The first few destinations of our 8 weeks in Australia!

Cairns - We arrived in Cairns pretty tired due to not having slept since getting up in Singapore the previous morning. We'd had a 4 hour flight from Singapore - Darwin, a couple of hours stopover (in the middle of the night) followed by a 3 hour flight to Cairns. So by the time we'd made it to our hostel we were knackered. Unfortunately we weren't able to check in as we were too early so we sat outside where Andy did something rarer than the albino humpback whale that visits these shores, he fell asleep in the daytime! Miracles do happen. Anyhow we were awarded a bonus as we were upgraded for free from a dorm to a double room complete with air-con and fridge. This meant when we were able to check in we could shut the curtains and nap.

Once we'd awoken we did our obligatory walk into town. Walking along the high street we spotted a familiar face. It was one of Andy's best friend Justin's friends, who we'd last seen a couple of years ago in a pub in Windsor where we were wishing him well on his impending voyage to Oz! Very strange that minutes after walking into our first Australian town there he was! So we had a chat for a little while and got some tips on travelling this enormous country! We wandered along the very pretty promenade where there is a large public pool (as there is no beach) and several BBQ's for public use. We returned the next day armed with buns, processed cheese and veggie burgers and cooked up our lunch. We were still in shock at the prices of things in Oz (a can of coke is £1.50!) meaning eating out was a definite no. Time to start fending for ourselves! (All 'backpackers' i.e hostels in Oz are equipped with large kitchens as they expect everyone to be cooking.) It's actually been really fun so far to go shopping and cook our meals ourselves. Believe it or not we are still alive and well!

There isn't too much 'to do' in Cairns but it is of course the gateway to the Great Barrier Reef. Although it isn't too cheap, it would have been criminal as newly qualified divers to not head out and see it. The only way to do it properly is to go on a liveaboard, where you head out for 3 days and 2 nights and live on a rather nice large yacht! When we first decided we wanted to travel and do our Divemaster courses, we had actually looked into doing it with a company called Pro Dive Cairns. As you know we ended up going to Buddha View on Koh Tao as it was just as reputable and a lot cheaper! Anyway, Pro Dive is probably the most upmarket liveaboard trip that is offered in Cairns and has a reputation of being one of, if not the best. We decided to head to their shop rather than a travel agent to enquire about it. What we weren't aware of was something called 'standby rates' which are last minute prices you can get up to 48 hours before a trip leaves and luckily for us, there was one leaving in 2 days time! This meant we were able to get the trip for $540 instead of $670 which we of course snapped up. Upon talking to the guys in the shop we discovered that 2 of them had also trained with Buddha View, just as a senior member of staff walked out wearing a Buddha View t-shirt! Half the guys there had come through the same school as us, which is made stranger by the fact we were looking at both companies previously!

We were up early on the morning of our trip for the 3 hour journey to the outer edge of the reef. The boat was very plush with a large communal area and a sun deck on the top, as well as a full time chef. She was brilliant and made sure we didn't go without. When it wasn't a meal time there would be a freshly baked cake for us to snack on. The journey was rocky to say the least, and we all arrived looking a little green. We were the only passengers who hadn't taken any sea sickness tablets, and although we've gained our sea legs we were glad it was over! There was to be 3 dives the 1st day (1 a night dive), 4 the following day (again, 1 a night dive) and then 3 on the final day. We eagerly geared up and jumped in only to be met by...disappointment. All the corals were beige and grey, with lots more of it completely broken. There wasn't even very many fish! What we hadn't realised was that half the people on the boat were taking their first steps in diving and this was to be their very first dive. Most of the other passengers were also doing courses to further their skills leaving only 3 couples that were diving for leisure, with the pair of us the most experienced. Pro Dive have a contract where they have some dive sites that only they can take customers to. Having novices constantly diving here and accidently kicking or landing on the corals has clearly taken its toll. We actually ended up bored as there was nothing to see, especially as most of the site was a huge sandy bottom, perfect for beginners but not so great for us. The second dive was the same, no life, no colours, lots of sand. We ended up feeling as though our diving experience was being sacrificed whilst they trained up the others before taking us anywhere worth seeing. It was that bad, that we opted not to bother going on the night dive. A real shame.

