We had a few days in Perth before we flew over to Cairns.We decided to stay in our first surf club in Freemantle and spent a nice day walking around the town and popping in to a pub for an afternoon drink or two.On the way back to the van we saw tickets for a band we had been hearing lots about on the radio and they were in Freemantle that night so we picked up a few tickets.We had some dinner and got ready in the van and headed out into town stopping off at a lovely pub by the river, it was a little cold but the atmosphere was great.We went on to the gig with a few more people from the pub and Merick one of the blokes we met on our first night in Perth a month earlier.The gig was good and we went on to a club for a little dance afterwards.It was very funny getting a cab home to our camper parked by the river that night.The next day we suffered a lot but made it out to do some laundry and grab a coffee with Merick.The next day we gave the camper back, booked into a hostel and Merick took us all out to a lovely BYO (bring your own booze) Chinese restaurant, Junior Stig one of the others we met on our first night also came.Early the next morning we caught our flight to Cairns in a dark cloudy thunder storm, I have never been so scared of flying in my life!

Our flight stopped in Sydney for a few hours before going on to Cairns.We left the airport and went for a walk around the city.Annie parents were on holiday visiting her in Cairns and just so happened to be stopping over night in Sydney that night too.We grabbed a burger as we waited for her parents and just before they turned up a sea gull rudely swooped down and took he burger right from my hands, I was extremely angry.Once we had met up with them we went for a drink and decided to get a ferry down the river to Manly.The boat ride was amazing, as we were passing under the Harbor Bridge taking lots of pictures I was wondering where the Opera House was and then all of the sudden it appeared right next to us looking just as it does in the pictures.We arrived in Manly and took al walk through the high street and down along the beach.As usual the beach was full of people running, playing volleyball and surfing.We left Annie's parents and arrived in Cairns late that night.The next morning we typed up some CV's and went job hunting!The plan is to stay in Cairns for a couple of months and save up enough money to get down to Melbourne and on to New Zeeland.We met up with Annie's parents again later that day.We carried on job hunting for the next couple of weeks while after a couple of days Dan and Em decided to go on down the coast to a place near Airlie Beach to work in a backpackers pub.Annie and I now both have a couple of jobs; I am working in a lovely pub/bistro and also doing some agency work which gives me all types of jobs that I have never done before mainly at big conventions, there are so many back packers here all doing the same thing, it can be quite fun.Annie's mum and dad were in Cairns for 17 nights and we all had a great time.We spent many of the days at their hotel pool which was lovely and the weather was superb.The also treated us to a very nice dinner and some breakfasts at the hotel which was some of the best food I have eaten in a long time.The dinner was a steak on a hot plate that continued to cook as you ate the meal, it was amazing.We also found a lovely little locals club that did some great roast dinners.In Oz there are public BBQ's everywhere so we had lots of BBQ's too.We took booze, music and lots of nice food.The best one was probably shark, veg and potatoes.We went on two trips while Annie's parents were here.The first one was to the rain forest, we took a cable car up and over the rain forest to a lovely little village where we sampled some lovely home made pies and some ice cream.We walked along the river looking for crocks and got very scared when we eventually heard a very deep, loud, croak which could have just been a frog!We took the train back down to Cairns passing some amazing scenery of waterfalls along a huge gorge.The second trip we went on was out to the reef.The boat was great (as long as I was standing outside as it did get quite choppy).We set off early in the morning and stopped at a lovely Island on the outer reef.We snorkeled for a good hour but I had to stop as although the weather is lovely in Cairns it is actually winter and the sea temperature was quite cold; my lips went blue again!We had a lovely lunch and then went to our second stop for some more snorkeling, this time it there was no island and we had to jump off the boat.The sea was extremely choppy here but there was still great visibility, a couple of times the waves went right over the top of my snorkel.It was a lovely day and we sailed back in to Cairns with the sails up.Annie and her parents also went on a plane ride over the reef and after seeing the picture I think I may treat myself to either that or another day snorkeling for my birthday in September.We also spent a day driving up to Port Douglas stopping off at Palm Cove on the way back.Annie and I have moved out of a hostel and found a shared hours right in the middle of Cairns; it is a lot cheaper than paying out for a hostel.We live with a mad ozzy guy called ozzy! who is a bit of a hippy but not to the extent of tree hugging, a German couple and two English lads.It was one of the blokes birthdays the other day and they all went out doing pub golf.I joined them after work at 11:00pm just in time for power hour where you drink as much as you can for $10 but it was all a little too late for me to play catch up.They are very strict on there drinking rules here and the slightest hint of you having a few more than two drinks they will not serve you so I helped them stagger home.