Heading north from townsville we stopped at a swimming hole in Crystal Creek called paradise swimming hole. This was a great little spot for a dip and we fell like we have to take advantage of all these spots because swimming in the sea is forbidden due to the potentially fatal jellyfish around this time of year.

We had lunch at a place called Frosty Mangos en route to Mission Beach and this was one of the best meals we'd tasted for a long while. I had the delicious Jackfruit curry and Sam had Mango chicken which was just as good. As the name states, the food is mainly Mango-ish and highly recommended!

Next stop was Jourama Falls and we embarked on a difficult 2km walk to the falls very soon after our big lunch! Maybe not the best idea but it was well worth it. The falls were fairly dry but still remarkable. The surrounds in tropical north queensland are understandably very green and very attractive with waterfalls and rivers in abundance.

We stopped at the chilled and popular Mission Beach in a super little hostel where we camped outside but still had full use of the facilities. We stayed here for two days simply relaxing and contemplating our next steps!

The sun prevents us from sleeping in and we get to Cairns and booked in to our hostel by 10am and we immediately start investigating the best way to explore the Great Barrier Reef. The guy who runs the hostel is excellent and very very helpful, so, with his help, we choose to do a day trip out to the reef and take an introductory dive when there. This way, we can test the water (!) to see if we're going to enjoy diving before embarking on an expensive 4-5 day course.

Before diving though, we had a day trip up to a touristy market town in the highlands known as Kuranda. The transport was a little different as we took a cable car up and the scenic railway down. Both methods were excellent with great views each way and the town was an interesting visit too. The streets were full of little markets all with unique gifts and the highlight is probably the local sweet shop where they make their own rock. They demonstrate in full view of the customers so we now know how they get those tiny little letters to run all the way down the stick!

The hostel we're staying at is one of a few in Cairns that provides free meals at a pub in town called the Woolshed. The free dishes aren't too substantial but for an extra $7, i upgraded to a T-bone steak with all the trimmings and that was more than good enough! We ate here every night whilst in Cairns and understandably so!

Now for the diving! Extremely apprehensive and very nervous - that goes for both of us. The boat ride out to the reef was the worst journey i've ever encountered and the nerves definitely contributed towards that. The sea was extremely choppy which also didn't make for good snorkelling as the dust was disturbed in the water (affecting visibility) and the water kept flooding the snorkels. But we still attempted the dive.

With all the equipment fully loaded on for us and the instructors taking control of you, we were ready to go. The first thing they do is submerge you just below the surface and get you comfortable with the breathing apparatus. They ask you to remove the mouthpiece, continuing to exhale, then replace the mouthpiece and breathe as normal after blowing the water out. At this point, Sam realised she couldn't bring herself to remove the mouthpiece and evacuated. She did extremely well to get this far considering her mild fear of the sea and drowning and she gave it a really good go (and she was refunded!!). I continued and descended deeper, remembering to continue to breathe long breaths at all times so as not to damage the lungs and equalize the ears to prevent any damage there too.

When down, the instructor eventually released me and this was the best part. The coral was amazing, as was the marine life but being free in the water was something else! A feeling like no other (except maybe space walking!). I chose to pay for a second dive later on and this was just as good.

I don't feel like i need to do a dive course now as i've experienced the sensation and wonders of the submerged world albeit for about 40 minutes in total. I will consider diving again in the future but the introductory dive is all i feel i need to enjoy it.

A spectacular day was completed in style when Elvis (one of the crew members) got his guitar out and gave us all a little quiz to win free drinks and me and another guy on our table were simply too good for everyone else!!

Cape Tribulation was the next destination and this is the only point in the world where the rainforest meets the coral sea. It's situated in Daintree N.P and we had to board a chain ferry similar in theory to that of the I.O.W in order to get there. Our campsite is immediately next to a beautiful stretch of beach and we enjoyed the afternoon lounging in our deckchairs, reading by the sea.

There is an excellent rainforest discovery centre here that had the pleasure of our presence for a few hours then we took a short walk to Cape Tribulation beach to once again waste away the afternoon! We had a very peaceful 2 days here not forgetting the interesting local ice-cream of mango, soursop, wattleseed and passion fruit.