1st August 2009 and we finally touch down in Australia!



But what a horrible journey to get here! An absolutely horrible flight that included 2 bratty children climbing out chairs and tickling Simons armpits and a 2hour stop over at Darwin at 3am! Just as we were checking into Caravellas backpackers it started to rain. So really not a good start to our Oz adventure!



For the next few days the weather was pretty bad still so we spent our days planning what to do next and out evenings walking along the esplanade and harbour, picking out the boats we want for when we make our millions! We couldnt even go to the lagoon as it was so cold! We weren't expecting to be wearing out jeans and jumpers this soon!



After 4 days we settled on the decision to rent a camper van and explore north of Cairns for 2 weeks, but we'll do a seperate blog for that adventure!



So 2 weeks later and we're back in Cairns, booked in at International Hostel for the next 6 days ($15 whata bargain!). We needed a few days to relax and get some proper sleep now we were back to real beds, what a luxury, and then we're getting our first Oz Experience bus to the next destination! So we literally spent the next 4days doing nothing and trying to save backs ome money as camping is a lot more costly than we thought! But 4 days of boredom was plenty enough so we booked out trip to the Great Barrier Reef!!



We woke up very early for our trip feeling very ill-dodgy late night chinese last night was not a good idea! But despite our dodgy tummies we headed to the marine to board our boat, Sun-Kist. Simon was sooo excited about finally getting to do a dive, especially as it was money from his Nan that was paying for it. We also decided to rent an underwater camera with my birthday money from Andy which was brilliant.


The journey to the reef was 2hours but it went quite quickly and we both felt much better by the time we arrived. The crew also managed to find some prescription goggles for me that matched my prescription perfectly so i signed up to do an intro dive! Simon went in first with his instructor, Niko, and all the other certified divers. After they had a few minutes head start, I went down with my guide. It was a little bit scary as I've never dived before Simon had gone through with me what to do which made it much easier. It was very strange being inderwater and being able to see, never had that before! Seeing the reef was absolutely amazing. It wasn't as brightly coloured as we'd thought it would be, but the coral and the fish we brilliant, we even found Nemo! On my dive I also got to see a turtle which was wicked, it came so close, you could see every detail. Unfortunately Simon was at another part of the reef and he had the camera so we didn't get a picture. I went down to a total depth of 10.2m but as Simon is certified he went down much further, 18m! I was scared enough at 10! I ran out of oxygen quite quickly and was at the surface 10minutes before Simon so I got to do a little bit of snorkelling as well, no where near as good as diving!


After lunch we moved to a different part of the reef for our 2nd dives. Simon enjoed this one much more than the first, he didn't go down as far but he got to swim through an underwater cave! They had to go in single file and it was so small that once you went in, you had to just keep going, they were completely closed in! I didn't get to go in a cave but I got to swim inbetween cracks in the coral which was scary enough for me! Simons breathing was much better this time so he got to stay down even longer than before but we were both so dissapointed when it was time to leave. The diving really was an amzing experience, if only we had the money I'd do it all over again! And Simon was just so happy that he'd finally got to dive again, especially as it was thanks to his Nan, he had the biggest smile on his face for the entire trip home.


We had a little nap when we got back to Cairns as we were both nackered and then took our camera in to get it burnt to cd, Simon had taken over 200 photos! By the time all that was sorted the Cairns Festival parade was about to begin and we had the perfect seats! The balcony of our room looked right down on to the street that the parade came along! The parade was exellent but as soon as the fireworks were finished we headed straight for bed, both of us exhausted and with very sore ears from the diving!


Just one more day in Cairns, spent packing and getting organised for the next leg of our journey to Mission Beach!