So after sleeping in the airport we flew into Cairns feeling pretty tired. We were staying at a place called the Asylum which is aptly named. The place had a rep around town for making loads of noise and all the locals complained about it. Me and Lee had our own 2 bed room but after Amber found someone sleeping in her bed we blew up the airbed and she stayed with us. The place was pretty grotty and disgusting with no hot water but despite the crazy reputation it was pretty quiet. So we spent the first day strolling around Cairns, we visited the beach, which is basically just mud and sea and complained about the weather which was warm but colder than expected for the north of Australia. The next day it was a bit warmer so we went down to the Lagoon which is a giant pool area that's been built infront of the crappy beach so people have somewhere nice to go. We sunbathed for a bit to heat up and then went for a dip, it took me about 20 minutes to actually get in the water which Lee kept trying to convince me was actually quite refreshing...lies! The next day we went on a tour of the Atherton tablelands and visited loads of waterfalls. We got in this natural pool that had a natural rock water slide...now i know i said the water in the Lagoon was cold but this was ridiculous. I got in and had a go and then waited for Lee to come in to...and waited...and waited. So whilst he tried to decide if it was worth it I froze my t*** off in the water until sopme dutch girl took pity on me and went and told him to get in. We had a few go's on the slide, it didn't get any warmer so we got out. We visited a few other places including the waterfall where they filmed peter andre's mysterious girl and the timotei and herbal essences advert....AWESOME!

Day 3 was our slightly extravagant (for backpackers) great barrier reef dive and sail which was spectacular. We saw humpback whales jumping out of the water on the way. Did some snorkelling on the reef, the water was crystal clear and the reef and fish were so colourful. We also did a scuba dive where our guide hand fed a turtle and we swam around him. Some of the fish were massive aswell which was a bit creepy. We swam through caves made by the reef guided by our instructor so we got really close and we finished the day feeling pretty awed by it all.

That night we said goodbye to Amber (the girl we picked up at Ayers rock) had some dominos and prepared to pick up another wicked van to head down to Brisbane the next day.