Hey everyone!

I haven't written for a while, so here's a brief run down of things i've been doing. On Monday I left Alice Springs and flew to Cairns, arrived here about 8pm on monday night and the guy on reception mentioned a pub on the corner of the road (literally 50yards away) so me and my 2 new room-mates (Chris and Quentin- he's french and very beautiful) went ofr a beer. It was a nice way to settle in. My hostel is really really lovely, very cosy, clean and quiet. It has a lovely pool with shade over it, and a few hammocks nearby (by the way, does anyone know of a lady like way of getting out of a hammock?) and by my room there is a lounge with 2 decent sofas and a tv. It feels like luxury! I actually got to watch friends and neighbours the other day!

Cairns seems like a small-ish but very nice town, easily accessible and i feel a lot safer here than in Alice Springs (you're told not to walk around at night alone in Alice). I walked down to the Esplanade and found the lagoon- because the sea goes so far out and i don't think it's a proper beach, they have built an outside pool, right on the sea front. Next door is the BEST park for kids aged 0-about 12. It was amazin, i really wanted a go! I will put some photos up here but the computer wont let me.

While walkin down the street, i happened to wander into a quirky jewellry shop and have a butchers. My birthstone is opal, which up until now I haven't really liked, i always thought it was a white stone and it wasn't really my taste. However, here in Australia, the opals can be black, red, blue, green and are really stunning. Suffice to say, i walked out with a new ring :-). It's silver and has a blue stone, but when u catch it under a light it sparkles green and turquoise and is beautiful. I feel guilty and indulgent, until i look at it! I wanted a keep sake of my travels and this is an ideal one.

Ok so yesterday, I went with 3 others to the Crystal Waterfalls, about a 20 min drive from the hostel. It was a bit like being in a tropical rainforest, green everywhere, mountains, and then these beautiful waterfalls that cascaded down for about a km. We walked to the top and climbed over the fence (we weren't really meant to go there) and went swimming. It was very rocky so we couldn't jump in, we just swam, if i didn't think about it too much i was ok, but then i'd get a bit freaked out wondering what was also swimming around me! But i was content to just sit and look at the scenery. When we were getting ready to go we saw some big ants with green bums, apparently if u eat these ants they taste of lime. So we had a go. Licking this ant was prob the weirdest thing i've done in a while, but i couldn't believe it- it was sharp, acidic and like lime! Crazy. They looked a bit mean- i tried to get a photo and they were lookin at me, chris said they're actually quite vicious, they'll bite you if they can get to you.

Walking back to the car we saw 2 turtles swimming along next to the fish, they were so cute!

Today I'm off to Port Douglas about an hour up the coast. It's a bit priceier, and is supposed to be the posher side of queensland but worth a look. I'm going to come back for a few days sat or sunday I think, unless I go up to Cape Tribulation which is supposed to be beautiful tropical rainforest.

Ooh, while I'm here you lot can help me. I want to go to the Barrier Reef and snorkel. There are 3 possible trips I could do- 1) the cheapest (always good), 2) one that gives me a free scuba diving lesson, 3) one that is less likely to make me sea sick because it's built to have less movement. i'm inclined to go for the 3rd, because i do suffer from sea sickness, i think. But then cheap is fine for me, im not desperate to have a dive lesson, snorkelling would be fine, but then it would be cool to have a go. Answers on a post card please!

xxxxxx