Hey everyone,

Cairns has been wicked - been here 6 days and have packed in a fair bit. Snorkelling on the great barrier reef, skydive at mission beach and 3 days at cape trip watching the amazing sunrise.

Cairns itself is small, a big party town really with the great barrier reef on its doorstep, palm trees everywhere, humid and rains most days.

The day i went out to the greaty barrier reef was awsome - blue sky, not a cloud in sight the sun was shining with a light breeze blowing. It took about 2 hoursa to get out the reef itself. It was called michela cay which had a tiny island on it (also a national park). The water was aqua, spotted several fish of all pretty cool colours, lunch, sunbathed, more snorkelling then that afternoon we sailled back - sparkly water, sipping champers and yet more sunshine. Perfect cinsidering only the day before it had rained pretty much non stop all day.

The following day i went skydiving - wow, wow, WOW!!! It took about 2 hours to get down to mission beach, where we payed our fees, had a briefing of what to expect etc, about 7 of us were all squashed up into this tiny airplane, the views were awsome, sun was shining and i couldnt stop smiling - not nervous at all, which i was surprised at. then as the 1st girl jumped out i thought ok im next - here i go woohoo! (at this point the plane was hovering at 14,000ft). The free fall itself was incredible, your falling yet you feel as though you are floating mid air - making it really hard to close your mouth haha. When the parachute eventually opened i was buzzing! the views from the air were overlooking the hills, reef etc - pretty sweet. The glide down was fun - full of spins twists and loops. Once down on the beach, all i wanted to do was jump straight back on that plane and do it all over again! If i could describe the feeling of it all it would be undescriblable but propably the most amazing experience of my life so far! :)

Cape trib was 3 days in the middle of the rainforest, chilling, water volley ball in the pool, swimming in a freshwater pool in the middle of the rainforest. The highlight was waking up at 5am to watch the sunrise on the beach with 6 of my new friends - 3 canadian girls, 2 german guys, 1 swiss and 1 brit. Lastly managed to see a family of casaworry in the wild which is a pretty rare sight!

Off down to townsville with Chad (american friend) at 1pm this arvo. Hope it still isnt too cold back home. Take care and speak to you soon!

Charlie xxx