Arriving back in Cairns after another 12 hour marathon journey from one side of the country to the other I spent a couple of days just sorting a few things out and catching up on sleep!

Then I hit the activity list again and went out to the Great Barrier reef for the day. I decided to pay a bit more to avoid the crowds and go to the outer reef where the coral is reportedly much better and much less visited. And how right the advice was. We snorkelled at two spots on Briggs reef and although I didn't see too many unusual fish I did see my first reef shark of this trip. I almost missed him as he crept up alongside me, but there was no mistaking that shark-like manouvere through the water and of course those glinting teeth smiling at me! But the best part of the day was definitely the coral. I've never seen anything like it before and I've been out a few different reefs in the past few months, It was so colourful and so many different types and shapes of coral, I didn't want to stop looking at it and was one of the last back in the boat each time.

The next day I set out for a more adventurous day, whitewater rafting on the Russell river, or should I say more white water kayaking. Instead of being in the big rafts that hold about 8 people we were in two-man rafts so it was up to you to make sure you took the right route through the rapids or suffer the consequences...But before we even got onto the river we had a one hour walk through the bush carrying all the gear to get to the top of the river where we would launch from. It was a pretty interesting walk, saw the effects of a cyclone with lots of fallen trees, some across the path, and all the vegetation clambering for the sunlight now the top canopy had disappeared. I was also introduced to some other native australian plants - 'Wait a while' and 'Gimpie Gimpie'. Now as you might have guessed from the name 'Wait a while' has long spikes that grab you as you brush past them, so if you get caught by a few you might well be waiting a while before you can free yourself. Then there's the 'Gimpie Gimpie'...this one is extremely painful should you be unfortunate enough to touch it, and there was plenty of it around. Apparently when aborigines give something a double name it means it is twice as bad, and given that Gimpie means painful I didn't try touching it to find out just how bad it was!

So anyway we finally reached the river and pumped up the rafts, where I promptly managed to take a nice chunk out of my shin on a rock before we'd even left the safety of the land - right down to the bare bone it was!. And I then discovered that a leech had decided to feast on my ankle and he wasn't moving anywhere until he had finished despite my attempts to flick him off, so I set off down the river with my newly acquired friend still attached...

We did ok on the first few rapids, nothing too taxing while I got the hang of steering the raft as I'd been nominated 'steerer' for the trip. And in theory all should have been fine as we continued our leisurely descent down the river...but then two things happened. 1. the rapids got significantly larger and more dangerous. And 2. I was sharing a raft with some half wit in the front who decided they too would have a go at steering, in the opposite direction to me, so the raft started spinning in circles while we both fought to regain control and we hurtled down several rapids facing the wrong way! Ah, the art of communication! So as you might have guessed the end result was two fantastic capsizing moments, the second of which took me as close to death as I think I've ever come, and this time I'm really serious. I got stuck in a rapid that I just couldn't get out of. The water was churning over my head as I fought to get air and was pulling me under with so much force that all the advice they give you about getting your feet up in the air and facing forward down the river was useless...all I wanted to do was to breathe without gulping a mouth full of water each time. I just kept kicking my legs, so hard that I lost my shoe in the process and eventually I think I must have kicked a rock or something becuase I came catapulting out of the rapid and into calmer water to safety. The worst part of all this was that we still had to negociate our way through the biggest rapid of the day and now neither of us was feeling so fearless. Nor were we feeling any better after one of the other boats got stuck in this last rapid and the two guys had to climb out and cling to a rock for 20 minutes until the guides managed to rescue them! But thankfully we made it down without any more problems and were very happy to see the bank of the river and our bbq awaiting us.

After so much excitement a few quiet days in Cairns was definitely in order so I spent my remaining time there just relaxing down at the lagoon, soaking up the very welcome sun. On a Sunday afternoon you can often find some live music and on this particular Sunday I was treated to the musical talents of Doyles band, where the entire family had turned out to play, from Grandad Doyle on the tamborine down to 3 year old Elliot Doyle with his somewhat oversized guitar...but they were actually pretty good and attracted a good crowd and plenty of cheers!