27 Feb - Today we arrived in Cairns after an 8 hour flight from Singapore and stopover for refuelling in Darwin.

It's really weird to be in Australia after being in Asia for so long. It's really hot and sunny here and less humid than Asia. The other big difference is that it is way more expensive than Asia and we are back to unhealthy western diets! Lots of steak and chips etc!

There is not really much to see in Cairns. It's basically a small seaside town with shops, bars and restaurants but the main attraction is obviously the great barrier reef. As there's not much sightseeing to do in Oz we mainly chilled out in the day, wondered around Cairns and planned the rest of our journey through Oz. We also booked a trip to snorkel the great barrier reef which turned out to be interesting!

When we arrived at the boat we were warned that there was a tropical storm out to sea and that it would be really rough so if we got sea sick it was advisable to rebook for another day. We only had a few days in Cairns and also didn't know if the weather would get even worse in the next couple of days so decided to go. The trip out to the reef was pretty choppy but tolerable. We snorkelled and saw some amazing colourful reef and fish. I know it sounds cliche but it really is another world down there. We then had lunch and went onto a second dive point where we snorkelled again and this time saw giant sea turtles. By this time we were doing what the crew called "extreme snorkelling" as the waves were really big making it hard to swim and it started raining while we were in the sea. On the way back the storm got worse and the waves were huge. I spent most of the journey in the loo being sick, until one of the ladies who worked on the boat came and grabbed me telling me I was in the worse place and stuck me out in the fresh air where I felt loads better! The captain even had to stop the boat's engine a few times as the boat was hitting the waves so hard and rocking from side to side! Despite the weather the trip was still really good and seeing the reef made it all worthwhile.

Next we move onto Airlie beach to do some trips out to the Whitsunday Islands so we'll update again soon.