Even though it was dark when we landed in Cairns, we stepped off the plane into 21 degree heat, a nice improvement on the freezing night temperatures of the centre. We got a free shuttle collection from the airport to our hostel and on the way met a Scottish girl called Rachael who was staying at the same place. After checking in we browsed some of the tours on offer to start planning our Oz trip before heading to our dorm for an early night.

The following day we got up bright and early and went to see Martin the guy at reception, to look at tours and different things to do in Cairns. Martin managed to convince us to part with a large amount of money in exchange for a trip to Cape Tribulation, the rainforest, where we could hold koalas and spot crocs in the wild, and also a Dive Trip out to the Great Barrier Reef where we could do 2 'certified' scuba dives with our new PADI qualifications. We spent the rest of the day walking around Cairns, which was a lot smaller than we thought. We looked around the local shops and went to the large man-made lagoon on the seafront - better to swim here than in the croc infested seas!!. Afterwards, not being satisfied with the money we had already spent that day, we stopped off at a travel shop and booked our hop-on hop-off bus down the east coast, and also a boat trip around the Whitsunday Islands and a trip to Fraser Island. The travel shop threw in a free meal in The Woolshed, a pub across the street, and so we went straight there to claim our free food. It was also ladies night, which meant I got free champers served up by topless guys J

We had a very early start the next day for our trip to Cape Tribulation. Rachael, who we had met on the way to the hostel had also booked on the same tour and so the three of us got on the bus and headed north to the rainforest. The first stop was at a wildlife sanctuary where we got to see all kinds of Aussie animals. For $10 each we got to hold a koala, which was amazing. The koala was quite laid back and seemed happy to be passed between us as photos were taken. He was a lot heavier than he looked and had a very strong smell of what we guessed was eucalyptus, his poo also smelt like eucalyptus as we found out when he unloaded down the front of Bens hoody for the photo! After the koala experience we moved onto the Kangaroo and wallaby section. We each purchased a bag of food and entered the large outdoor area where lots of Wallabies and Kangaroos immediately surrounded us, looking up hopefully at our bags. We moved through the grassy area feeding the animals as we went, until all the food had all been devoured. We then boarded the bus again and continued the drive onto the Daintree River. At the river we got onto a boat and went on an hours sailing trip to spot wild crocodiles. The first spot was only 5 minutes in and it was Ben who saw it first….a tiny baby croc perched on a tree branch. We carried on, seeing a lot more babies and even a snake. Eventually, as we neared a large muddy embankment we saw our first fully grown croc, sitting quietly on the waters edge, bathing in the sun. The driver took the boat up quite close explaining that the croc would be unaware that we were even there….unless we were to fall in of course. The jagged teeth and flared nostrils were particular intimidating. We continued on and saw a couple more larger crocodiles and a little frog, before we returned to land unscathed. We stopped off at a small picnic area, shaded by large trees, for lunch before having a guided walk around the rainforest. Here we were shown large green ants, which when squeezed shoot ascorbic acid (Vitamin C) out of their bums. When the guide asked if anyone would like to try it by licking the ants bum, of course Ben was first to volunteer and wasted no time in convincing poor Rachael to try it as well J We then set off back to the hostel stopping off briefly at a small secluded beach along the way.

Early start again the next day, as we caught the 7am local bus to the marina and then boarded a sailing boat along with several others bound for the outer reef. By 9am we were out on the sea and being briefed on the area of the reef we were heading for and what to expect at the dive sites. This was to be mine and Ben's first dive unsupervised! After an hour or so we anchored down and Ben and I put on our wetsuits, BCD jackets and tanks, fins and masks. We checked everything was working and then stepped off the side of the boat and into the water. The sea here felt extremely cold in comparison to the warm waters we had learnt to dive in off Koh Tao in Thailand. It took me a couple of seconds to get used to the cold rushing into the wetsuit before I got my bearings and began to follow Ben to a guide line that would take us down to the sea bed. We started our descent and got down to about 10m before leaving the line and swimming out towards the reef. We went under the boat and the coral opened out into a large sandy clearing where we saw the boat photographer floating next to a massive wrasse fish (nicknamed Wally by the crew). We swam over and stroked Wally and the photographer took photos. We carried on swimming and descended to around 16m, passing lots of colourful fish and massive bits of coral. And then….we came across our first shark!! It was only a small reef shark, but still quite scary to be swimming next to one. We kept going and I nearly swam straight into a second reef shark, I backed away quite quickly, the shark wasn't bothered in the least though. We returned to the boat when our air started to run low and got a nice buffet lunch served up before getting the breathing equipment back on and heading back out for our second dive. This time we got down to just over 17m and at our very deepest we found a turtle…amazing. It was just Ben and me gliding along next to one very chilled out turtleJ. We returned to the boat very pleased with our underwater sightings for the day.

Our last day in Cairns was a very relaxed one. We went down to the lagoon and lay on the grass in the sun listening to a live band playing on a nearby stage. We finished the day up with a big dominoes pizza before packing and preparing for our move onto Magnetic Island the next day. The next morning at 7.25am we got on the bus for Townsville (the closest mainland town to Maggy Island). We had purchased a large 4L box of red wine the night before (Cheapest wine you can get here, nick named "goon") and struggle to the bus stop with all our baggage, food and alcohol.

We pulled into Townsville at 2.30pm and were dropped in a car park on the outskirts of town. From here we got on a local bus to the ferry port, booked 2 ferry tickets, waited an hour for the next boat, made it over to the island on a 30 minute crossing, waited again for another bus and eventually made it round to horseshoe bay and our hostel. Maggy Island is quite large but we stayed in horseshoe bay for the majority of our 2 days there. The beach in this particular bay was very quiet and perfect for lazy days and picnics. We checked into our 3 bed dorm, the third bed was already occupied. Later we found out that our roommate was an elderly lady called Rita….not the usual type of traveller we're used toJ. She was Australian and very nice….liked to talk, a lot. We spent our first evening walking along the beach before returning to the hostel for tea and drinks in the bar. That night was bingo night and since we had little else to do we joined in. It was here that we met Nikki and Ben, a couple which would keep us company for most of our trip down the east coast of Australia (from here on, Ben Jones shall be referred to as "Ben J" and Ben Meyerowitz shall be referred to and "Ben M"). Ben J managed to win us a couple of free drinks on the bingo and we stayed up chatting with our new friends and sneaking drinks of goon under the table. The following day we prepared well with 3 poached eggs each, and beans on toast before heading out to laze around the beach. We spent the entire day sun bathing and swimming in the sea….although not for too long as the sea temperature wasn't that warm.

That evening it was a pub quiz in the bar and we agreed to team up with Nikki and Ben M. Whilst making tea, Rita appeared. She had heard that it was "trivia night" and wanted to join our team if we were planning to take part. She insisted that her general knowledge was excellent and that it would be in our best interests. So that evening Me, Ben J, Nikki, Ben M and Rita all teamed up for the quiz. Ben M came up with our team name "Team Rita and the youthful army", unfortunately Rita didn't seem too impressed with thisJ. We had a good go at the quiz but as per usual we were nowhere near first and poor Rita couldn't hear any of the questions and so didn't live up to expectations. However……there was an extra prize up for grabs: A free jug of beer for the best team name. And so thanks to Rita and Ben M's ingenious quick thinking we got some free beerJ. Afterwards we all headed to bed as we were all moving on the next day. We exchanged numbers with Nikki and Ben M and said we would possibly see them further on down the coast.