G'day folks

My word, where to begin! We seem to have done a fair bit since arriving in Cairns 2 and a half weeks ago! I'll start where I left you, in Cairns waiting to do our Cape Tribulation overnight trip. We went on a mini bus up the east coast, north of Cairns towards Cape Tribulation which is where beautifull rainforrest meets the beach, quite a unique sight to behold we were told. Named by Captain Cook as... well, quite a few things went wrong for him and his crew around that area! On the way we stopped off at various spots including a wildlife sanctuary and a viewing point where we saw, from a distance, the place where the late Steve Irwin met his maker, and that sting-ray in the sea. We stayed overnight in a funky little hostel in the rainforest (no spider incidents to report back I'm glad to say) and the next morning I went horse riding for the first time. Where better to have your first riding experience than trotting through Daintree Rainforest, and cantering a few times, and then onto Cape Tribulation beach. It was such a fantastic experience, I absolutely loved it. The horses were so well looked after and well behaved. My horse, Duke, was such a beauty I wanted to bring him away with me! Big smiles and sore bums that afternoon!!

Whilst up in Cairns we also took a day boat trip on the Great Barrier Reef where you could snorkell and dive if you wished. I knew I would find diving hard as my first snorkel experience had left the beach at Gili Trawangan with half the sea it had before I arrived! God, sea water really does taste vile! Anyway, I decided I just had to give it a go and would do an intro dive. To say the sea on the way out was rough is an understatement and there were plenty of grey faces and sick bags on the boat. The pre-dive brief we were given completely freaked me out and my breathing started going funny just thinking about being under water. Not good. I could not wait to get out into the freshair. The fact that Caroline couldn't really describe the colour I had turned sums up how I was feeling! I decided that I would snorkell first and see how I felt about doing the diving later. I loved snorelling, which was just amazing on the reef, so I decided that I would give the intro dive a go after lunch. It did not go well. But in fairness to me the conditions for a very nervous first time diver were crap! We were literally in the middle of the ocean, no land anywhere in sight, really rough seas god knows how deep and being plonked into the water and having to decend into the unknown were just too much for me and I could not do it. I tried and tried but my brain couldn't deal with going further down where there is no air (forget the tank on my back!) So completely gutted and frustrated I got back on the boat, ditched my gear and just went snorkelling. Bummer. But at least I gave it a go I kept telling myself. Caroline took to it staight away though as we knew she would and loved every minute which was great.

After that we headed down the coast to Mission Beach. Not a lot to report back from here. It was a cute little town but really, just a beach and as the weather was still poor we didn't see the point in staying longer than 1 night. Must just say thought that we stayed in the nicest hostel of our trip so far here. Spotlessly clean, newly refurbished. We would definately have stayed had the weather been better.

But on we went, to Townsville. This place, allegedly a city, was deserted when we arrived in the middle of the afternoon. It was like being in Tasmania again! And the hostel was a jolt back to reality after the palace we'd just left - we were now in the worst hostel, which felt like a scratty block of council flats. Felt like I was back in Dudley. Again - not good! Luckily we we're only staying here 1 night as we were getting the ferry over to Magnetic Island the following morning. The weather still hadn't really improved since our last few days in Cairns and we were considering asking for a refund. I mean, you just expect it be sunny in Oz!! Mangnetic Island was a lovely place, really small and not a great deal to do there other than doing walks and stuff which we spent a couple of days doing. We saw loads of Rock Wallabies, Cookaburras and possums (who came into the kitchen and dived into bins when you weren't looking - very cute! We spent 5 days here in total so Caroline could do her PADI Diving Course. So I was left unsupervised for hours on end! Luckily over the last couple of days there the weather picked up and I was able to top up my quickly fading tan! 'Nooooooo' I can hear you cry. Don't panic , I'm still lovely and brown te he he!

I'm just going to take a second to describe the kind of room mates we've been so lucky to share dorms with during our time in Oz. So far I have had lesbians cuddling in the single bunk below me, sleep talkers opposite me, guys with prosthetic legs next to me and a bloody sleep walker on the bunk above me. (not funny when a pair of lifeless legs swing down in front of your face at stupid o'clock!) Needless to say, you don't get much quality sleep in 10 bed dorms and the thought of my own room again makes me well up inside!! Only kidding, it all adds to the experience!

After our stay on Maggie Island, we headed further south on our Greyhound Coach to Airlie Beach which is where I am sat at the computer right now. Hi *waves at the screen*! The Greyhound Coaches are really nice! And it is nice to be on the road rather than flying here there and everywhere all the time. They have toilets, water coolers and even films for you to watch - luxury compared to the things we travelled around Asia in!! So Airlie, in a nutshell, is like a holiday resort but with a really nice feeling to it. The sun was shining when we arrived which always make a place more inviting and I really like it. It has a huge harbour and a little beach and a massive lagoon (pool) where most people congrigate. However the hostel does seem to have a bed bug issue, but we'll scratch over that...I mean, gloss over that! We already had our Whitsundays Sailing trip booked before we arrived here. We sailed around the Whitsunday Islands (well a few of them, there are like 74 all together!) on a beautiful catermeran and slept onboard for 2 nights. It was cosey i can tell you, but ace fun. We were fed like kings and queens and the crew and group we were with were fab. And to top it all off we were soooo lucky with the weather - it was perfect and one of the best expereinces I have had since being away.

I had no intention of trying diving again as I knew it wasn't for me and I was happy in the knowledge that I would be snorkelling again on the Great Barrier Reef. However, when I told the instructor on board that I wouldn't be diving, and explained my previous bad experience, his eyes lit up. 'Let me take you diving again, I promise you'll love it, you'll be fine' he said. I think they love it when a nervous person presents a challenge for them! I reluctantly agreed, knowing that I wouldn't have to pay for it if I freaked out again and couldn't carry on. This time though I wasn't plunged into the middle of the scarey-ass ocean. We stared off in a calm little bay, on the beach and gradually walked in really slowly. My breathing was less than steady at the start but I felt ok and persevered. Before I knew it I was at 6 meters, possing and dancing for the underwater camera! I DIVED!!! I was so proud of myself for giving it another go and managing it this time! I saw some amazing corals and beautifully multicoloured fish. Don't think I'll be doing my PADI course any time soon but I had such a great time anyway. We stopped at a place called Whitehaven Beach later that day which was just outstanding - you'll see from the photos but that they do it little justice. The photo on this blog is of Whitehaven actually. We had so much fun doing crazy photos shoots on that beach. The slide show we watched on the boat that night was hillarious. In fact we were all kind of sad to be leaving the boat yesterday and most of us met up last night for some farewell drinks.

So, the plan is to leave Airlie tomorrow night and travel overnight to Hervey Bay (to save on a nights accomodation costs - ha!) where we will be doing our Fraser Island 4x4 safari camping trip! Can't to see what that's like and tell you all about that one!

So I'll love you and leave you all for now and will write again soon. Hope everyone is fine and dandy at home. Missing everyone loads.

Take care. Lots of love

Nic

xxxxx