After getting back to Airlie Beach after our Whitsundays trip we decided to go straight out for a walk around (now that it wasn't raining here). As we were just about to cross over the road back to our hostel, a car suddenly slowed and stopped in front of us and it just happened to be Lubo, Dan and Tanny from our Frazer Island trip! We had no idea they were due in airlie beach the same time as us, so it was such a nice coincidence!

We arranged to meet for pizza and drinks in a bar called Magnums later on, and as we were looking around for them, suddenly a bunch of girls started screaming at us and we turned around only to find Lucy, Charlotte and Polly there, who were also part of our Frazer group! What are the odds?! So we caught up, played some games, and had a dance before saying another farewell.

The next morning me and Lowri were catching a 12 hour bus to Cairns... Oh joy! It was delayed an hour too. We arrived at the bus stop in Cairns and were directed to the street our hostel was on, which just so happened to be possibly the longest road in the world. It took us over an hour to reach our hostel, we checked in, and had an early night ready for our day on the reef.

We arrived at the ferry dock bright and early and boarded our 'Down Under' boat. I had signed up for the scuba dive so had a briefing on the do's and dont's and was told I was in the second group to dive so had to get ready straight away!

We were in groups of four plus an instructor (Jaxon - he was very handsome!) About five minutes after submerging under water, two of the girls were panicking too much and left us to go back up to the surface so there were only the three of us left. I didn't blame them, because it is such an adjustment having to breathe under water and feels very chlostraphobic! I almost thought I wouldn't be able to do it, but I soldiered on and was fine after a few minutes.

It was incredible down there. We didn't see any sharks or turtles, but saw plenty of different fish and at one point Jaxon took us down to the very bottom where he let us hold a sea cucumber, and touch a giant clam that slowly closed when you touched its inside. I would definitely recommend a dive on the Great Barrier Reef to anyone. It was one of my best days so far and will never forget it!

After the dive I went for some snorkelling with Lowri, who had already been out exploring. This is where we saw our first reef shark! It didn't come too close, and was soon gone. It was such a rush being in the water with one.

We got out the water to have our lunch before moving on to the next part of the reef. It was a delicious BBQ of steak, fish, sausage and salads. We stopped at the next stop and me and Low managed to get on the first glass bottom boat tour. This was mainly for people who had been too afraid to snorkel/dive, and it was nowhere near as good as being in the water, but we saw some cool coral. We then headed out for our second snorkel... This is where we saw our SECOND shark (most people saw none - we were incredibly lucky!) It actually swam quite close to us as it went past.

As we continued on exploring the reef, I then saw a turtle coming through the coral! I screamed at Low for a while till I got her attention, and tried chasing it for a while pointing at it for her to try and see, but it disappeared into the darkness.

We finished the cruise off with a free glass of wine and some cheese and biscuits. When we got off the ferry we headed back to the hostel, where we had some food and a couple of drinks before an early night as we were pooped after all the excitement of the day.

What an amazing day!