Welcome to Australia where it is hot hot hot

Yes after being all wrapped up in Tokyo we are now wearing shorts, t-shirts and thongs (calm down that's what they call flip flops). We're in Cairns for one reason - diving on the aptly named Great Barrier Reef.

So first things first - we need to learn how to dive. Or rather Pete needs to learn how to dive and Polly needs to 'remember' how to dive having completed a course all of nine years ago.

So we spent our first two days in this glorious tropical climate ... in a classroom. Learning all about nitrogen narcosis, the bends and jellyfish stings - lovely. It was actually great fun mainly because our instructor - Scuba Steve - was a passionate, enthusiastic teacher who just loved diving and everything associated with it. Our first typical Australian, Steve's enthusiasm was utterly contagious and it really made the trip.

So after two days in a classroom and swimming pool we loaded up onto a huge boat for three days at sea doing nothing except diving, eating, diving, sleeping oh and diving. It was fantastic. We are both now certified divers and intend to do more of this on our trip. We saw numerous turtles, rays, tropical fish, sharks, coral and yes we found Nemo. It may also have triggered a new passion in both of us - although whether we'll carry on when our options are the North Sea or the Channel who knows?

As well as your regular dives, we also tried a night dive. Night-time is when the sharks come out and just as we were about to jump in (armed only with a torch) one of our fellow divers (an American called "James the Third" - true) called out from the water 'hey you guys, there are like four sharks under the boat" "Oh thanks James". Anyway we survived! On another dive Polly took down an underwater camera and as a result there are some incredible photos that we'll be uploading shortly. Including a great one of a turtles head.

Lots of love

Polly and Pete