Greetings once again! I am STILL in Cairns as i write this but the great news is im leaving tomorrow! Woo! Now, its not that i dislike Cairns. Hell, ive been here 3 weeks. Its just that after 3 weeks of being in Cairns you kinda wanna get the hell out. I've had a wicked time here though. Its basically a party town where there isnt a great deal else to do but go out and drink and meet other random travellers. Its been a great place to watch the World Cup too. Other than obviously supporting England (the less said about that campaign the better) I've also been at different times supporting the Swedes, the Dutch, the French, the Aussies, and the Japs. All purely cos its a fun way of meeting people from other countries. I see myself as some sort of UN Ambassador building bridges with other nations. If only Kofi Anan would realise that the key to world peace is getting drunk and pretend to support another nations team. Here are the fruits of my last 3 weeks: Sweden: Camien Svadia, Camien! Holland: Hep holland Hep! Australia: Aussie Aussie Aussie! Oi! Oi! Oi! Japan: Ni-pon Cha cha cha, Ni-pon cha cha cha France: Allez les bleus! So there you have it, if u ever find urself needing to cheer on one of those teams, thats how u do it! The England fans were the greatest in number, and they did their best to enforce their stereotypes with uncouth and brutish behaviour. We seem to be the only country who spend more time chanting against the opposition that chanting in support of our own team! At least it is eloquently put as in the case of "f*** of Sweden" repeated over and over. English charm aside, the dutch were my favourite fans! Colourful as ever, and as u'll see from the photos the most fun! World cup aside I've not had the most productive 3 weeks of my life! I spent my birthday here which was a laugh. It was also the day of the England trinidad game, so we all went out in our england shirts and got face painted up (see photos!). Unfortunately the exertions of that night and of previous nights meant i spent the day of my birthday and the next couple in bed ill! But such is life! We also managed to rent a car and drive up to the beautiful chilled out Cape Tribulation with J and two friends from the east coast, Jen and Casper. While there i realised that so far ive ridden a few elephants in SE Asia, a camel in Broome but never a horse! So we spent a few hours there learning to horse ride which was actually well fun! Better than the elepthants and camels in a way cos u can direct them! Altho when my horse (Red) started cantering it felt WELL fast and i was clinging on so tightly scared i'd fall off! My knuckles have now recovered though! The other major achievement of my time here was to dive the Great Barrier Reef, which im pretty proud to say I've now done! Since being here the weather has generally been warm enough and sunny despite being winter, but it came as no surprise at all that the day we were to go diving it was as though England decided to give us a taste of real winter and thus a blanket of grey covered the skies and it rained. Perfect diving conditions! The boat ride out to the reef was so bumpy that three people were being sick the whole time, which in turn made me feel rather sick myself! It was without a doubt the bumpiest boat ride ive ever been on! J asked for a sick bag at one point, but thankfully he held out. Thankfully cos he was sitting next to me. Once there, however, it was worth it. There wasnt as much fish as in other places ive dived but the reef itself was brilliant. It was really cool diving through little tunnels in the reef and into caves under water. But now the time to leave Cairns is upon us, and i must say I am as delighted as i am sad to leave this place! From here Im heading down the coast with J to mission beach and beyond, and to get this travelling thing back on track! Cheers for all ur messages on the message board. I've finally uploaded photos, so check out the beauty of Kakadu, marvel at the beaches of cape tribulation, and laugh at the drunken disgrace that has been our time in Cairns. Until next time, take care