Today was a really fab day!! Snorkelling on the Barrier Reef was really amazing! I couldn't get the hang of it at first, but I persevered and finally got used to having to breathe through my mouth and clamp onto the snorkel mouth piece! I wonder if I looked like a fish, having to pucker up to the mouth piece all the time otherwise I swallowed half the ocean whilst swimming around!
You see loads of fishies and coral and sea cucumbers and all those sorts of things. I remembered to take my waterproof camera with me, but I haven't a clue whether the photos will turn out ok. The Reef was pretty clear, but obviously a throw-away camera might not do it very much justice! I could have hired one of those underwater digital cameras, but they looked pretty big and bulky and so I thought I'd rather concentrate more on not inhaling my mask, or swallowing a ton of ocean, or drowning and ruining lots of coral!!
The boat was absolutely packed full of people - mostly snorkelling but some divers and also some people not doing either! Lots of people being rather ill too as the ocean was pretty choppy! I managed to hold down my breakfast yet again - hurrah! It wasn't as choppy as when I went whale watching in Kaikoura but it was still fairly bumpy - I obviously have sea legs - yay!
Also, as I was a late booker onto the trip, I was given a special number - 118. It's obviously a running joke with the crew, as I got a snigger every time I gave the number to one of the crew. You had to give your number for everything - hiring a wet suit or rashie, lunch (seeing as I am veggie), and even when they went around checking you off on the list after being out on the ocean (just in case you didn't come back I guess). So, I got plenty of sniggers and was told that it wasn't me in particular, just the number. I guess they use that number for the last minute bookers....

Also, my slightly big gob got me some more sniggers as I piped up when I asked them if I'd get grass for lunch seeing as they made some daft joke about rustling up something for the veggies. They said it would be hard to find grass out at sea, but they'd see what they could do. The guy went on to brief us of what to do if we were sea sick, and the last resort was to use those little white bags, and the person to hand them to was...........me!! Doh!! Luckily there were no stupid people there and I didn't get handed any sick bags!!

We were able to snorkel in two parts of the reef, which was pretty cool as we got to see a variet of different fishies and coral. There were a few quite big fishies swimming around, and some really long ones called aligator something-or-the-other fish. I don't remember the other bit of their name, but they were quite pretty!
One guy said he saw a small shark too, one of the harmless ones that are more like fish, but said it was a shark nonetheless. I had already overheard one of the crew say that the water was too warm for proper sharks in any case, so we wouldn't be swimming with any.
It's quite an amazing place, the coral reef, as you see loads of different things. Little shoals of fish swimming about, lots of big fish, small fish, and some people saw some turtles but they'd obviously swum off somewhere else by the time I got there!

After my second snorkel, it was time to get on my helicopter flight back to Cairns! I was really looking forward to it, and was wondering whether I'd be the only one, but another couple joined me in the chopper. They booked it last minute and I'm glad that I booked mine beforehand as it was well expensive if you booked it on the day! I paid just over $300 for the cruise, helicopter flight, and reef tax ($20), and then an extra $10 for a rashie seeing as it was still stinger season and I didn't want to come home with any scars (let alone be in significant pain for the rest of my holiday if I did come across one) and the price of the helicopter flight to Cairns if you booked on the day was $220!!!! Cripes.
The helicopter flight was really amazing too as you got to see the Reef from above, and it's so beautiful! You see lots of little sand islands too, including Green Island which is a little heart shaped one. We didn't fly right over it, unfortunately, but it was still really pretty from where I was sitting!
I now want to fly helicopters, or find a friend who flies them, as they're pretty cool! The guy who flew us said that he had wanted to fly choppers since he was a kid as he thought they were really cool. He thought planes were a bit boring as they only fly from a to b and choppers were much cooler.

Got back to the hostel to dump my stuff and then went out to find the opticians! Jennifer at Laubman & Pank in Brisbane, had sent me an email yesterday saying that she'd sent them express yesterday and so they should have got to Cairns by today. I did hope so, otherwise I only had another day before I left for Tokyo!! Thankfully they were there and they were even nicer than I remembered! It was really weird seeing through glasses again after a few weeks of being used to contact lenses, but my eyes felt much better about it! I could now go to the loo in the middle of the night and still be able to see. Those of you who can see without glasses would think this wasn't important as you're still half asleep and so can't see in any case, but when you're in a hostel in another country and you could step on some sort of wildlife at any given time, it's actually quite useful to be able to see!!

Had a pretty uneventful evening, though met my across the corridor neighbour - an American guy called Rick. He seemed quite nice and we chatted in the hall for a bit - he's in Cairns for a few days on all sorts of trips but mostly diving. Also bumped into Laura, who I'd met on the first day I arrived and we went on the Uncle Brian tour together. She'd had a great time snorkelling today as well.
Also met a Brazilian guy in the kitchen who I'd seen waiting to go on a sky dive yesterday. I asked him how it was and he said it was ok. OK?? Gees. I think he's the only person I've spoken to who's sky dived who hasn't just smiled from ear to ear when they've talked about it!! I'm not sure what he was expecting (perhaps he wasn't either at first) but he really should have enjoyed it more than he made out!

Just going to have a nice relaxing and easy day tomorrow seeing as it's my last day in Cairns and my last day in Australia!! Feel excited about going to Tokyo, and then going home but also a little sad at leaving Australia. The time seems to have gone so quickly that it really doesn't feel like I've been away almost four months! I am completely broke but have had an amazing four months! So glad that I didn't just hop into another job after leaving Westminster!