Hi everyone!!

This will be my last blog from Australia! I can't believe how quickly the time here has gone!

Since I last wrote, we have been to Mission Beach. Which was quite a relaxed place, except when I was attacked by a praying mantis type creature in the hostel!! It was huge! We spent Kayleigh's birthday there. We spent the day at the beach itself, and in the evening treated ourselves to a brilliant all you can eat buffet!

We took our last Greyhound bus out of Mission Beach to Cairns! What a relief not to have to face anymore of those!

Cairns is not quite the cosmopolitan city I imagined it to be, but a nice town none the less. We took our trip to the Great Barrier Reef from here. It was an amazing day, we saw lots of brightly coloured coral and many different fish including a large blue spotted stingray!! On the way to the reef, a massive stow away cockroach revealed itself and jumped right in front of me!! I screamed rather loudly, and jumped over the chairs to get out of the way. Fortunately, this attracted the attention of the crew, who came to my rescue! On the way back, we had Elvis sing to us! I also had my birthday in Cairns. I awoke to the sight of balloons and a banner, and got 2 beautiful glass pendants from Kayleigh. I also received lots of cards and pictures from home! We had a nice meal and went to the cinema too. We have been relaxing since then, and also organising things for the Asian leg of our trip.

Hope you are all well. I will try to blog again in Asia.

Sarah xx