So we left Mission beach and headed back to Cairns...something totally unplanned, but by this point the floods had been officially named one of Australia's biggest natural disasters (and then to make things worse for the country the Victoria bushfires began and is still on going, something I know has made headlines worldwide).

We got back to Cairns tea time and decided to stay more in town because we were up early in the morning for our Great Barrier Reef trip.

So we checked into Gilligans, a huge backpacker resort with restuarant and nightclub. Tom and Sophie from our outback trip were now in Cairns and they were planning on going to the bar at Gilligans in the evening, so we caught up with them for a few drinks and some body painting! If you've seen the photos (Darren is now ahead of me!) Darren is sporting a Welsh Dragon!!! Haha, the girl that drew it didnt do a very good job, I thought it was a penguin!

So begrudgingly Daz and I left earlier than we would have liked as we had to be at the ferry terminal at 7.30am. So we had fun for a few hours but went to bed!!!!

Next morning (Thur 5th Feb) we went out on the Passions Of Paradise Catameran Sailing Vessel for a day out on the Great Barrier Reef. We left the coast to a bit of drizzle in the air, low clouds and a bit of a bumpy wave (nothing like our Thailand catameran experience!) After 2 hours at sea we came to our first stop of the day......the sun now shining gloriously and both us really enjoyed the feel of some heat on our skin, we've seen a lot of rain in the last week!!!

There was about 65 people on board and we arrived at Michaelson Kay reef where there was a tiny little sandy island submerged by turquoise water. It was beautiful. We set the anchor down, had our scuba diving introduction and then got kitted up with the scuba gear. We had a 15min free introduction to scuba diving in the water with a expert, who would take us through the breathing and signals and commands etc and then if you wanted to do the dive you could, if not, you went back aboard the boat and did the snorkeling.

So Daz and I got into the water...the air tanks weighed a ton and I thought I was going to sink!!! We held on to some ropes and were taken through the basics! I have never wanted to scuba dive in my life...something I always feared as thought I'd feel claustrophobic but now I was half way there I thought 'waht the hell'...so I decided to do the 30 min dive to the reef! Darren decided to snorkel as he loves the freedom and enjoys it, so I went off with the guide, Rob and 2 other people! It felt really weird but the the first rule of scuba diving is 'keep breathing, never hold your breath!'

We went to check out the reef and it was awesome! The colours of the coral were electric and we saw loads of crazy fish! Big fish, little fish, ones with cool patterns, others with wicked colours! It was magic!!! I met a few 'Nemo' clown fish, they were so tiny and hiding inbetween spaghetti like coral, so cute! We saw a few rays...maybe they were stingers...i didnt get too close! Met a huge giant clam which we touched and it closed up! We dived to the bottom, maybe 10m and the ear popping sensation is really strange but I got used to it!

During this time Daz was around by the coral close to the island exploring simmilar things. After my dive I joined Daz for a snorkel and its just amazing what you see....I was mostly impressed with the colours of the coral....beautiful.

We had an awesome lunch buffet on board and fresh fruit for desert, it was yummy! We then headed to another reef known as 'Paradise Reef' where people could go for a second dive or just snorkel the area. I'd of loved to do another dive but couldnt afford it so Daz and I stuck to the snorkelling, something Daz is a pro at!!!! I tend to just bob on the ocean surface looking down in amazment where as Daz will dive down and pick things up from the ocean floor! (Not the coral though!!!!) After an hour at this site we all got back onboard and started making our way back to Cairns. The site we saw were beautiful but further north there are more untouched coral reefs so I'd love to see what they look like.

We didnt meet any sharks thank goodness but we were gutted we didnt meet a turtle! Maybe in the Whiitsundays hey mum/dad?

On the way back the clouds started to come over and we got back to Cairns in the rain!!!! We met up with Soph and Tom at the lagoon for aqua aerobics and then headed to the hostel we stayed in first time round in Cairns for another early night as we had a 6am flight to the Gold Coast.

We watched our first Cane Toad race, hilarious and one of the toads jumped in the pool!! Was really funny!

So just like many other backpackers this week, we escaped the flood driven weather conditions by catching a flight to the Gold Coast. So now our plans were turned upside down and we'd have to go back up to the Whitsundays and Fraser Island.
My mum was delighted when I asked her if Dad and herself wanted to do the Whitsundays with us when they cam over! So now thats something to look forward to at the end of March.

We were now planning on working on Goldcoast or Brisbane for 7 weeks....or not!!!!!?

xx