After a few days of being able to do not a lot in very rainy Adelaide we were looking forward to travelling further North. As soon as we got off the plane in Cairns the weather was absolutely gorgeous. We spent a really chilled out couple of days by the lagoon, wandering aroudn the shops and generally sorting our lives out/ planning the rest of the east coast ( including bullying a travel agent into reducing her comission to practically nothing!) Then of course came the dreaded day, my 22nd birthdays. I was now becomign even older and if I thought 21 had been a crisis this was far worse! In fact I was sulking and the constant tirade of grandma jokes from Jenkins ( yes only 3 weeks younger than me but this didnt seem to bother her) obviously didnt help. So to take my mind off the age depression we booked to go para sailing in the marina. After getting all kitted up and out on to the water thwe guy decided it was too windy and therefore dangerous to do so we headed backl in. Instead of getting down about this we instead decided that the best and only plan of action was to take our refund and head to the pub which rewarded us with a few too many glasses of sparkling wine, a lovely lunch, an even better chocolate birthday cake and a $5 steak dinner. After purchasing a bottle of vodka froma very bizarre drive through bottle shop (which australians seem very fond of) we decided it was time to get ready to go out and headed back to the hostel. Somewhere along the line we found oruselevs dancing around our room to ABBA dressed in some clothes, sunglasses and hats that belonged to our German roomates and we suddelny realised it was time to get out. After a few hours of dancing on/ falling off tables in a very cheesy club called the woolshed and a near trip to a casino again my birthday was all over and we headed to bed. If I have to get older it was a pretty good way to do it.
Probably the biggest thing we did in Cairns was a boat trip out on to the Great Barrier Reef. Although it was a little pricey we decided it was a must do and headed down to the marina at the crack of dawn. We were supposed to have been welcomed onboard by a 'gorgeous BBQ breakfast' but this however did actually turn out to be bacon sandwiches but we were still all happy and the baot set off. In the morning Sian went for a dive ( and saw a turtle) while I happily sunbathed on the deck before a not so impressive lunch ( sorry to complain again about the food, its not ALL we think about honestly). In the afternoon we decided to head out for a snorkel. It was my first ever attempt and lets just say I am not a natural. In fact I found uit incredibly stressful as the waves were huge and I constantly thought I was drowning (melodranatic as always). It wasnt helped of course by the fact that as soon as Jenkins hits the water she literally becomes a fish diving and bobbing all over the place! But she looked after me well and we had lots of fun taking gorgeous underwater photos of the reef ( including a few of me looking as distressed and dishevelled as i felt) and generally messing around. The trip back from the reef was accompanied by wine and cheese ( always going to make us happy chappys) and we snoozed on the deck in the sunshine, good day all around. SH xx