Taking very fond memories of NZ with us, having formed a very special bond with the beautifully diverse country both in landscape and it's people, we take to the skies to continue our amazing adventure to the mighty island that monopolises the Pacific Ocean. We are both excited about being in Australia for different reasons, S revisiting after a gap of 13 years and seeing how it has changed if at all and K with new eyes ready to soak it all in, the place that has intrigued her and held her attention for years.

We always knew that our limited 6 weeks would only allow us to do so much in a country that is at least 30 times bigger than the UK. So the north-easterly city of Cairns became a great starting place for a loop of the eastern coast and the vast expanse that makes up the centre.

Cairns was hot hot hot (28 degrees) when we arrived so goodbye hot water bottles.

Things we did in Cairns:

- The Esplanade Lagoon, a huge free public swimming pool overlooking the coastal walls. They even have free aerobics sessions in the park in the evenings with lots of locals and tourists all joining in... what a great thing to do. Water Zumba in the lagoon also being an option for the early risers.
- Cairns Centre just opposite the YHA hostel we were staying at for Coles grocery shopping, some retail therapy & the frozen yogurt shop of which we are big fans.
- Spotting a flying fox bat colony, originally thinking they were noisy birds we discovered huge numbers of them in the trees just by the side of the road. We went back later just after sunset to see them take flight... Extraordinary.
- White Water Rafting down the River Tully, which expert rafters would call a grade 4/5, for the 'best rapids in the world'. This we booked with the very professional and organised Raging Thunder. Sean our River Guide, a seasoned guide of 18 years, put us both up front as the 'experienced swimmers'... Gulp!
But boy did we have a fantastic time... we practiced the different movements, front paddle, back paddle, bump, bounce, duck down, shift left/right and after a couple of smaller rapids we came to a resting pool area so we all got out for a swim down river. Then the real fun started with some scary looking rapids to manoeuvre through, we worked hard and well together as a group but succumbed to the powerful river a couple of times and ended up taking a dip.
We became the noisy party raft thanks to the fun people we had in our group including Suki & Melody from Adelaide who screamed at literally everything all day... Hilarious.
And if all that wasn't enough to keep our adrenaline fuelled we even jumped off a big 4 meter rock into the river for 'fun'.
All in all an awesome day, one of those best days of our lives and one to tick off the bucket list. Highly recommend. Oh and happy Diwali people...how did you celebrate yours?

We also used our time in Cairns to plan our time in Australia as there was lots to consider due to our limited time. However, in the end we let someone else do the planning for us. Namely, Maya at Backpackers World Travel who organised an itinerary for pretty much our whole time in Oz. Our bus from Cairns all the way to Melbourne, our sailing trip around the Whitsunday's, our great ocean road trip and Adelaide to Alice Springs trip, Alice Springs to Darwin, Lichfield National Park & a jumping crocodile cruise and all our hostels in between. All sorted, so all we have to do is sit back and enjoy the adventure which starts tomorrow with a 7.25am pick up to Arlie Beach.