My 23rd, The Great Barrier Reef and a Night out with the Girls

Seeing as we were in Cairns, the main gateway to the Great Barrier Reef it would have been rude not to do an all day boat trip to the reef to snorkel the World Heritage Site! I decided not to dive as I heard you see just as much snorkelling as you do diving there as the reef is quite shallow and Lorna hadn't snorkelled for ages so it was definitely a fun option for the day. The boat left the marina just after 8am and it took a couple of hours to get to the reef...The weather ended up being a bit mixed, it was clear blue skies and hot sun when we left but whilst on the boat we kept going through bouts of cloud and sunshine and even got a drop of rain-but we were in tropical Queensland so I guess you have to expect it. When we started approaching the reef you saw the colour changes in the water and I couldn't wait to jump in and see what we could find as I had heard mixed things about the reef. Of course it is the most famous reef in the world and a World Heritage listed site but I have been lucky enough to snorkel in some of the most amazing places already; Thailand, Fiji, Indonesia and Ningaloo Reef in the West Coast so my expectations are quite high. Either way I knew it would be a fun day and it had to be done whilst I was here!

The water was so choppy, I'd never snorkelled in conditions like that, and it was hard work fighting the waves! I didn't mind too much though as we all know I love a work out! Lorna took a while to feel relaxed at sea but once she did she absolutely loved it! The first reef was good, not amazing. The coral was pretty but there wasn't that much marine life! Though I was the only person to spot a shark when we were down there! I didn't see any turtles; which was quite disappointing, but luckily I'd seen them already in the other places. The lunch onboard was amazing! We didn't do the most expensive boat so I wasn't expecting that much but it was actually a great buffet! Lorna was feeling a bit sea sick (or hungover, she couldn't rule out which the core variable!) so she didn't eat much as I scoffed away at the 'free' food...Us backpackers are renowned for making the most of any organised trip where food is provided and usually eat about three times the amount we would usually eat!

The second reef we went to was much better. It was really great, a lot more and I spotted my favourite underwater creatures- Cuttlefish, there were 5 of them swimming around, they are so beautiful. I had lots of fun trying to capture some good underwater photos from different angles. There was a mixture of corals and fish down there. The water was about 26c and there were no stingers about so it was nice to be able to just spend ages in the water without worrying about anything!

We lay on the deck on the way back to Cairns. They brought round a glass of champagne for everyone so we toasted to my birthday and just chilled out in preparation for another night out and party time for my birthday!