Our third day in cairns we checked into GILLIGANS a party hostel which is home to 700 backpackers everyday. Feeling anxious we checked into a 8 bed mixed dorm and thankfully people were friendly. I still have to admit apart from he lagoon I am under whelmed by it all. Cairns is like Brighton but with amazing weather, not an ozzie in site. Irish bars, thai take away, fish and chips, it all seemed so English. Someone descibed it as a concrete jungle and that's exactly what it is. Karys and I gave it a few days to settle and meet people: to hear their stories, advice and their experiences. Its always great hearing it from someone whos actually been there and done it a week previous, also finding out information that tour books like lonely planet don't tell you. Our longest staying room mate was Phil, from Yorkshire 28, been in oz for 12 months working and travelling, just broken up with his gf, no plans to go back to england..and infact no plans at all. Phil had soo much knowledge about places and reminded me of my good friend witty back at home. Other room mates came and left sometimes after a day or two so no massive friendships were built there but general chit chat. Some people from the hostel had booked back to back trips and adventures to the reef so the dorm was just somewhere to lay their heads at night. Everyone always friendly though which was nice. For two nights karys and I were top bunk sleepers, but as soon as there were two bottom beds were free we jumped straight in. Much comfier and less effort to keep climbing up epically for my 16 toilet breaks a night. The hostel is great here, clean, big, organised but seems more like a resort in spain. I could imagine people coming here and not leaving for weeks and weeks on end..or even months. Loud music, a club, a bar, lively pool and with deals on every hour of the day like 2 for 1, or $5.50 for basics. It was all very much like magaluf. Anyone who knows me knows I like to people watch, its my best pass time. Generally the girls here appear at the pool at midday, dressed up to the 9s with fake lashes and hair extentions and again the lads generally thinking they are just complete sex gods. I dont like to make pre judgments about people but then all my pre judgedments were then confirmed a few hours later we was surrounded and invaded by more and more of the scousers by the minute. I can garantee you that Karys were looking like incredibly out of place, sitting there , no make up, primark day vests and a top knot for hair style, sweat pouring off us, drinking water. Again not the kind of place I was expecting to see in Cairns. I think this journey so far has taught me to not expect anything.

The best part of the hostel, a free dinner is given every night to backpackers when purchasing a drink from the bar. Spag bol, beef and mash, curry were all the kind of things on the menu. It's great for being on a budget.

At this point we was Worring that we would fall into this easy way of life doing f*** all, all day, every day. Wasting money on being in a ozzie magaluf. We took an offer from Jack at indie travel to book up some trips. $1215 and two hours later we came out with a full schedule of tours. Whitsundays, frazer island, rainforest and boat cruise we all booked and paid for. The best was yet to come. It was now that we could relax for a few days knowing that we wouldn't slide into lazy mode and stay at this resort for longer than we needed.

Skyping friends and family makes life easier. Talking to mum and dad everyday makes me feel calmer, talking to ronnie makes me realize how much I miss him and talking to kerrie reminds me of home. I'm glad I did this in a generation where I can see and talk to people from home. I even had a Skype sesh with jojo binks. Thanks god for technology.

Our last night at gillians we didnt take advantage of the free meal but purchased some local produce from coles. We decided to make use of the bbq down at the lagoon with some room mates. So Karys and I tried our first kangaroo burger and actually tasted lovely considering I was so aprehensive to taste the really red, dry looking meat. we even brought cheese to add to the burgers. God how I miss cheese, it's so expensive in oz, like really really expensive. Also where are the pork sausages at? We had to buy beef sausages which are not the same but we are slowly adapting. It was our first ozzie bbq and where better to have it than the lagoon.

We stayed in Cairns for 5 nights in the end, it was coming to the end of our stay & we was both torn as to where to go next. It was on our mind for a few days but no decisions or plans were made. Our final night in cairns was spent in a girls hostel, which my dad stumbled across, thanks pops! Private room too so a good night's sleep was in order. Looking back the two nights we did go out in town it was a good laugh-ish, not the wild party that people promise though. The woolshed was a giggle but $18 for two single drinks was not so great, so back on the waters then! Every night in Cairns is just like the night before and the night before that too. Same same. It was these nights I missed Ronnie, so 4 am skypes were in order sitting in the hostel hallway with my pj's on.

But Our last night in Cairns was by far my favorite, better than the bars and parties in Cairns. We spend our last night wondering around the esplanade, looking at all the culture and buskers. It started to change my feelings towards cairns and I appreciated it a bit more. But wishing we had spend our time more wisely here instead of sitting at gillians bar listening to the same play list again and again.

There was so much to see on the espenard and we was quite blind to it all. I particularly liked the fire buskers which brought back memories of Thailand. Outdoor films being shown on the green with free beanbags, live music, chalk drawing contests all added to the quirky part of cairns and I started to love it, just as we was leaving.

We awoke at 7.30 am on our last day still with no plan and in a few short hours we had no place to stay. Some how over a bottle of tea in our hiking cups at the lagoon, we agreed that port douglas was our next port of call and sod it, we was leaving in a few hours time. Neither of us had much clue about what was in P.D but we was to find out. Phil 'with one L', had mentioned he was looking into going and so he was the one who had planted that seed in our heads. So we left on a $50 return coach to port Douglas and a return to cairns on an open date.