Yesterday we made good time in getting to Port Lincoln from the border of South Australia. We checked into the YHA which has only been open for a couple of months and I can honestly say it is the best one I have been to by far. Definitely worth the couple extra dollars you pay to stay here and Rob and Debi are wonderful people. I got a good nights sleep before taking on today's adventure...Great White Shark Cage Diving!

It was a very early start to the day and I don't think everyone was fully awake yet since we managed to leave someone behind at the hostel and drive off to the rendezvous without him...whoops!

The boat was bigger than I expected and the staff on board were so friendly. Most people fell asleep during the journey out but I just couldn't get comfortable on the boat. We had taken some sea sickness pills the night before just in case and some of the waves were so big it was making my stomach turn lol.

It took about 3 hours to get to the North Neptune Islands which has one of the worlds biggest breeding grounds for Great white Sharks. We got to fish for some tuna off the back of the boat but I never caught anything. Someone caught a small tuna and I couldn't believe it was classed as small...the thing was massive! By the time the guy came round with the clipboard to see which group we wanted to go into Claudia and I were placed in the first group in the cage as that was the only one left. We suited up (I hate wetsuits) and got our safety briefing before stepping into the cage wearing one of the heaviest weight belts I've ever worn, well at least we'd sink to the bottom, good thing for quick right hand release lol.

There were already 3 sharks circling the water by the time we got in and they were only small ones at about 5m each...hmmm that doesn't seem small to me! I couldn't believe it how close I was to these giant 'monsters' of the sea. I was excited the entire time and laughed my head off whist trying not to think about how cold the water was on my chest as I breathed in almost in shock upon entering the water. I would be watching one shark in one direction and then someone would tap me on the shoulder, just as I turn round there is another one right up against the cage as the guys are feeding them from above. 45 minutes in the water went way too quickly. We got out and they asked us on video what we thought and I was just like absolutely amazing!

There were 4 groups of people to go into the boat so we had plenty of time to kill watching the sharks breach the water trying to get the bait from the top of the boat. I think it became almost a competition to see who could get the best pictures of a shark breaching the water lol. I still believe I got the money shot *smile*. Some people were seriously sick though, one girl couldn't stop being sick and another guy threw up in his regulator and all over the stairs to the shark cage...mmmm nice.

The journey back seemed to take forever and I fell asleep not long before we docked. One of the guys was going to scare me awake but instead Claudia just poked me and I woke up and just said what??!

I was absolutely shattered when we got back but there are things which need to be done. Plans need to be made and I don't have a lot of time to decide what I want to do or how. It's about now that I need to do my regional work so need to find somewhere down here to do it. I also stayed awake for quite a while to wait for Stephen to come back from the pub and ring me...going to be tired tomorrow!