G'day mate!

Time to put on the thongs, whack out the esky, grab a few tinnies and then head out for a barbie! Oh yes I've arrived down under and that was my terrible attempt at the Aussie lingo!

Two nights I ended up spending in airports and Singapore being extra security conscious woke me up when I was sleeping in the terminal to check my passport and ticket but instead of just one security guard I had 6 security guards standing around me, all with pistols and 4 of them holding machine guns up! Crazy! The night in Brisbane was slightly less eventful before I flew onto Cairns to begin my travels down the coast.

Ended up spending a week in Cairns as there was no way of getting the campervan sorted over the Easter holidays but luckily for me Cairns and the 35 degree heat is not a bad place to get stuck. Most of my days were taken up either outside Gilligans (the best and biggest hostel in town) by the pool or down by the lagoon sunning myself. It's all chance as to who you will end up sharing a dorm with and I was lucky and struck gold with 2 great English girls Cassie and Harri that had been travelling up Aus. We were out in a bar half an hour after meeting each other and when my friend Rich arrived he got on just as well with them. When they weren't off throwing themselves out of planes we spent the majority of the time either by the pool, eating way too much food using Easter as an excuse and in the Woolshed dancing up on the tables and pretending I was off the Oz Experience bus to get cheaper food and drink!

It was a massive shame when the girls had to leave for New Zealand as we had had such a good laugh but that is what happens all too often when you are travelling. The last day in Cairns was spent out on the barrier reef as I went scuba diving yet again. It's pretty addictive and sadly a pretty addictive hobby as well. We had day after day of amazing weather and typically the day I went out on the boat it decided to be the worst day of the week with grey skies most of the day. The reef wasn't as spectacular as I had expected which I think was mainly due to choosing the wrong dive operator but it wasn't anything compared to the diving I did in Borneo. Still good though and saw Nemo plenty of times but still not seen any big sharks (only reef sharks) but I have heard there is a good place further down the coast for the big boys!

Finally the campervan was available so me and Rich set off on the big road trip down the coast which should be a good laugh. Only something like 4000km to go!!!