Andrew Betts

Today was to be our first organised tour. We had to be ready for 8 am, and in our ignorance decided to have breakfast in the hostel restaurant, not knowing that took over 40 minutes to get served a cooked breakfast. We got it about 30-40 seconds before the bus turned up.

The tour, however, was excellent - one of the best I was to take while in Australia. Our tour guide had a good sense of humour and an absolutely enormous ego, so even the long periods of driving between pockets of interesting stuff were not boring.

C’mon guys! Hug some treeees

We visited four sites, where we admired spectacular waterfalls, learned the history of the rainforest and its ecosystem, and had the opportunity to swim in the plunge pools at the base of the waterfalls. Bit cold - I wimped out and took photos instead. Our tour also included a great deal of information about the current status of the area as a World Heritage site and the changing focus of the North Queensland industries from logging to tourism, although one of the primary industries, sugar cane farming, has remained vitally important.

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