We arrived in Cairns on the tuesday evening after our 12 our bus ride through the outback. We returned to Gillligans, the hostel we stayed in the last time we were here and got a bargin dorm bed for $20 a night. The hostel was really busy as there were 9 football teams all on there end season tours - sounds like heaven but it really wasnt!!! The first day we got organised - we booked our greyhound bus ticket all the way to Melbourne and organised our diving trip for the next day. We then treated ourselves to some retail therapy and a trip to the cinema to see Hairspray! It was so funny you all have to go see it!

We booked our diving with Reef Quest so got up early the next morning for our 8.30am departure from the harbour. We got upgraded to a 5 star boat - our day included 2 dives on the Saxon Reef, lunch (amazing buffet!) and as much snorkelling as we wanted between dives. The boat trip out took 90mins and the water and reef was amazing and so blue - was hard to imagine the sheer size of the reef though from the boat (we did inquire about helicopter flights but sadly not in our budget - maybe next time!) The two dives were ok, the visibilty was good and we did some cool fish and two white tip reef sharks but they werent are best dives to date! We found the snorkelling to be so much better as there were loads more fish near the surface and the colour of the coral was much brighter than deeper where it seemed dead! We did see soem amazing fish that we hadnt seen before and it was really cool to get that close. We're really glad we went even though the diving has been better in other places! A good day all round!!

The next day we just chilled out and spent some time down by the lagoon and the Esplanade and then that evening we went out on the town! And the next night! So needless to say our last few days in Cairns were a bit of a write off!!

On the sunday we had arranged to have a hire car so we were picked up in our bright yellow bubble at 8.30am and started the drive north to Cape Tribulation. We stopped at Palm Cove for brunch and an hour in the sun then headed to Port Douglas. It was sunday market here so we had a bit of a wander around and a drink then continued to Cape Tribulation. The drive up here was amazing - mostly hugging the coast or through the rainforest. The winding roads werent very kind on Charlotte's hangover though. On the way we spotted a large crocodile in one of the creeks!! Bit scary and reminded us that swimming is not a good idea as there are a bit to close to home! We had to get a ferry across the Daintree river to take us up to the Cape. We arrived late afternoon at PK's Jungle Village which is also right on the beach - a short walk along through the mangroves to the beach. It was a bit late for sunbathing when we arrived so we just had a wander around and down to the beach which is amazing and unspoilt and the only place in the world where the rainforest meets the beach!! Unfortunetly we awoke to rain in the morning so after a walk to Cape Tribulation beach we set of early back south. We stopped off on the way back at Mossman Gorge. It was really beautiful and way to cold to swim in! We arrived back in Cairns at about 4pm and got dropped to the bus station where we hung around in the rain and cold for our bus to Mission beach.....

Update you all again soon. Hope the sun isn't shining at home or we will not be happy!!

Lots of love Us xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx