones, and plenty of mangroves, which I quite like as scenery. Most people on the boat are impressed - the Kakadu crocs would've blown them away.

[The ferry]

[On the Daintree River]

Meantime the bus goes across on the ferry. We later hear that this costs $30 one way, which incenses the locals. Recently a guy found out its illegal to make a profit on public transport, and is suing the council, who may now go bust in back payments.

[Fan Palm]

[Some other fern]

[And another]

[Flowering tree]

[...flowering]

[Mangrove]

[Mouth of the Daintree River]

[Before and After]

Along the road we see Cassowary warning signs. We'd like to see one of these - but there are only thought to be 150 birds left in the whole of the Wet Tropics area which stretches for 450km. We've seen a couple in a wildlife park we drove past a couple of weeks ago, but we're trying to see everything in the wild. We walk a boardwalk around a rainforest, and learn more than we knew last time we did this, but its still a bit same old - a month ago this would've really excited me; think its coming towards time to go home.

[Cape Trib, looking north]

[...and south]

[...not the best place in town]

Lunch was pre-paid at $10, so should be fairly good, but its crap and over-priced. Its at a beach resort, and not the best place in town. The beach is a five minute walk, which we take in the rain. Its pretty beautiful, but marred by the weather. I've been told Cape Tribulation is amazing, and have high expectations, and I'm a bit disappointed. Its nice, but so are lots of places we've been.

[Mossman Gorge]

[*bounce*]

[*bounce*]

One of the highlights of the day for us was going to be a stop at an ice cream factory. Unfortunately they sample four flavours a day. Today is mango, blueberry, wattleseed and macademia nut. Wattleseed is very nice on bread, but we opt out of this one. I hate blueberry, so we go for the other two. Its nice ice cream, but a far cry from the huge range of flavours wed anticipated.

We stop at Mossman Gorge, a river lookout with a bridge. The most exciting thing is that the footbridge wobbles, and you can really scare people by bouncing on it.

[Lookout on the coast road]

Unfortunately we're not impressed by today, and pretty disappointed. Despite the drivers best efforts, the stops are unimpressive, and we just didn't see enough of Cape Tribulation. The driver seems to aspire to being a stand-up comedian, and constantly cracks bad jokes. It all gets a bit surreal in the afternoon as he launches into a long monologue about having mobile phones implanted in your head in the future, and no-one can work out whether he's joking.

Back to the hostel at 6.30pm, we return to the Mexican from last night to retrieve my jumper I left behind. We attempt to eat at the best Italian in town, but its full. The one opposite doesn't have much veggie stuff, so we try the one next door. Whilst studying the menu outside, someone comes running out and is sick in the bushes. We go back to the Red Ochre Grill. Okay, we're not experimenting, but at least we're eating Australian food, having something different each time, and it is good. Iain has wallaby tonight.

After a long spod, we get to bed at 11pm. The diary is becoming a bit of a bind, I'm afraid to say. Each days review is getting longer, and I waffle more. Its taking half an hour to type each day, and its hard to keep up to date. However, even if no-one else reads this, our European diary is a delight for us to read four years later, and I'll inflict this on my kids eventually.