Arrive in Brisbane after mammoth bus trip at 6:30am. Massive interent session in 'the bunker', full of loads of gaming geeks playing counter strike type games! Kill time by looking round city centre again and Roma St Park - feeling surprisingly fresh after limited sleep on bus. Get bus to airport then fly to Sydney and catch plane - 9 hrs to Bangkok for final leg of trip. On same flight as Steve and Jenn from OZ - even sitting in same row.

Still on greyhound bus - stopping every 3 hrs or so right through to Cairns - 2000km in 30 hrs - great fun! Going surprisngly quickly despite rubbish films being shown and no i-pod!

Up early for scuba diving, snorkelling cruise trip on Great Barrier Reef on massive catamarann. Scuba diving is awesome! Under water for half and hr with group of 4 of us swimming around corals and seeing loads of fish with all equipment. Glass bottom boat ride. BBQ and drinks at hostel - board bus late for ridiculously long 30 hr Greyhound ride down to Brisbane - we must be mad!!

Look around Cairns city centre and marina, walk to Flecker Botanical Gardens. Drinks at hostel.

Arrive in Cairns late afternoon after most of day on bus from Townsville - leave James behind as he's off to Magnetic Island and Mission Beach. Check into Serpents - great hostel - $2 meals - awesome, massive portions - beers at hostel with Nikki, Jayne and Florien from Whitsunday trip and hit Woolshed and PJ's.