As we were heading to mission beach from the rock pools, we passed through a casowary conservation park. These are massive flightless birds. They are the largest armour plated birds in existance. Sadly we didn't see any but it was nice to see such a large area set up for them. We got to mission beach and camped at a council camping ground that was right on the beach. Mission beach was a little dissapointing. We were expecting a massive white sandy beach but the sand wasn't that great and we couldn't swim in the ocean because of the jellies and crocs. It was still nice to walk along it and get some excercise, along the way we saw some coconuts sitting just under the trees so we picked them up on the way back! Free food!!! Yay! These were really tough to get into with just pen knives but we managed it and had a very filling time with them.

After getting some washing and drying done, I started guiding Seumas in his first ever meal! This went supprisingly well, and neither of us got sick at all which was an extra bonus. We got up fairly late the next day and got ready quickly as we had to be out of there by 10 and off to Cairns.

We arrived in Cairns not long after we set off and went looking for a backpackers or caravan site. There wasn't anywhere free to stay sadly because it's in a city. We got to one but the reception didn't open up till 4 so we decided to go to the information center in town and also do a quick shop. We got to the information center to find a really helpful person to advise us on when to go on our snorkelling trip. Seumas and I decided that scuba diving was too expensive so we looked at just snorkelling. We were told that the next day would be the best place to do it because of the weather conditions. After giving some very helpful advice on where to go on our road trip, we booked the trip, a slightly more expensive option but out to the more spectacular outer great barrier reef. The reef that we decided to go to is called agniscourt reef and is a collection of smaller outcrops which the company one of the few rights to. We booked this and got some flyers for other places that looked great before leaving to get accomodation for the night.

When we got back to the backpackers we wanted to stay at, we found out it was full so we headed off to search for another place to go to. We found a place called globe trotters that had a very reasonable price with lovely showers, a kitchen, power and free wifi. That evening we decided to go to the cinema as Seumas really wanted to show me the new fast and furious movie. He is obsesed with it and I also enjoyed it a lot (and all of the popcorn). After walking back to the backpackers we went to bed quite early that night because of how early we had to be up the next morning.

We got up very early this morning to catch a bus to Port Douglas where the ship would be leaving from. The road up to the port is stunning, one of the most beautiful coastline roads in the world! It has lots of beaches along the way and the road is just above the beach. It's very very windy and would be brilliant in a little sportscar or a motorbike.

In Palm beach, a resorty type area, there are some massive paper bark trees that aren't allowed to be chopped down so all of the buildings are built around them to make some amazing stuctures under the towering trees.

Agniscourt reef is about 70 km from Port Douglas so it took just over an hour to get there, the boat was supprisingly fast so it was nice to get out on the deck and enjoy the wind and spray! On the boat there was free tea and coffee with biscuits to wake us up after our early rise.

On the way to the first reef we were giving our snorkells, stinger suits and fins by one of the many staff on board. When we arrived at the first reef, it was stunning! The boat moored just off the edge so all you had to do was step off the boat and plunge into the colourful arrays of fish and coral. I was expecting a lot more colour, as it had been hyped up to us a lot by everyone saying how amazing it is. I still had such an amazing time, Seumas and I were the last ones out of the water, trying to get the most out of the expensive experience. I am glad that I didn't do scuba diving as I could dive down very easily to the depth that they were swimming at.

The next two reefs were also just as amazing at the first, with stunning fish that you could swim after, to giant clams that would close when you put your hand over them. There was one giant clam that was the size of me! So amazing! I'm very glad that we bought seumas' go pro so we had footage of everything but a decent underwater camera would have been amazing. At the last reef we managed to see a white tipped reef shark! It was about one and a half times the length of me and didn't care that we were there at all. We swam after it for ages before it decided it had enough and went very quickly away.

At the final reef, lunch was seved which was a massive selection of sea foods and curries, I really loved it and made the most of having a buffet, eating as much as I could! It was sad to be leaving the reef after spending only one day there but it was very worth it, we had such an amazing time there!

When we got back to the hostel after going back along the amazing road with a very grumpy bus driver, we decided to watch finding Nemo, which we felt was very appropriate after the day we had.