27th Jan - This was the day we headed to Cairns!! Yay! We were so ready to leave Townsville. We arrived in Cairns about 7pm. When we got to the hostel we had already booked, they said that our booking had been cancelled. We had rung the hostel a few days before to tell them that we would arrive a day later as we were stuck in Townsville, but they had got it wrong. We had to wait an hour for them to sort out our room. The girls were doing their skydive the next day, so I thought while we were waiting I'd look into going on a boat the next day to see the Great Barrier Reef. Lastminute.com! Before I knew it, it was booked! We had a Maccy D's for dinner and went to bed.
28th Jan - We woke up early. The girls were getting ready for their skydive and seemed very calm which surprised me! I definitely wouldn't be feeling calm if I was about to throw myself off a plane!! I got ready for my boat trip and walked to the marina to board the boat.
The boat I was on was one of the more expensive boats. It was a big boat and included snorkelling, morning and afternoon tea and a buffet lunch. It felt very strange being without the girls as I hadn't had a single day on my own in 3 months! Everything on the boat was really organised. We were given a briefing about the snorkelling before heading to the first snorkelling site. When we got to each site, one of the crew members gave us a site briefing. I had such a good day snorkelling and was lucky to have seen what I did! At the first site I saw two turtles swimming together. At the second site I saw an octopus. I was trying to take a photo of a beautiful fish swimming around some coral... When all of a sudden it started moving! I was on my own and nearly shat my pants and then I saw the octopus' legs.
At the third site I saw a beautiful gigantic yellow fish. It was bigger than me!!! I was about to get out of the water when I saw a little nemo fish hiding amongst the coral. I thought.. I have to take a picture for the girls!
After the snorkelling session, we got back onto the boat for afternoon tea. There was chocolate mud cake and carrot cake. Omg I have missed cake SO much, that I ate cake until I felt sick.
When leaving the boat, I said bye to everyone I had met and exchanged emails with some boys from San Diego. Who knows, maybe I'll see them in San Diego?!
I walked back to my hostel quickly eager to hear about the girls sky dive. When i got there, they still weren't back so I used the opportunity to have a (very needed) mammoth nap until they arrived. They were buzzing with adrenaline when they walked through the door. We ended the night with.. Yes, another Maccy D's before going to bed for our last nights sleep in Australia :(