As I turned another year older this week, it got me thinking about what I have been doing and have had an annual review. My 23rd year commenced with me going skiing for the first time, working hard-ish for a major savings plan, suffering my first major bout of sea sickness in Portugal while chilling with my Leeds girls, a little more work, followed by experiencing a multitude of cultures, having a Singapore sling at the Raffles hotel, seeing iconic landmarks and buildings, stroking tigers, riding elephants, drinking cocktails on the rooftop of a 5 star hotel in Bangkok at sunset, running away from angry ladyboys, taking a private speedboat around Phi Phi island, taking numerous flights, spending countless hours on uncomfortable buses and trains, finding an even worse boat for sea sickness, navigating my way around a few foreign transport systems, seeing in the New Year with a glass of champagne in hand overlooking the Sydney opera house and harbour bridge, climbing the Sydney harbour bridge, learning to drive a tractor, realising I am not cut out for a career in farming, cuddling a koala, couch surfing, standing up on an actual surf board and catching my first wave, camping on Fraser island, driving a 4x4 in the ultimate off-roading conditions and speeding along 75 Mile beach with the waves crashing alongside us, climbing so many hills to see different islands and scenery from numerous lookouts, saving Loggerhead turtle eggs, holding a crocodile, holding a snake, being overwhelmed by the beauty of Whitehaven beach, sailing on boot camp boat, meeting so many new people from around the world, and seeing the earth from a whole new perspective as I skydived from 14,000 feet for the adrenaline high of the year. Overall, its not been a bad year! So, here's to hoping there is more of that to come for the following year!

After an adventurous, yet relaxing couple of days in Mission beach, we took our final Greyhound bus to our final destination of Australia, Cairns. Here we are staying with another of Ruth's relatives called Rachel, her husband Shaun and children Joshua, Harriet and Daisy. The house is beautiful and is very open plan with a pool in the back garden and we have our own room in the converted garage. We are very grateful!

Our first full day in Cairns was my birthday so I had an early morning Skype session with the family which was lovely. The girls kindly got me a card, some new flip flops (as my current pair were on their last legs), a cake and some white chocolate tim tams. It was really nice as I wasn't expecting anything. Rachel and Shaun have kindly let us borrow their second car for our stay so we popped into town to book a couple of trips and have a look around Cairns. Cairns is more of a big country town rather than a city but it is still nice and modern. There are no proper beaches in Cairns and you cannot go in the water especially at this time of year due to stingers. There is however, a lovely infinity-styled lagoon near the pier which looks very nice and apparently the water isn't too warm which is a bonus up here!

That evening the family presented me with my birthday cake and sang a great rendition of Happy birthday. We then got ready and went for a nice meal down at the pier. The service was a little slow, but we were in no rush and the cocktails and food were very good when they came!

After this we headed over to one of the big hostel bars in town to meet up with Tom, Kyle, Karly and Ashley and party the night away with a few too many shots! We also bumped into a few other people here and had a really good night. The only problem with the place was the crowd of sweaty men who stunk out the whole club!

The next morning we decided to go up to the little hippy town of Kuranda to look around the quirky markets there and enjoy the scenic drive. We took Harriet, the families eldest daughter, with us and had a girly day! We came back to the house and cooled off in the pool. That evening we were on babysitting duty so Rachel and Shaun could have a night out, so we ordered pizza in and watched movies. It was a lovely chilled day.

Well rested, we were up at 6.30am the next day as we were going out on a boat to the Great Barrier Reef for the day. We had to board the boat by 7.30am where we were checked in, given a medical questionnaire and served a bacon and egg roll with a cup of tea for breakfast. We already decided we were going to like this boat! Although it wouldn't take much to improve on our boat trip in the Whitsundays! The staff were very good on the boat and were all very knowledgable on the reef and encouraged people to go and ask questions. There was also a marine biologist on board who gave a presentation about the reef and species that live among it that we may see. He was around all day to talk to and gave a guided snorkelling tour in the afternoon. After our breakfast, presentation and safety talks we sailed to our first dive spot. Here we were taken out in groups of four for our introductory dive. The certified divers could go off, or people could snorkel. The dive lasted about 15-20 minutes and we practised the skills they taught us, such as clearing water from your mask and what to do if your mouthpiece got knocked out. We then set off for a little swim to see some of the coral and colourful fish. It was quite a cloudy day so apparently everything doesn't look as colourful in this weather. Before we went down, Sally was a little nervous and Jade was ready to not get in, but they both did really well and enjoyed it. Ruth and I have dived in Turkey once before, but there we were just weighted down and swam along the sea floor, whereas here we got to swim around a bit more and we really had to keep swimming down, otherwise we floated to the top. The time went really quickly but it was a good amount for an introduction to diving.

Sally and I then went out on a little glass bottomed boat, it got so close over the top of the reef. One of the dive masters took us and like everyone else who worked on board, he really knew his stuff. It makes such a difference having good staff and really made it an enjoyable day.

