hey everyone!!

Just done our first week in oz left to our own devices! Considering the bad weather we've had a really good week.

We started off in Cairns where it had been raining the whole of the previous week. As soon as we arrived the sun came out, and it stayed like that for our two day trips! For our first day trip we went up to port douglas and took a boat out to the great barrier reef. I did 3 dives and Amy did snorkelling. The whole day was really well set out and we had an amazing lunch (the way we rate our trips)! My dives were definately the best I've done, the visibility was really good and the coral was gorgeous. For one of the dives there was only me, one other person and the dive master, so we went into some coral caves and went bit further than we would have if it was a larger group. Amy had a great time snorkelling, and although she didn't see the coral as close as I did she saw a lot more life! She even saw a shark, turtle and a huge friendly fish (cant remember the name!). We didn't want to tell the parents until after that the sites were in the same cluster as the reef Steve Irwin died on.

Our second trip was to the rainforest. This was a nice relaxed day mainly consisting of swimming in waterfalls. One of which we were told to swim through and sit on the rock behind. The current was soooooo strong and it took me ages to get through, but it was a great experience. The best bit of the day was when we stopped in a picnic area in the afternoon. A Cassowary wondered down the road and into where we were sitting. These are huge dangerous birds, a cross between an emu and osterich, and we were quickly told to get back on the bus. The guide told us that was only the 3rd he'd seen on that trip so we were lucky to see it.

We spent the next couple of days south of cairns at mission beach (photo). We were told by a couple of people that it had been their favourite place in oz. It was such a bad couple of days! There was nothing at mission beach and the weather was horrible, it just rained the whole time we were there. Luckily it was a really nice hostel as thats where we spent most of our time, but the place was empty! The beach didn't even look as if it would have been that nice even if the sun was shining!

Ah well....it was then a 9 hour bus trip to Airlie Beach. It rained the whole journey, and we were worried about our Whitsundays sailing trip the next day. Luckily the sun came out the next day!! We went on a 2 day 2 night trip on a yacht called boomerang. There were 3 crew members and 21 guests. The trip was really really good. We were a bit worried when we looked round and it was couple after couple, but it wasn't as bad as we thought it would be! The first day we went for a snorkel in the afternoon and then chilled out on the yacht. We were fed every couple of hours and the food was amazing, they even had a bbq on the back of the boat! Most people went to bed quite early on the first night, so me and amy decided to take some roll mats on deck, and sleep there. The stars were amazing! All went well until it rained at about 4am waking us up and forcing us to go to our bunks! I definately slept better on deck as our beds below deck were next to a snorer!! The next day we spent the morning on Whitehaven beach. The weather was really nice until we got back on the boat! We then went for another snorkel, and it rained as we got out! The whole 2nd evening rained but we put out the awnings so we could still sit on deck. Today has been brilliant, there have been such strong winds and we went on a great sail! The boat felt like it was going to tip all the way over quite a few times! We ahd a great couple of days and our crew kept me and amy entertained when everyone was in bed by 9.30!

So we're onto Fraser Island next where we will be doing 4 wheel driving and camping! Really looking forward to it. I just hope we'll be as lucky with the weather there as we have been here.

Happy mothers day to mummy upshall and mummy evans!! Miss everyone loads!

Lots of love, Bec and Amy