Our last full day in Cairns today…we wish we were staying longer! Everything is pretty good value here compared to everywhere else along the east coast - dorm beds for $18 instead of $30, free meals at the hostel, cheap drinks…oh well, off to expensive Perth tomorrow!

Back to today…time to explore the Great Barrier Reef! This is another one of the things on my 'bucket list' and we were both really excited, although a little unimpressed at the 7am start!

We walked down to the marina where we had to board the boat at 7:45, with our underwater camera that we'd hired for the day. Soon we were on our way to our first stop on the Outer Reef. Stinger suits (a fetching bright blue this time!) and snorkels on, and we were in! We swam a short distance out to the reef, which was incredible to see. There were so many different species of coral, all different colours and shapes and sizes, and the same for the fish that we saw. I spotted a couple of trigger fish and we'd been told on the boat that they're currently protecting their nests and might have a nibble on us if we get too close, so we didn't! There were also lots of jellyfish in the water that were small, white in colour and almost transparent. Apparently they're the harmless ones, but it was a bit freaky at first when a few of them floated towards us! Anyway, apart from the semi-scary stuff, we saw our favourite 'Geordie fish' (still don't know their real name!) that we first spotted in Fiji and lots of others that we couldn't name - a completely different and very peaceful world under the ocean! It was pretty similar to Fiji and the Whitsundays, but that didn't take anything away from the spectacle.

Back on the boat, our delicious buffet lunch was served, before we moved a short distance to the second snorkel site. Once again, the divers got in first and the snorkellers followed. This time it was harder to swim as we were battling the tide, but we managed to get a few more good photos on our camera - looking forward to seeing them tomorrow once they've been put onto a CD for us!

Then it was back to the boat for the trip back to Cairns, dropping off people onto another boat who wanted to stay on the reef overnight! We were both exhausted when we got back but very happy with what we'd seen on the reef.

In the evening, we met up with the Irish crowd again, this time in the Woolshed to watch Man Utd v Liverpool in the FA Cup. They were all United fans, so weren't too impressed when they got beat 2-1. Liverpool scored the winner right at the end! It was good to see them again - they're off to Sydney tomorrow en route to Bangkok for a few days, before returning to Ireland.

Meanwhile, we leave tomorrow as well - for Perth and an escape from the humidity!