For day 2 the boat had moved to a new reef so our excitement was back. The first couple of dives followed the same trend as the previous day, however by these dives the learners had completed their open water course and as if by magic we were finally taken to a place worth diving. The corals themselves still weren't too great (we don't think anything will come close in colour and variety to the dives we did in Pulau Weh, in our mind we were comparing the two places) but the site itself was a lot more interesting to swim around. We saw our first shark here, a small black tip reef shark, before getting a little lost. This proved to be a good thing though, as we swam around a corner and came face to face with a 2 - 2.5 metre black tip sleeping on the bottom. Unfortunately Nikki was having pain in her ears so she had to ascend and couldn't see it properly but Andy got quite close and lay near it just watching it which was amazing. There was a moment where he realised the shark was between him and a rock face so if it woke/felt threatened then Andy was in the way, so quickly decided to leave it be. Our night dive was in the same location so although the water was pitch black and cold, and despite the fact there were a few reef sharks (each between 1 - 1.5m) swimming around the back of the boat where we jump in, we were looking forward to it. Unfortunately Nikki had a slight cold which explained her ear pain and couldn't dive. Andy was paired up with a lady who had never been on a night dive and was nervous so he explained he was a Divemaster and would go at her pace. They were first in the water and headed off in the direction of the site. Andy was navigating and leading the lady around when he looked back and saw not 1 torch but 7. It seems that with Andy being the most experienced, 3 other pairs had decided to follow, so Andy found himself leading the entire night dive! After navigating around the corals and rocks Andy looked at his compass and headed in the direction of the boat. Not only did he get back to the boat (rather than ascending and surface swimming) but he arrived exactly back to the same line the divers descend down, which is not an easy thing to do especially at night. So although nothing much in the way of marine life was seen (although seeing a couple of small sharks appear in torch light whilst surrounded by darkness is quite a feeling!) he was very excited as it was a great dive in the navigational/diving ability sense and an achievement for him. Andy had 1 more dive the following day where he finally saw a turtle (we were the only 2 who hadn't seen any). It was quite big, it's shell just over 1 metre in length and Andy was able to spend around 10 minutes with it. Nikki sunbathed and relaxed as unfortunately she still had a cold.

We survived the journey back to dry land (and took the tablets this time!) and after spending a couple of hours in Cairns, we were on our first Greyhound journey to Mission Beach. The Greyhound is a coach company that covers pretty much every destination in Oz, and we bought a ticket that enables us to travel from Cairns down to Sydney with unlimited stops over 3 months. This is how we are travelling down the east coast and we eased ourselves in with this 2 hour journey.

Mission Beach - We went to Mission Beach for one reason - white water rafting. It's a small town with not much to do, but it's where adrenaline junkies head to sky dive, raft etc. It's the closest place to the Tully River, hailed as one of the best place to go rafting in Oz. The Tully is a dam fed river meaning you can raft all year round, not just when there is heavy rain. There are 4 generators supplying the river with it's water, and for the first time all year, the day before we arrived they had opened all 4, meaning we were in for a ride!

In the bus ride up to the top of the river we were shown a safety video which ended up making some people more nervous than they were already. It didn't help that Andy was sat there with a beaming smile. This is something he has always wanted to try so he didn't bother to hide his excitement! We were put into a group of 6, 5 girls and Andy which wasn't good news for his eardrums! We carried our oars down to the river and got into our raft where we were told what to do when certain commands were called by our guide who sits at the back if the raft. Some rapids required speed to ensure you make it through the wave at the bottom, so if we were told 'forward paddle' whilst faced with a wall of water it was important we listened and carried it out. With the formalities out of the way we set off down the river, the pair of us sat at the very front of the raft of course. No one else wanted these front row seats so it was left to us to make sure our strokes were in time as the rest of the boat were told to mimic us.

We headed toward the first rapid of the day, aptly named the alarm clock! We paddled hard towards the water, coasted through the rapids and came to a drop of a few feet. Somehow we nosedived slightly so as we hit the water at the bottom instead of bouncing up, we went through it. This meant that although we were still sat in the boat, the two of us at the front were completely submerged for a split second (we have a photograph that shows this)! It was only the beginning of five hours (cue us aching all over the next day) of bouncing up, down, left and right whilst weaving through rocks and over mini waterfalls. At one point our guide asked Andy if he wanted to have a go at steering us through a couple of rapids and he of course jumped at the chance. This also meant that whatever commands he gave out had to be adhered to, so he took full advantage of being in charge making the boat 'forward paddle' straight into the first rapid, followed up with 'faster'! It seems he was quite a natural as the boat travelled down the rapids narrowly missing rocks as he became a human rudder steering left and right, with everyone arriving unharmed at the end. A very exciting ten minutes for him especially as after safely navigating 2 rapids, he was met with a cheer and a round of applause each time when everyone realised they were ok in the hands of the newbie!

We both absolutely loved it, and although there were a few hairy moments (we flipped the raft once whilst obeying our laughing guide's instructions, Andy was in complete darkness when he surfaced - he had come up underneath the raft) it's something we will certainly be doing again. Andy is already having ideas about doing a course so he can become a qualified guide!

Our second day in Mission Beach was spent relaxing. We didn't have much option to do anything else as although we woke up with new bulging biceps, the rest of our body's did nothing but ache! We did limp our way down to the beach where Andy mustered the energy to play around and fight the waves whilst Nikki soaked up the sun. The beach stretched as far as the eye could see yet there were only another 20 or so people on it, nice and quiet which is just what we needed before our 4 hour bus ride to Townsville the next morning.

Townsville - We were told there was no point in going to Townsville as there was nothing for tourists. This is true if you want to do touristy things, but we really enjoy just seeing different towns and places, so to Townsville we went!

The 'city' was really pretty but seemed more like a town. The high street was full of old buildings that wouldn't have looked out of place in a western film, including a nightclub that was in an old bank. Looking over the city was a huge dirt/clay hill which again looked just like the backdrop to a western; all we needed was some cacti to complete the set. In contrast to this there were also lots of modern expensive looking apartment buildings that sat in front of it.

On both days we were here we walked along 'the strand' which ran along the sea front. It was nothing special but was our favourite thing at the same time. It was so well maintained, with various free exercise apparatus dotted along it, play areas, communal BBQ's, even a water fountain for dogs! They had thought of everything with this stretch of land and we just enjoyed (along with all the locals) walking up and down it. It felt like the centre of the community where everyone met up. For example we got chatting to an older chap who had popped out for a stroll. It was just very 'nice' to put it plainly. At the beginning of the stretch there were several memorials dedicated to various events during WW2, specifically the battles between the Aussie's and Japanese that had taken place at sea.

There isn't much else to say as we didn't 'do' anything, but it was lovely to just go for walks and chat to the friendly people of the town.

Ayr - The S.S. Yongala. This ship sits 26m below the surface of the Pacific Ocean and we had come to Ayr for the sole reason of diving the shipwreck. It was very expensive but as it is hailed as the best dive in Australia and one of the best in the world we had to do it whilst in this neck of the woods, so Ayr was our next destination. Needless to say it didn't disappoint and we will be very hard pressed to go on any further dives that beat the first 5 minutes of this one.

After arriving in the sleepy local town of Ayr we were picked up by the dive school and taken to the very remote village of Alva Beach which was 16km away. Alva Beach has the dive shop, some houses and of course the beach and that's it. No shops, no newsagent, no post office, nothing! It didn't matter to us as we were more than content with relaxing in the house we were staying in and watching the TV before our early start the following day.

The S.S. Yongala was a luxury passenger ship that was built in Newcastle in the UK. After its journey to Oz it spent years sailing up and down the east coast until the day it sank 99 years ago. No one knows exactly how it sank, but it is known that there was a large cyclone that day and it seems the captain sailed straight into it. All 122 passengers and crew died, and their remains are still situated in the bow of the ship, the site is considered a mass grave site and protected by many laws. Nobody knew what had happened to the ship, the only evidence of anything having gone awry was the body of a prized racehorse that had been on board which washed up on Alva Beach.

The ship wasn't discovered until after WW2 when a navy ship was scanning for any leftover mines. It came across what at first was thought to be a patch of coral, however a scan showed it resembled a ship. Nothing was done about it as the navy weren't really bothered as to what it was. Several years later some salvage divers heard about the finding, went to investigate and of course discovered it was the Yongala.

We had a relatively short 40 minute ride in a small speedboat out to the wreck. Unfortunately the boat wasn't quite sharp enough to cut through the waves and with it being small we felt every bump. Unfortunately it was the same story when we got there with the boat constantly swaying to and fro. We were eager to get into the calmness of the underwater world!

We were part of group 1 and as the only boat there, were the first in the water - this was very much to our benefit. The water wasn't clear like Indonesia but visibility was around 10m which isn't bad. We descended and soon saw the impressive bow of the ship. There were huge fish everywhere including one of our favourites, the very inquisitive batfish. We were looking at our surroundings when our guide started beckoning us over. We swam and found a huge turtle (a hawksbill) pecking at the wreck. Nikki was very excited as she hadn't seen one on the Barrier Reef due to missing the last dive. His shell looked to be between 1 - 1.5m in length so when you add in his head and limbs he looked pretty big! Once he spotted us he came off the wreck and swam right over our heads. We didn't have time to take him in though as suddenly our guide was beckoning again, quite frantically this time. We immediately swam to him and found ourselves next to a huge Marble Ray. He was the size (and shape) of a big round dinner table, absolutely enormous. Andy was able to get very close to him so he got a great perspective of the size of it. We found out they get a Marble Ray at the Yongala which is 3m in circumference so in comparison this one wasn't enormous, but to us it was the largest thing we'd seen underwater, a record it kept for approximately 2 minutes. After the ray swam off we made our way along the wreck looking in the nooks and crannies where we saw a tawny nurse shark resting on the bottom as well as our very first sea snake (fortunately for us a non venomous one). Seconds after seeing the snake our guide spotted a familiar shape through a school of fish and pointed. We swam in the direction our guide was pointing, and the school of fish parted around us to reveal a 2 - 2.5m black tip oceanic shark. These guys are bigger than their black tip reef shark cousins, and are the perfect iconic shark shape. It was the first time we felt as though we were diving with a 'proper' shark. As they always do, he kept his distance and swam off into the blue, followed by another one about a metre smaller. All this in only 5 minutes! Absolutely out of this world.

We continued to make our way around the stern of the ship and back along the other side toward where we entered the water. There was one more surprise for us before the dive ended though. Cruising along the wreck was a guitar shark. These guys are a very strange shape and seem to be the bridge between a ray and a shark. He swam towards us and went straight under us only a foot or so away (the first shark we've seen that didn't swim away from us) so we were able to see it right up close, very exciting as none of our friends or anyone we have dived with before has seen one of these guys.

We emerged from the water absolutely over the moon, it was really expensive to dive the wreck but seeing the things we saw made it very much worth it. After a 1 hour surface interval we strapped on a new tank and had one more dive. This was Nikki's 99th dive, quite apt as that's how long in years the ship has been below the surface. We didn't see sharks, rays and turtles as we had no doubt scared them all off but we were able to take in the wreck itself a bit more, as it really is spectacular. There were still hundreds of fish including the biggest barracuda we have ever seen, not only in the water but in books, television, anywhere. This guy was an absolute monster, probably 2m in length and extremely thick too. He was sat perfectly still with his mouth open whilst being cleaned by smaller fish (the 'cleaning stations' as they're called are all over the wreck and are what attracts the big boys in as they come in from the blue to be cleaned) before snapping at something he didn't like and swimming off. We can't express enough just how gigantic this fish was. As well as seeing a few more olive sea snakes (swimming around this time) we saw one more huge fish, a giant trevailly which lived up to its name. We've seen thousands before but usually they're a lot smaller. They're an almost mirror like silver and this one was freakishly large, the same size as Nikki so you can imagine what a shock it was when amongst it's much smaller relatives this guy swam around the corner!

We absolutely loved our 2 dives here and are so thankful we stopped in this small town to check it out. A definite highlight of our trip so far...