Ok so reef day! The long awaited day! And the weather.........................

WAS PERFECT! SUNNY AND HOT! YEY!!!!!!!!

We went out on a boat called silverswift, which is the fastest cairns based vessel! And mand it was fast! Julie and I initially laughed when they offered us sea sickness tablets when we climbed aboard but we now understand their offers of kindness! It may have been the fastest boat because it literally bounced over the waves, giving us all a shower in the process! Needless to say a high number of sick bags were filled, but thankfully not by us! After a 1.5 hour journey we arrived at the first reef site. So we donned our sexy stinger suits and hit the water with our masks and snorkels! Saw lots of pretty fishes and some amazing bits of coral. It looks even better than they make it on the tele! We weren't lucky enough to see any turtles, but some people in our group were fortunate to see one! After about 45 mins we moved onto the second reef, taking front row seat on the front deck! Again it was a little rough and we got a tad wet! We then scoffed our faces on the buffet lunch, let it settle and then hit the water! The sun was a little shy at this reef so visability was a little reduced, but we still saw lots! I (Karen) even saw a reef shark and Julie saw a turtle bobbing away from the boat! We made our way to the final stop which was out of this world! It looked amazing from the boat and we got a guided snorkel from one of the crew members! We played with GIANT clams, saw a HUGE puffer fish, Barracudas, and Julie even saw a MINI stingray! All very exciting and well worth our wait! We are just very grateful the sun came out to play! Made a stop off at Green Island to collect some crew members and then made a speedy return to Cairns! Still wave jumping! In the words of Karen, this was the best day so far! Absolutely amazing!

So we left Cairns on Sunday and headed down the coast to mission beach, the skydiving capital of OZ! You will all be pleased to hear neither of us got in a plane although Julie was very tempted. Had a few days laying by the pool, working on our tans! Weather has been extremely hot, the most we could manage was rolling from front to back and at a push dipping in the pool! Its been a tough few days as you can all imagine! Just quickly back to our bus journey.............. Now this was interesting! In summary, the driver (who fashioned some very sexy blue woollen knee high socks with shorts) struggled to find first gear and repeatedly stalled the bus! Couldn't keep between the white lines, occassionally swerving away from the gutter, corners were entertaining and then his choice of route even more so. He kept turing off onto side streets, then ran parallel to the main road just to rejoin the same bit of road!!!!!!!!!!! The final insult was the choice of movie! Julie and I cannot stop laughing at this, we got to watch THE CHIPMUNK MOVIE WITH ALVIN,SIMON AND THEODORE! Those little chipmunks will forever be engraved in our minds, especially with their rendition of funky town! Sadly we had to get off before the movie had finished but this journey was PRICELESS!

Todays greyhound was much less entertaining and we have now arrived at magnetic island for some more horizontal sun time! Hostel is shabby and quite possibly the worst place ever! Thankfully the surroundings are beautiful so only 2 nights here! So we are off to the pub to help us sleep-its going to be a long night!

Next stop the whitsundays on Friday till Sunday!

Love to you all, hope everything is ok at home! Pictures will follow, please be patient! Its not as easy as you may all think!!!

K&J XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX