At Melbourne airport there was a parting of the ways. Ant was off to sunny Alice Springs, whilst James and Dave were set to brave the blustery coastal town of Cairns. At an airport with benches that had clearly defined single seats separated by armrests, it seemed improbable that James would be able to get any shut-eye. Within minutes however, he had managed to thread himself through and around the armrests in ivy-like fashion and it was left to Dave and his eye supporting cocktails sticks to stay awake in order to catch the flight. Once aboad, James' nap proved a masterstroke as Dave typically slumped into his seat and was dead to the world in moments. With a complimentary meal up for grabs, James sensed an opportunity and provided an astonishing ventriloquist act to the bewildered cabin crew, ensuring Dave's meal would not be wasted.

Having safely touched down in Cairns, we were greeted by what is colloquially known as a 'skinny slaphead' or otherwise, our hostel's minibus driver. We were given a short tour of Cairns en route to Gilligans which showed us a small town with plenty of character, as well as a lot of rain. We were already aware that Gilligans was a lively hostel having been informed of its nights out by previous travelling buddies. The sight of hungover bodies slumped across the hostel reception was a sign of things to come. However, initially we were still both too tired to take in any of the town, so after checking the three stalwarts of the internet (hotmail/facebook/bbc sport), we hit up our bunk beds for a kip. Awaking in time for the free meal that Gilligans offered, we chatted to our roommates (a couple of Irish blokes, one of whom was of course called Paddy) and headed down to the bar. The meal was school dinner-esque but was adequate enough to stave of hunger for at least 20 minutes, before happy hour allowed us to fill our stomaches via other means. After happy hour we were invited to a room party where we made our acquaintances with Australia's most illustrious boxed wine, traditionally known as goon. Our goon of choice was the world renowned, Coolabah with their fine version of a fruity lexia flavour we would soon learn to stomach. Four litres in a pack was enough to be getting on with.

The next day, suffering slightly from the introduction to our new alcoholic friend goon, we headed out of the hostel in order for some fresh air and to explore Cairns. Incredibly, our wander took us directly past a kebab house which happened to serve a wonderfully greasy fry up. Not quite feeling the bacon in the breakfast, James headed off in search of an alternative measure of calming his hunger pains. Within moments, James returned with a face riddled with excitement and anguish. In his hand he held a map and on this map was an asterix. With our primary tour guide somewhere in the depths of the outback, Dave blindly followed James across Cairns only to find the holy grail of hangover food, a Dominos Pizza outlet. Unable to resist the temptation of a the brand new meatlovers pizza, James and Dave acted quickly so as not to miss out on this 'limited time only' promotion, with Dave's second batch of hangover food coming just 3 hours after stirring from a normal deep slumber.

This pattern of goon, takeaway and berocca, manifested itself to become an integral part of our daily routine. Friday came as a shock to both of us. An early start for our Great Barrier Reef trip, although planned, was still difficult given the lack of preparation and foresight from the previous night. Our first taste of jelly wrestling was apparently not an ideal warm up on the way to see jellyfish and their aquatic friends. Nonetheless, we made it onto the boat in time for our 7am start, accompanied by a smattering of sustainance to keep us going. After a little snooze and after overcoming a small bout of sea-sickness, we had a safety lecture and then we set loose on the ocean with our snorkelling gear, about 30 kilometres off the coast of Cairns. The ocean currents were so strong that within a minute we were a good hundred metres from the boat after floating effortlessly. After becoming accustomed to the use of flippers, paraphernalia James barely needed, we enjoyed an hours snorkelling before we were set to go on our first dive. The visibility was worse than that of Maya Bay but fish were much greater in size. A good taster session before our dive.

After the snorkelling we were excited to delve deeper into the reef and experience our first dive. Having donned the necessary apparatus, we plunged into the water and acclimatised ourselves to the bizzare feeling of breathing underwater. Our guide led us down with locked arms so we didn't drift away (or sink, given our current body masses) to depths of about 10 metres. Dave struggled somewhat with his ears on the way down but battled through as the pressure got more intense. It was worth it. With rented underwater camera in hand we managed to get some reasonable photos to remember the experience by but nothing beats being down there and seeing it for yourself. After ten minutes or so and after seeing some fantastic fish, clams, anemonies and amazing coral we headed for the sanctuary of the surface and a subway style lunch platter. After lunch we were able to take a short boat ride to Green Island and relax on the beach for a couple of hours and explore the vine thicket rainforest before it was time to head for shore. Despite the weather being primarily overcast and being soaked by torrential rain on the way back, Dave, quite impressively managed to burn once again.

The following day, the rain seemed to have lifted from the previous week and our friends that had been stuck in Cairns because of the terrible weather all the way down the north east coast, managed to get a flight out. This meant a quiet last night by Gilligans standards which meant our early start for the flight the next day was easier than expected. Brisbane was beckoning and potential sunshine was a more than welcome prospect after a week of almost solid rain. What's more, our unofficial tour guide was waiting for us, so we left for Brisbane ready for a relaxing couple of days.

Dave and James