25th Jan to 9th Feb - Cairns
Weather: tropical - cyclones, storms and sunshine. 35degrees
Loves: Diving the Great Barrier Reef, BBQs on the lagoon, Bungee jumping, Skydiving on Mission Beach!! Intro to Goon!
Hates: $7 a pint! Not being able to swim in the sea - Jellyfish! Morning wakeup calls at 9.30am EVERY morning in my hostel!

Due to my lack of research I expected Cairns, with it's large international airport, to be a buzzing metropolis. So you can imagine my shock when I found out that the TOWN of 140,000 people was on cyclone watch and there was a risk of getting stuck here as the only road into/out of town was at risk of flooding! On the bright side, there is a hell of a lot to do here - bungee, skydiving, white water rafting, snorkelling, scuba to name but a few...

I found a great deal on a liveaboard for 3days/2 nights and headed out at 6am with a mixed bag of beginner and certified divers. You're not 'supposed' to drink before you dive, but when you find out its ladies night all over town you can't really say no, can you? The reef was fantastic - The best of the 10 dives was the 1st night dive on which I encountered 3 sharks. The last one about 2-3metres headed straight for me, teeth glistening in my torchlight, and choosing to turn only feet away from me! I will put my hands up and say I s**t myself!! Later in the night, lightning filled the sky and the storms were so bad the boat was lurching from side to side - bottles, plates and mugs were sliding off the tables and one guy fell out of the top bunk in his cabin! It's a weird feeling when it is mayhem on the surface, horizontal rain cutting into your skin as you change into your stinger suit, and then absolute silence and calm when you drop 10metres underwater. The stinger suits are essential out here due to jellyfish season - some of them deadly. Mind you it is hilarious when you see one of your mates floating in the water only to hear him f and blind when he gets stung (Gunnar and Trent - hope you have healed okay!)!!!

The next few days waiting for my little sis were filled with BBQ lunches and dinners on the public BBQs by the lagoon, accompanied by a 4litre cask of Goon or 2 of course with the guys from the boat. We even managed to cook fried eggs on there with nothing but a penknife - now that's survival for you!

Fof (my sister for those of you who don't know) arrived on the 4th feb and decided to let me have my hangover early, 6.30am early, with a call from the airport - that's what happens when it's 241 beers out here! Cheers sis!! The airline managed to lose her bag, which was unfortunate, but that's what happens when you wake up your brother at that time!! Payback!!

Anyway, now she's here we have setup a wicked couple of weeks packed with events from Cairns to Brisbane and are abut 5 days into it...

Day 1 - BUNGEEEEEEE!!
50 metres above a small pond filled with fish and frogs lays the platform. Now 50m doesn't look that big when you stand underneath it, but perched on the edge looking out to the horizon with only your feet strapped to a piece of string - it is HUGE! 5-4-3-2-1...JUMP into nothing but air. Plummeting toward the water beneath you it really does feel like it is the end, until the rope catapults you back up again! FAN-bloody-TASTIC!!! So I did it again - BACKWARDS! Fof screamed, loud enough for every Kangaroo in Oz to jump up and check what all the fuss was about! I have it on video so hopefully I can upload it to here or facebook....

Day 2/3 - Cape tribulation
Loves: breaking into a coconut on the beach - caveman style! Rainforest, beach, crocs, swimming in Mossman Gorge
Hates: Jellyfish stopping us swim at one of the most lush beaches I have ever seen.

Cape Trib is about 100km north of Cairns along a windy road hugging the coast. It's beautiful - the rainforest meets the beach and our hostel was bang in the middle of the action - surrounded by handsized spiders, big lizards, some weird looking grasshoppers and snakes - more screaming from Fof!! Possibly my favourite name for a plant is the 'wait-a-while' tree. Named so, because if you get caught in it you need to back up, wait-a-while and then disentangle yourself! That's the imaginative Aussies for you!! We spotted crocs on the Daintree river before walking the beach and spending an hour between 5 of us to break into a coconut using nothing but stones and our hands! Next day we did some more walking to a swimming hole with a rope swing, drove to Alexandra lookout to see the Daintree river meet the sea and also the spot where Steve Irwin got speared by a Stingray. Finally we went swimming in Mossman gorge and rode the rock slide in a quick moving river! Bruised!

Day 4 - Snorkelling the Great Barrier Reef
It was a clearer day than my 3day livaboard and that meant clear blue water. Awesome! We saw hundreds of fish including Nemo on a few occasions, some parrotfish, barracuda and a huge black fish about 4feet long! Of course Fof screamed at every close encounter with a bit of coral or anything with teeth...haha!

Day 5 - Skydiving!!!!!!!!!!!
Wow! Wow! Wow! Wow! Wow! Wow! Wow! Wow! Wow! Wow! Wow! Wow!
Jump out of a plane 14,000 feet up in the air? DONE! Next please...
If you want a rush run you have to do this...it is THE best thing I have EVER done! We squeezed in to a tiny plane and when we hit 14,000ft the door was opened. The view when you look out the door is like looking at a map - we were above the clouds! Then you jump from the plane and let gravity do its work - falling at 200km/hr toward Mission beach - our landing site...I have never felt that feeling before and I will definately be doing it again - some entertaining video to come again from both me and Fof!!

So that's my 2 weeks of fun filled thrills so far! We are now in a long bus trip down to Airlie beach for a cheeky sailing trip on the Whitsundays!

So until next time...Aussie! Aussie! Aussie!!!!

Will and Fof
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