We arrived in Cairns with pretty much a week booked up with activities and tours in and around the city for us to do. The following day we were all booked up to do our sky dive on Mission Beach, so we were up and ready for our pick up time of 7.30am only to be told that due to the weather it had been called off. We were then deciding what to do with our day when we thought instead of wasting a day we could go and do our bungee jump instead. So we called up the company and booked on for that day instead. We got picked up just after 9am and went about 20 minutes away from the cairns city centre to the AJ Hackett Bungee Jump site. It is the first man made bungee site in the world, built in the 1980s. Seeing as we had both done a bungee before at home we thought it would be fun to do a tandem jump this time. We walked up the stairs to the top of the boards which was 50 metres / 125 feet which is a long way. The guys at the top fitted us with our harnesses and then told us how we were to position ourselves on the edge, with each of us standing side by side with our arms around each others waist holding on to the other ones harness. Getting ready for the jump was fine and we were both getting very excited, the lady at the top told us to pigeon walk towards the edge and then she'll count down from five and that's when we were to jump, which sounded simple enough. Seems had already warned Sheena that she would have a little freak out at the top and wouldn't jump on the first count but she would by the second one, so at least she was prepared. So once at the edge Seema did the rookie mistake of looking down, and even though it doesn't sound like its high it looks like it from the top. Anyways the first countdown came and went and then by the second one we both leaned forward and fell down with all the blood rushing to our heads. It was so much fun, and we could see lots of forest around us which was cool. It was a great adrenaline rush for us both.

On Thursday we were picked up at 6.30am and headed south towards the Tully River for a day of white water rafting. We got to the start point and realised that our raft was us two, and 4 Japanese people, luckily we were given an English guide and not the Japanese one who was explaining everything to them, otherwise we wouldn't have understood anything! Our guide Chris gave us a quick safety talk and then we were on our way. We rafted for about 2 hours during which Sheens whacked her lip with the end of the paddle when we collided into a rock and didn't even realise her mouth was bleeding until Seems told her. We then had the chance to jump off a large rock formation into the river which was lots of fun. The next stop was lunch where we had a typical Aussie bbq, and a little rest before the coach took us further north back to our rafts where we rafting for another two hours. We were very lucky to see two baby turtles and a water dragon along the way, but didn't get any photos because obviously we couldn't take our cameras with us. On the last rapid all 6 of us sat on the sides of the front of the raft, linked arms and plunged into the deepest part of the river. Seems got chucked under the raft but managed to guide her way to safety and Sheens got stuck in the water looking for her shoe which had come off in the impact. She didn't realise how long she was under for until she came back up and the rest of the group were all looking for her.

We'd booked in again to do the sky dive for the Friday, so at 7.30 we went to the front of the hostel to get picked up only for the driver to come by and tell us it was cancelled again due to the weather which sucked. So we spent the day chilling out and then went to meet Lukke and some of her friends by the Lagoon because it was her birthday. That evening we went out for dinner with them, but then headed back early-ish because the next day we were booked in for the sky dive again!

The next morning we got ready and finally got picked up to go and do our 14000 feet sky dive landing on Mission Beach. Third time lucky. Whoop. We drove for around two hours and arrived at the sky dive office where we were allocated a tandem instructor. Eight people plus their tandem guys all go up in the tiny plane together and then one after the other literally fall out of the plane. Both of us had decided to get the dvd of our jump so on the way up our instructors did a little pre jump interview with us asking us how excited we were and if we nervous at all. As much as we were excited there's this little niggling feeling at the back of your head thinking 'hmm ok I'm about to fall out of a plane from 14,000 feet'. Luckily by the time you get up to that altitude and its your turn to go there is no time to get panicked or start freaking out. When we were going up in the plane it felt like we had been in there for a while and that we should nearly be at the desired height when Seema's tandem guy told her that we had only gone up 1000 feet and we had another 13000 to go! So we get over half way up and then we get attached to our tandems, we put on our goggles, the door opens and then its time to go. The first pair went, about 10 seconds later the second pair go, soon after Sheena goes and then its Seema's turn. As soon as you're out the plane its the most amazing feeling, soaring through the air (a bit like harry potter playing a game of Quidditch I reckon..) we free fall for like 60 seconds taking in the amazing views of the ocean, the little islands, a bit of the rain forest rainbow clouds which are just so pretty and of course the beach where we land. Once you finish free falling the instructor pulls the parachute, takes your goggles off and loosens the harness a little bit. He then let us control the direction of the parachute so we were spinning around until it was time to land on the beach when they take control again. We spent the rest of the day sitting on the beach watching lots of other people do their jumps. We saw the instructors come and go 7 times that day instead of the usual 3 or 4 for them. Due to the weather conditions, and this being the first day of jumps in about 10 days around 75 sky dives were done as opposed to the average 30 a day.

On Sunday the 17th we headed to the marina for our Great Barrier Reef trip. We hopped on board, ate some muffins and then set sail for two hours to the outskirts of Green Island where were embarked on a 40 minute guided dive of the reef where we saw lots of fish, including Nemo. We also saw many different types of coral including spaghetti coral which we got to swim through. We then had lunch on board before taking a motor boat across to the island where we spent a few hours on the beach relaxing. After that we headed back to Cairns.

On Monday we left for our 3 day trip to Cape Tribulation. Our first stop was the Daintree River where we had a 45 minute guided cruise to croc spot. We were fortunate enough to see two baby crocodiles and two female crocodiles. We then headed into the rainforest for a guided walk where we learnt lots about the fauna around us. We saw different insects and animals like a forest dragon and a golden orb spider. We were then dropped off at our accommodation and had a nice relaxing evening. The following morning we were picked up to go jungle surfing in the depths of the rainforest. We were given our harnesses and helmets which had character names on it, Sheens was Buffy and Seems was Dora the Explorer. The jungle surfing consisted of 4 zip lines, the first one was simple to ease us into it, the second one we went together, the third one we went 70kms an hour and the fourth we went upside down which was so cool. The next day we were picked up to take us back to Cairns. We stopped at some picturesque lookouts on the way and at Mossman Gorge, which was lots of water surrounded by large rocks. Our last stop before Cairns was at Port Douglas which is one of the richest towns in Australia.

Seeing as our whole week in Cairns wasn't actually spent in the city we decided to take in some of the local sights which consist of shops, the lagoon, bars and more shops. That evening we embarked on the longest bus journey yet, 30 hours on a greyhound from Cairns to Alice Springs.