Cairns was our last stop in Australia and altogether we had 13days here. We really enjoyed it as the weather was great and there is a huge man made lagoon here were we spent most of our days relaxing in the sun. We also met some really nice people, in particular a couple from Salt-ash Chris and Claire. We spent a couple of days with them and did...

Hi Year 5, This is what I have been upto over the last few days: Airlie beach is the gateway to the Whitsunday Islands. It's a nice seaside town with loads of restaurants and cafes. It has a small beach and a man made lagoon, which we visited on our first day.   We booked two tripsile we were there. One a large motorboat that went to W...

Today we did the white water rafting down the Tully River. I had such a great time doing this with my parents that I was really excited to go again. On the bus ride there two boys from Switzerland were sitting in front of me and Megan, so we of course asked first thing if they would want to be in our boat. There were only four guys on the whole ...

Arrived in Cairns quite early in the morning and headed off to the Esplanade and our backpackers hostel. In a way, Cairns reminded us of Cape Town with the mountains in the background and loads of wind but alot smaller. So small is the main part of the city that we managed to see everything of the CBD in a half a day. I guess the main attraction...

We arrived in Cairns to a sweltering reception - it's right up in the Tropics so the humidity was the first thing that hit us! We stayed st a backpackers' place just outside the centre of town and were told that we got a free evening meal for every night we stayed there. This meal turned out to be in a pub called the Wool Shed, and it seemed as ...

Today Brian and I both experienced the Great Barrier Reef. He is still on a boat somewhere diving until tomorrow evening. This morning I boarded a sailboat for the Great Barrier Reef. The boat only held 35 people, so you get personal service from the crew. They were great. We sailed out to Green Island. It was a perfect day! I actually snorkeled...

Tusa picked us and brought us to the pier where we head out to the Great Barrier Reef. During our way out, we were given briefing on how to scuba dive. All of us in the charter was 1st time divers. A lucky thing we did skydiving first. We were not allowed to fly within 24hrs of scuba diving. As a gauge as to how touristy Cairns is, especially ca...

Today we woke up early- it was time for the reef! We took the 7:30 shuttle into town, grabbed a quick breakie of toast, then boarded our vessel. We were on a pretty small boat with only around 30 or so people onboard. We set off for the outer reef, which took around 2 hours. The ride out to the reef was absolute hell. The water was SOO choppy an...

I wrote this in the wee hours on satday morning while waiting on whatever results my blood was being tested for. (bad sentance) The 5 hours scattered sleep since wednesday, and 12 hour days hunched over a sink contributed to the mind games I was forced to play. Only the harshness of the hospital lights made sense at this stage, a comfort to know...