19th june cairns we arrived in cairns early morning and head straight for our hostel, as our flight had been bought forward we had no room when we got there so chilled and slept in the tv room til we could get to a real bed! (we were knackered after no sleep all night) that day we pretty much slept and chilled out in preparation for the night, as it was the full moon bar crawl party organised monthy by a group of hostels! we had a mad night, the theme was 'bright and tight' ... we stuck with the bright fluorescent style! we went to a couple of hostel bars and then shenanigans and rhino bar in the centre, lots of alcohol and dancing and a good start to Oz!!!

20th june hangover from hell!! ... lie in!! we rolled out of bed well after midday and by the time we had got ready and eaten we had pretty much wasted a day! oops! we head into the town for a look around and found a coffee shop to sit and plan the camper trip! had an early night that night, though didnt really get a good ngihts sleep ... it was our first experience of an actual shared dorm! there were people coming in early hrs who woke us up, and then people getting up early who had to check out, not like the luxury of a 4bed dorm like in singapore lol. though we got to know a couple of the guys in the dorm and got on with them.

21st june another late start after a disturbed nights sleep... we head into town around lunchtime, originally planning on hitting the lagoon, but as it was cloudy we decided to do a bit of exploring and shopping instead! we looked around for some cheap winter bargains as the further south we get its gonna get colder! plus new zealand is going to be freezing! we discovered cotton on (a bit like h&m at home) where we got some stuff! and a few other shops. head back to the hostel to make our own tea in the kitchen as need to start watching the pennies.. its so much more expensive here, big shock after asia! then another early night as big day tomorrow...

22nd june great barrier reef! we had been waiting for this since we got to cairns and booked it and were all very exited! we were on the boat for the whole day and got to snorkel at two different locations. may i first point out that the knee length wetsuits we wore were not flattering in the slightest and therefore u will not find a pic of me in mine anywhere lol!! the first location was amazing... i saw loads of cool and colourful fish, inc two nemos which got me very exited! we saw a turtle! the coral was beautiful! and at one point when i was on my own i saw a reef shark below me!...i panicked so much!...when i finally got a grip and looked back down to take it in he had disappeared lol. how was i to know they dont come to the surface or harm you, never mind! the second location wasnt as good as first for me as the water was so choppy and i got a bit nervous, i was waving around all over the place,the coral was above sea level at a lot of places and you arent supposed to touch it... and also the sun had gone in and it was bloody freezing! so all in all it was an amazing day, and saw loads of brill things! loved it! when we got back to the harbour we walked along the espanade and got some pics of the lagoon etc, and had a wander around the market. we then head back to the hostel to get ready for a night out! though we went out with some of the people we had met at the hostel, to a place called the woolshed! lots of goon drinking, lots of dancing, and a yummy takeaway at the end of the ngiht.... standard!

23rd june mission beach/townsville struggle to get up and out of the hostel for 10am! also to pack all our stuff up, as we had really enjoyed being in the same place for 4 nights, and our bags had exploded everywhere! after checkout we head to find the place to pick up our camoer van! the camper, nicknamed by us as 'beaut' is a beast!!! shes not so much wide as she is long,... interesting getting to reverse park haha, not gona happen for me i dont think! caz had the first drive, so once we had loaded beaut up we set off for our first stop off... mission beach. we were originally going to stay there but as we have such a tight schedule to get everything in we just stayed there for a while to chill on the beach and get some pics! we then carried on south to townsville where we stayed overngiht at a campsite so we could power up! our first camping experience for all of us.... learning how to plug things in etc ha. and also getting the nighttime routine started of all getting ready and getting the beds set up etc! got a good nights sleep!

24th june magnetic island my day to drive! we booked ourselves and beaut onto a ferry over to magnetic island (from townsville)... we took the camper so that we could get around easier on the island. the rds on the island were all windy which was interesting for my first turn with the camper, also getting used to it being an automatic! we had mexiacan for lunch and then chilled on the beach catching some sun! we saw horseshoe bay and nelly bay! dan and caz cooked pasta for tea in the camper while we waited for the ferry back over to townsville! we looked like proper travelling folk lol. then we started the drive towards proserpine/airlie beach (where we would do our whitsundays trip from)....as it got late and was dark we decided to stop off at a seaside town called bowen overngiht. problem was there was no campsites open and when we found one that was open it was full, so that night we slept on the side of the rd outside the campsite and sneaked in to use their toilets! (the next morning we also sneaked in to use the showers, anna went, then me, then caz and dan went and managed to get themselves caught and hadto pay! the people were not happy! apparantly they 'dont like theives in australia' .... oopsy! we wont be trying that again!)