Hello!

We went on the Greyhound bus for the last time on Saturday (yay!!) as we travelled from Mission Beach up to Cairns which is as far North as we are going.

After not being particularly excited about Cairns I have been nicely suprised. Its a really nice city and we've had a fantastic time, with a few scary moments which ill tell you about in a bit! As we've not had too much to sort out here its felt more relaxed, like we're properly on holiday and its really nice to be back in a big city after all the little backpacker towns we have been too.

The main thing we knew we wanted to do here was snorkelling as after doing a little bit on the Whitsunday Islands, we really enjoyed it and wanted a chance to do some more. Also, we were told Cairns is meant to be the best place to do it from as you can get to the Outer Barrier Reef. So, this is what we did yesterday. We went on a day trip out to the Reef to do some snorkelling. However, after sitting in the boat we were supposed to be going on for about an hour in the Marina we realised we weren't going anywhere and they soon told us that it had broken down and we wouldn't be going out today. We were pretty annoyed but luckily we managed to get on another boat that hadn't gone out yet which although it wasn't going exactly where we wanted to go we would at least get to snorkel.

The boat took us to a place called Green Island where we spent the day sunbathing and snorkelling. It was a really nice little Island and the weather was amazing. We got to wear some very...ahem..flattering Stinger Suits to protect us from the Jellyfish. When we got them on though we did soon realise that not many people were wearing them and looked so typically English being really saftey conscious. However, we thought we'd rather look silly than get stung!

The water was really shallow around the Island but it was really clear and we got to see loads of big colouful fish. The most beauitful were some that we called Rainbow Fish, although im sure they have a proper name. They were quite big and completely multi-coloured. They were amazing to see. We were quite gutted however as we still didn't find nemo. I think he's just got to big for himself after all the fame and fortune!

In the afternoon however, we came face to face with my biggest fear, (well actually only Lynds did).... a shark!!! We were still in quite shallow water but as I was still messing about with my snorkel (thank god!) Lynds went under to check hers out and just leapt out of the water saying she'd seen a shark! I couldn't believe it. She thinks it was about 2m which apparently isen't that big but I couldn't believe it came so shallow. I thought we were safe! We soon found out that apparently there were a few in the area. Stupidly, I decided that I wanted to see it and so we carried on swimming for a while. However, we were pretty terrifed and after snorkelling for a bit longer we decided that was enough for the day. I suppose it was quite exciting really that she saw it but it just doesnt feel it when you're actually in the water!!

So, that is the end of our eventful trip to Cairns. We are spending our last few hours here today before flying down to Sydney this evening. Im so excited about going to Sydney. Especially as Jen will be joining us too!

Anyway, im off to get back out in the sun now! :)

Bye!! xxxxxx