Ah Cairns! It's not really much to look at and no-one we've met has had any a kind word to say about it, but we've had an absolutely wonderful time here.

We spent the first day lazing around near the man-made lagoon reading out SE Asia travel guide and preparing for Indonesia. They need a lagoon here because it's mud flats all the way out to the sea and if you can get there without being swallowed up then you risk being terminally stung by a box jellyfish or meeting a salt water crocodile. The lagoon is beautiful though - the perfect place for people watching and falling asleep in the sun (and researching, of course)

The next day (Thursday) we went horse riding in the jungle. This was awesome. It was just that right level of challenging and exciting and didn't have any men pushing you off 15m-high platform by kneeing you in the back of the legs and shouting "hup" (ok I'll leave the trapeze alone now, it's probably time I moved on). After a leg up on to our trusty steeds we were walked down to the river where we waded in up to our thighs in the lovely cool water (Si's and my thighs that is, not the horses' - they were in up to their shoulders). Then Si and I, as the "experienced" riders of the group, broke off into a little separate group and were treated to a canter around a paddock. Now my riding experience is from way back before I knew that people laugh at you if you pull your socks all the way up, but it did come in useful here. That's because all I can really remember is "hold on to the saddle if it starts getting scary" and at the end of our last canter my feet bounced out of the stirrups and I had to take the important evasive saddle-holding action, quite possibly saving me from a unladylike tumble. Good fun! Then we joined back up with the other group and went back to the river, this time in up to our waists (and horses necks). Despite the funny grunting breathing that they had to do because they're lungs we're being compressed by the water, I think the horses had a good time too.

The next day (yesterday (Friday)) we went snorkelling on the Great Barrier Reef. I've always had a really romantic image of the GBR as the largest belt of exotic reef in the world, visible from space yet delicate as a spider's web. And even though it rained a bit I wasn't in the slightest bit disappointed. We went on a tour with a company called Wavelength which specialises in taking out small groups of snorkelers and teaching them all about the reef. It was stunning, so clear and absolutely packed full of weird and wonderful fish. The highlights for me were finding Nemo, duck diving down get a closer look at giant clams and having time to explore all of the wonderful coral landscapes. The talk from the marine biologist crew-member was fascinating too (did you know, a Parrotfish produces 9m cubed of sand a year..!).

So all in all, Cairns - though it's not all that as far as everyone else is concerned - has easily been one of the best places we've seen in Oz.

Next stop Bali...