Arrived in Cairns early thursday morning after flying through the night and barely getting a wink of sleep. It was raining too! Cant believe it - I was hoping to avoid all such precipitous weather until my return to Blighty. Good thing I have an umbrella with me. Although I should count my lucky stars that I am not in Vietnam with Al as he has just survived a particularly nasty Typhoon!

Our backpacker hostel is quite a place - think Butlins on heat. It's fully equipped with anything and everything a traveller could need. Whilst quite a shock to the purse strings, it is nice to be back in the civilised world with air con and hot water taken for granted and no more having to carry around an unlimited supply of loo roll!

Despite being jet lagged, we decided to mark our first night in Oz by having a nice meal and lo and behold, a bottle of wine! We have sorely missed the pleasure of vin during our trip. We then headed to Gilligans very own night club. It's nice that guys here will actually chat you up rather than going for Thai girls! It was also great to hear normal music.

Today was spent supermarket shopping, as there is a fully equipped kitchen and there is no way we can afford to eat out every night. We are also going to have to rethink our strategy for the East Coast as the weather at the moment means we cant really go diving as visibility will be shot to pieces. I am praying for the sun as want a tan for Christmas!

Cairns was ultimately a bit of a washout sadly so we are heading off to Mission Beach in pursuit of the sun!