We arrived back to the main boat in time for a very nice lunch and a cuppa before we set sail again. The boat stopped in the afternoon at Breaking Points for another swimming session. The other three went snorkelling, which was apparently very good, but the sea was very choppy so it was hard work contending with the waves. I chose to pay to do a second dive which lasted longer and we dove deeper. I felt I didn't really look properly the first time as we stopped a lot. It was really good, four of us went out, then after about 20 minutes the dive master took one girl up as she had used her oxygen up, then about 10 minutes later he took another guy up so it was just two of us in the group for the whole time. We got more of an opportunity to swim around and were really lucky to see a turtle swimming alongside us then up and away, it looked like the shots you usually see on the tv! The coral was really pretty and varied and there were so many different types of fish. The dive master wiggled an anemone and lots of Nemo clown fish swam out. I think I saw most of the 'Finding Nemo' cast, except the sharks! Phew! Another dive master came and took me off to show me and pick up things you could touch on the bottom, and tickled some coral that had its feeding tentacles out, which it retracted as soon as the diver got near. The reef grows in blocks called bungles (or something like that I think!), and at the edges it drops off like a huge cliff face to the deep sea. It was good to swim up to the edge and along the side where we could see lots of starfish. Swimming around the reef is like being on a totally different planet, it's amazing to see up close. The water temperature was around 29 degrees Celsius, so it was nice and warm to get in and we didn't need wetsuits. Although not wearing one put you at risk of jellyfish stings, but they said there was only a small risk of actually being stung. Despite this, after spending a while in the water, you got pretty chilly. With this, it was time to get out and dry off. We were given an afternoon snack of wine with cheese and biscuits before crushing back to Cairns. The girls had a nap while I went to enjoy the breeze up on the loungers on the sun deck. It was a really nice boat. As we arrived back in Cairns and got off, all the crew lined the boat and we had to high five everyone goodbye. It was a little strange but a nice thing and topped off a really good day.

As we arrived back at the house, we were greeted by Hattie and Daisy who presented us with necklaces and bracelets they had made for us. Shaun and Rachel made us a lovely tea and we then had a glow stick party with the girls before they went to bed. We decided to go back into town and visit Cairns night market to look around the stalls and Ruth bought some Ugg boots. Ruth and I then went for a chinese massage to relax after our difficult day! Ruth really liked it, but I think I found it more brutal than the Thai massage we had in Bangkok!

On Monday we decided to take the car up to visit Cape Trubulation. On the way we stopped at Port Douglas and sat on four mile beach while Sally and Jade walked along it. From here we went to the Mossman Gorge and walked along the boardwalk, suspension bridge and paddled in the icy river. The gorge was very pretty set amongst the rainforest.

After a quick lunch we took the ferry across the Daintree river to carry on driving up to Cape Tribulation main beach. When we got here we got caught in a torrential tropical storm so the cagoules came out once again.
A tour guide told us to go up to the bay lookout point as we would see 'heaps'. So, we trekked up to be able to see hardly anything as it was so misty due to the storm. However, we could imagine that it would be very pretty if it was a nice day. From here we planned to do a couple more little walks in the rainforest but as the heavy rain never really cleared up we didn't fancy getting out of the car! We took the ferry back over to Daintree and intended to go out on a wild crocodile hunting boat. But, as we came off the ferry and drove along, a campervan backed out across the road in front of us and then got bogged in the grassy verge. By now it was tipping it down and all the other cars drove by, so we decided to help out and offer a push. Campervan saved, we returned to the car. We had only been out of the car two minutes, but looked like we had just got out from a swim in the sea. Therefore, we drove home in our underwear! Well except for Jade, who remembered to get her cagoule and by the time she got to the camper, we had already pushed it out!
So, the croc tour was abandoned as we could hardly anything and time was getting on so we decided to head home to Cairns. The weather was terrible coming home, the rain was pouring down, I could only see about 5 metres in front of the car, and rain was streaming down the mountainside like waterfalls and flooding the winding country roads. It was a bit hairy for a while but we made it.

That evening we were on babysitting duties again so Shaun and Rachel could go out. The kids were really good.

We woke up today to the realisation it was our last day in Australia! We can't believe we have been here for nine and a half weeks! To celebrate, Shaun arranged a helicopter flight for us.
We arrived at the office at 8am and were flown out over the Great Barrier Reef to a private sandbank in the middle of the reef. We spent two hours here snorkelling and chilling. Looking across the isolated island, past our helicopter and over the reef was so pretty, it made me realise how lucky we are to here. I flew in the front seat back to Cairns and had a great view as we went across Green island and the longest uninterrupted stretch of reef. It was a great morning. I definitely think I need to find a job where I need to be escorted around by helicopter!

We have spent the last afternoon packing. We really can't believe how quickly time has gone and that we have spent the last nine an a half weeks here in Australia and completed the east coast. We have six weeks left away and know they are going to fly by, so we will have to make the most of them. Almost everyone we have met in Australia has been very friendly and hospitable. We have done so many things and enjoyed the laid back Australian lifestyle. I will miss it here.

Tonight we fly back down Brisbane and are spending the night in the airport ready for our early morning flight to Christchurch, which we are all very excited about! So,my next post will be coming from somewhere in New Zealand!

Amy. x