Right then, the barrier reef. Maybe not the best idea to be reading this while eating your dinner, you'll find out why now!

So yesterday, armed with hard-core travel sickness pills, ginger tablets, ginger biscuits and ginger ale to combat motion sickness I got onto a lovely boat with a company called Reef Experience. There are loads in Cairns, offering different things, and there are loads of good ones, but I can especially recommend this one. So, I smuggly thought travel sickness wouldn't be a problem... I lasted 2 hours. It was really really rocky, the boat was all over the place and loads of people were being sick. I managed to sit through the briefing about what would happen, then had to head outside onto the deck and throw up! Not good, but i did feel loads better afterwards so i stayed outside whenever I could.

Part of the package with Reef Experience was a free introductory dive, so we were put into groups and then got our kit on, once we were at the first place. It was in the middle of nowhere, just blue sea everwhere and as i said, the boat was all over the place. I was in group 1, and the guy in charge (typical aussie, long curly blonde hair, very deep accent so let's call him Bruce) was showing us what to do. We had to go and sit on the deck below and get our flippers on. Sitting down on that platform with the waves crashing over me made me feel really really scared. I couldn't see what i was going into, the water was so dark and I really wasn't sure about it. There was a bar underneath the boat where we had to perform the safety checks and show Bruce we could breathe properly with the equipment. Obviously you can't come to the top everytime you get water in your mouth piece, or in your goggles- there are things you do while under the water that help. My goggles felt really loose and i wanted to go up to the surface to sort them out- trying to tell Bruce that when you can't talk, and he was trying to keep me under the surface made me panic just a little, but then i remembered what to do if you get water in your goggles and it was fine. He kept me calm and i started to relax. So then, holding onto his arm for the start we let go of the boat and turned around...

It was like going through a curtain into a calm and tranquil world- suddenly the roughness of the waves subsided, and the scene became clearer as we sank further. We swam about 10 metres below sea level and suddenly we were surrounded by these beautiful fish, of all the cololurs you can imagine. I saw fish i've only ever seen in aquariums or tanks or on Finding Nemo. We swam around looking at the coral and then Bruce picked up a star fish for me to hold, it was quite small, and was quite hard, around the corner was a giant clam- i was realyl shocked when Bruce put his hand in it and it closed! But he was able to pull his hand out, and then motioned for me to put mine in! So, nervously, I did. Inside the clam was rubbery and cold, like what I imagine whale blubber to feel like. It was also a beautiful shade of dark purple... i think. It closed around my hand but not too tightly, I could still get my hand out fine. We swam around for another few minutes then headed up to the surface, I loved it! It was awesome, a definite highlight of my trip I think.

After lunch we headed to our second spot, and now the sea was a lot calmer and so it was nearly pleasurable! We were offered another dive at an extra cost of about 25quid, which i wished I had taken now- I decided to snorkel, thinking I would get a good view of the coral and everything, but it was harder as the waves were strong and i couldn't see the coral or fish as well because they were too far down (maybe I should have gotten prescription goggles, you know what my eyesight is like).

Anyway, it was a fab experience, anyone thinking of coming out to have a go, I'd definitely recommend a boat with a free introductory dive- Reef experience were great and the crew worked really hard- there were loads of them which made people feel confident when diving- in my group there was only 2 of us which i think is excellent- especially in those conditions.

I could have hired an underwater camera to take pictures to show you lot, but then I decided I wanted to take it all in and enjoy what I was seeing, not from behind a lens, searching for the next good shot. So sorry, but you're all going to have to come out here and have a go yourself!

From ant's bums to giant clams, it's stuff I've never seen or done before, but i'm having a go at everything I can (within reason mum, don't worry) and it's taking me completely out of my comfort zone. It's great! Not sure what's on the agenda next, i'm leaving Cairns in the next few days to head south, not sure where yet either, better get organised!

Speak to you all soon, take care xxxxx