Our last port of call in Australia was of course the Great Barrier Reef. We set sail, or rather, the engines fired up, on a Passions of Paradise day cruise offering scuba diving, snorkelling, glass bottom boast tours and the main reason we go on tours like this......a free buffet! As we drew closer to our first reef stop at Michelmas Cove and the sun came out, we got our first sighting of the Reef, seeing dark shapes under the now clear water. We decided, due to money reason, to just do the snorkelling, not that it was less fun. We had to wear these stinger suits as well as there might be jellyfish on the prowl. They were these wonderfully attractive, bright blue body suits, which made everyone look pretty funny as you can imagine! Sticking your head under and seeing the reef properly for the first time is an amazing feeling. It truly is a beautiful sight. We weren't in too deep at first so it was quite easy to swim down so your amongest the fish and the reef. There were so many different types of fish and coral! There were these giant clams as well (and I mean giant!), and if you swam over the top of them they actually close themselves! We moved onto the second reef spot, an area further out where only the tour company we were with is allowed to go on. As this spot was deeper and more secluded, the reef looked a bit less untouched. There was also a lot more colour to it as well. Unfortunatly, there were no nemo's about that day, although I did see a similar type of fish. Therew were some pretty big fish though, who just swam along happily below you. The higlight of the day for both of us was, at different stages and places, seeing a turtle and swimming along beside it. At one stage tgis turtle was leading about 8 people around the ocean! Snorkelling the Reef was definitly one of the best things we did in Australia.

We flew down from Cairns to Brisbane the next day, as we were flying out of Brisbane the following day. We were lucky enough to fly over the ocean for the first part, and got incredible views of the Reef below. After a night in Brisbane, it was good bye Australia and onto the final leg of our trip, India. We stopped off at Singapore airport on the way, an airport offering so much including spa treatments, a swimming, live music and more. However, I settled in to watch Manchester United beat Tottenham, and Chris amused himself with some foot massage machines.

We arrived into the bustling humdrum world of Mumbai and were immediatley struck by the heat at 4 in the morning! We were picked up from the airport and taken to our hostel, and after two long haul flights, just wanted to sleep for a while.
Mumbai is the busiest place I have ever been to. There are just people everywhere! The traffic is probably the craziest part, where seemingly every second is spent avoidng other vehicles! I would challenge anyone back home to attempt to drive on Indian roads.
We spent the afternoon at a place called Juhu Beach. Walking along the beach, there were just endless amounts of cricket games being played. It was great! You had to be on your guard for stray tennis balls though!
Next day we went down to the Gateway of India and the Taj Mahal Hotel, which had just re-opened after the terrorist attacks a couple of years ago.
We got our first overnight train to a place called Ahmedabad that night. It was a new, exciting prospect to India. There are many classes on the trains, many don't have air conditioning and others are just really cramped. For us, we were in AC/2 (which is pratically 2nd class). It was made up of two bunks. The bottom bunk had a window the length of the bed. They were very comfortable and we able to get a view of India outside the cities.

We reached Ahmedabad early in the morning and it took forever to find our hostel. We were here for one night, only because we couldn't get a train out on the same day. There aren't too many good things to say about Ahmedabad.
From Ahmedabad, it was on another overnight train up to a place called Udaipur. Walking out of the station, we were approached by a rickshaw driver. Our first thoughts were that he was just going to be another typical rickshaw driver, but those thoughts soon vanished as we got to know him. His name was Jamil, one of the kindest, funniest and most trustworthy guys you will meet. Everything he recommended for us that day was spot on. He ended up aking us on a tour of the city in his car. where we saw a burial sight of Kings, containing no less than 317 tombs! He took us to othe landmarks and places with great views of the city, before taking us to a restaurant/bar to watch Octop**** Now a large part of the film was filmed here in Udaipur, and the people here revel in that, so much so that there are re-runs of the film played in lots of bars and restaurants all over the city, every night! At the end of the day, we wrote in his book that he has for everybody who goes on a tour with him. It was a really great day and we were very lucky to find Jamil amidst the chaos of the train station.

We moved further north to the capital of Rajasthan, Jaipur, where we stayed bat probably the best hostel so far in India. After a relaxed first day there, we were lucky to find another genuine rickshaw driver, who took us around the city. We went to the impressive Amber fort first, a huge fort in the hills with magnificent views all around. It was a bit of a maze inside but we got out alright. After a stop for photos of the Water Palace, he took us to a "secret" place, as he called it, where found elephants waiting for us. Honestly, they looked happy to see us. We got some photos hugging its trunk, before hopping up on top of it for a ride round the street. There were a few tentative moments for us at first as we got used to riding it, but it was a pretty smooth ride in general. Got some great photos! Not too long until you actually see all these photos!

We are now in Jodhpur, known as the 'blue city', in the shadow of the huge Mehrangarh fort here. Just 11 days left of our trip now!