So I landed in Cairns slightly nervous, I was back in western civilisation, where I recognized the food, the language and the culture.Its odd but after 8 months of speaking slowly in broken English, eating odd local delicacies and tackling the one hundred challenges a day that India and Asia throw at you I was actually dubious as to whether I would enjoy Australia.I couldn't see the challenge in it and now that I have been here 2 months I can say that there isn't any challenges in OZ, but that's kind of the beauty of it - everything is new, clean and labelled and cairns was no exception.

Cairns is a little town really, it sits on the coast up in the tropical north and has a lovely climate in winter, 34 in winter - nice right?

I had booked a cheap hostel on the internet and was pleasantly surprised when I arrived, it was relaxed and friendly which I was pleased about because it was my first in Australia and I had a lot of questions.You see out here its expensive, Australia has weird prices, things which cheap at home cost loads here and so everyone cooks for themselves - restaurants are out of a backpackers price range - but what did people cook? Where were the supermarkets? I had a lot to learn.Luckily I made friends with Kaisa, Mel and Jenny who taught me all they knew and soon I was a pro, they told me about Peter Pans the travel agents who I could book everything with, explained I could get free internet at the library and took me to the free exercise classes near the lagoon.

The exercise classes at the lagoon were a highlight of cairns for me, I mean the night life is alright and the connection to the great barrier reef is great but apart from that its a normal town - just a lovely little town that I could probably live in actually, its got a very homely welcoming feel about it.Especially because I could do zumba twice a week for free if I wanted to, next to the lagoon, outside along with 200 other women.Yep zumba is the exercise highlight of many cairns womens diaries and hundreds show up to the outdoor sound shell to join in, get fit, have fun and shake what god gave them.I loved it and went as many times as I could.

That's one thing I've noticed about Oz, if there isn't a beach or the area is prone to dangerous animals in the water i.e. sharks, crocs or jelly fish then they create a lagoon, a man made pool surrounded by fake sand, bbq areas and grass to lie on.It's hot here in winter so I bet its unbearable in summer, I can definitely see why they put the money and effort into creating lovely outdoor areas, they must live out doors.

So I didn't really get up to much in Cairns - I arrived a little lost, I had done no research and therefore spent my 10 days there finding my feet.I realised that I would have to make my way to Brisbane to find a job and therefore I would be travelling the top of the east coast on the money I had left.It was in cairns that I tried the infamous GOON for the time which unsurprisingly didn't end too well as I danced and fell off of a table and then decided the best idea was to sleep in the nearest bed in the hostel - which meant me trying to snuggle up to one of the girls ha ha.

Cairns was lovely, I did mini trips to the national park and the beaches, I lay in the sun whilst reading up on what was good to do down the coast and I found my feet.I also made some lovely friends which made our walk to the woolshed for our free dinner a lot more entertaining - it also made our nights out fun, going to the irish pub and entering the dancing competitions and then hitting macdonalds for a 50cent icecream on the way home.

So you can probably tell that cairns hasn't been a highlight of my trip but when I think of the lazy little town fondly, its where I found my oz legs.

But I decided that I couldn't while away the days in Cairns too long - I had to go and see something, experience the best that oz has to offer.And so after a rather expensive trip to Peter Pans it was time for me to head on down the coast, first stop - The Whitsundays!!