"You blow very well" the doctor said to me. A million one line retorts span through my mind, all unsuitable, to such a comment. In the end I settled for 'Thank you very much' and left it at that - ahem.... Anyway, following my lung capacity test (well what did you think I was talking about?) I had my BP taken, along with an ear, sight and balance test. I'm pleased to say I passed with flying colours and was then allowed to proceed to the next stage of my Scuba Diving Course in Cairns. I spent 2 days in the classroom and pool, going over the theory of Decompression, the technicalities of diving, having a swim and float test and practicing various skills underwater. The following 2 days were spent at sea. Apart from a god awful boat journey where severe concentration on the horizon was required and several boxes of Quells, the Great Barrier Reef was all it's cracked up to be. There is something quite amazing about being involved in another and completely different eco system. On the sea bed I demonstrated various skills such as communication, turning my air off and gaining emergency air from my 'buddy', taking all my kit off and putting it back on again and lots of other stuff. There was just me and one other guy booked on my course and the other guy got kicked off before we made it to the ocean because he couldn't swim. What a dumb ass, why would you want to learn to dive if you can't swim or even float!?! This however, turned out to be a blessing for me, she says smuggly, as this left me and 'Giles', the dive instructor and that was all. So once I'd done the skill demo's we were able to cruise around the reef searching out all the best places, sights and weird and wonderful fish 'n' things...... At one point he handed me a sea cucumber. It was massive and sticky!!...and the cucumber..boom-boom..... I came face to face with a shark, he just stared at me, I froze and thought about 'death by shark' on my epitath and he swam on by and we got as close as one meter to a massive turtle who was milling around the sea bed. It was just amazing. Over the 2 days I did 5 dives and on the final day I was congratulated and awarded my certification by the Professional Association of Diving Instructors - should come in handy for Project Management.....errrmmm. Anyway, I now know all about decompression sickness, nitrogen levels in my respiratory system, changing regs, clearing masks, air tanks, hovering, equalising and blowing myself up from the inside out - nice, you impressed? I've been on the wagon due to both the diving and the fear of more sea sickness so that night I managed a few sherberts out with Claire from Devon, as you do..... However, the measures are rubbish over here. At home a vodka is 25mls, it's only 15mls here, hardly worth the bother! ha ha. They do however, have drive through liquore stores, what a brilliant idea!!! Cairns was a lovely town, very touristy but not too much so. Once I'd done the diving course I thought it was about time I moved on down the coast. I am currently on Magnetic Island, just off the coast of Townsville, which is where Chris from the gym is living. We're trying to see if we can meet up for a beer, how bizarre would that be?! This island is a piece of paradise, white sands, clear waters, a wonderful hostel which is located 4 mins from the beach front and surrounded by palm trees. There are parrots and peacocks just milling around and a lovely pool. What a nice change not to have something scanky. We still have visitors in the kitchen though, geko's (don't know how to spell that) and Possms as well, it's really cool. I'm sharing with Michelle from Germany who I shared a dorm with in Cairns and am here for a few days. Today I got up, went to the beach, swam, sun bathed and came back........I know how lucky I am, I continue to lap it up and take every last minute detail into my sensor and memory bank. I am more and more aware of how quickly my time is going. I'm heading to Brisbane (to see the girls from Buenos Aries) and then I leave for Singapore on 8th September (where I see my mum and dad) and Asia will be my last leg of my trip - snif sob, can you believe it?!! I'd best be off, I have some after sun to apply and a glass of wine to drink.....well someone has to do it!!! Love you loads xxx ps - the funniest part of the whole thing are the old couple sat next to me as I type this. He is dictating to her as she types an email in the form of a complaint to Nationwide Credit Card! ha ha I'm keeping schdoom!