The Singapore dream continued at the airport - relaxed, air con, places to lie down, free water, free JD shots, cool little lighting effects and so you really wouldn't mind being stuck in Singapore airport for a length of time.

So onto Aussie we landed in Brisbane with Qantas having provided a healthy enough food. A quick change of plane and we were in the mighty Sydney. After checking in at the hostel we soon worked out it was much better to stock up on supplies at Woolworth's or Coles supermarkets - the hostel kitchen had plenty of space and facilities to make your own food.

We walked around Sydney slightly jet lagged - it seemed a cool pace with a seriously young vibe though still not a powerhouse of busy London - I actually missed the character & business of London or Liverpool at this point and Sydney struck me as very new/something lacking (think jet lag and Singapore withdrawls didn't help).

It was wonderful to see the Harbour Bridge and Opera House though yet again it wasn't a wow factor that hit either of us - maybe because they are such icons seen in a million photographs. The Rocks area was much more our sort of thing, a nice bit of colonial architecture and very quaint + enjoyed the Aussie wines. There were a couple of Irish bars and it was nice to hear the sound of a tin whistle floating through the air. You did get the feel of many immigrants from everywhere starting their dreams but for us we started to appreciate what we had in England and the ability to see family close by in Ireland and Yorkshire.

We were due back in Sydney for a few more days so I hoped my opinion would change - for now we were heading up to Cairns.

Cairnswas lovely and sunny, we were excited as this was the start of our tours to the Great Barrier Reef, Cape Tribulation/Daintree Rainforest and Port Douglas. We checked into the Nomads Serpent hostel, it was ok - vibrant but we felt quite old as there were many young party goers though it was ok for a few nights stay. Cairns centre was nice but again felt a little backwards but very new at the same time - the Esplanade was relaxed with BBQ's and free water - lot's of people exercising and eating very healthily. We snuck a nice bottle of red wine onto the Esplanade it was lovely to while a way a couple of hours people watching. We walked back into town and came across a lovely little art gallery - we chatted to the two ladies who ran the place who showed us their art work. It was cool that they got a lot of local artists to sell their work there though I immediately thought how Liverpool had slightly better quality local art, was a bit more innovative and ahead.

We had a $3 rice and veg meal at the hostel and drank VB, XXXX and Carlton with the locals which all seemed ok.

Finally the day had arrived where a lifelong ambition would be realised - to snorkel on theGreat Barrier Reef. The water was slightly choppy as we boarded the boat - as our Yacht had been cancelled they upgraded us which included loads of food, seafood platter and 2 full sessions of snorkelling at 2 different reefs. We were glad we had taken some sea sickness tablets as the journey was quite up and down, many others were pretty sea sick, luckily we made it ok. After 2 hours we reached Upolu Reef looking out to GreenIslandand Arlington. Wet suit and snorkelrs on we jumped into the sea, it was rough at first but luckily the guide helped us. It was beautiful to see such variety of colourful coral and fish - there were some very bizarre things down there! We loved the huge clams that looked alien like. The guide pointed out a sea turtle and she kindly took a picture of it with our under water camera. Then Erin got plenty of sea water in her gut but the guide was again helpful + another guy Jo who had a bad motorcycle accident a few months ago and was slightly anxious. Suddenly the guide shouted for us to look down and to our amazement when we looked down a huge sea turtle swam right in front of us, we could almost touch it - it was like a dream the turtle was so graceful. Apparently sea turtle get high off eating jelly fish and this turtle certainly seemed chilled - a wonderful sight.

We ate an epic lunch full of fresh seafood, fruit and salad - we had enough in us to last a few days - it was nice to chat to the others about what they had seen. The second half of the day on another reef we witnessed yet another great sight - we looked down as we were swimming and saw a White Tipped Reef Shark - the guide said not to panic but of course everyone did - it was a harmless shark however! A small sting ray was also visible and we got to pick up a sea cucumber. Dori from Finding Nemo was seen as was a massive Barracuda - it was really amazing to see how the coral breathed.

Back on the boat yet more food - a cheese platter, more fruit and cake. The lovely guide who kept saying 'Ok you beautiful people' also gave us a free beer as it was kind of our honeymoon. Dave the on board Marine Biologist told us how a pearl was made and how black pearls were more man made. The pearl seems to be formed by a grain of sand sticking to an Oyster and keeps forming over and over. The crew were all lovely and we shook hands with them all as we disembarked the boat back in Cairns. They were heading to see Bob Marley's son (Damien) play that evening - what a day completely knackered!

The next day we were up early for the CapeTribulationtour. We took a bus through the Daintree National Park past the tea plantations and we had a great boat tour up Daintree River itself with a cup of Daintree tea which was lovely though still not a Yorkshire Tea beater. The boat ride was awesome, Peter the guide showed us Mangrows but more importantly the Crocodiles. The water was brackish (a combination of sea water and fresh water) - we saw 'Scarface' a huge crocodile on the banks and it was interesting to hear how baby crocodiles don't have very much survival rate.

We crossed the river on the ferry and made our way up to Cape Tribulation the heart of the world's oldest rain forest and UNESCO world heritage site. We walked on a boardwalk through the forest and saw one of the world's rarest trees and more importantly the Cassowary! A rare bird apparently the closest living thing to a dinosaur with about 1500 left. We kept our distance as they are known to attack people's stomach with their talons - a crazy looking thing it was!

Stayed the night in the jungle which was cool though I got stung by a weird little caterpillar. We met plenty of hippies and a quite racist man with his aboriginal wife who were both completely drunk. A Dutch guy who was staying there told us how he saw some of the aboriginals fighting each other with sticks and drinking a lot - they get $600 a week from the government but appear to be totally lost.

The next day we were on our second tour up to Andersons Viewpoint - the guide told us the road up there had only recently been completed and took nearly 10 years to build because hippy protestors used to burry themselves in the road. It was a superb view overlooking Daintree River meeting the sea and Port Douglas to the right. We went down to Mossman Gorge to an aboriginal community and a guy talked about his tribe and we had a smoking ceremony. They put a sort of war paint from the clay onto our faces and we got to swim in Mossman Gorge. Mossman itself was a small town which had recently been in the local news as a hotel had been operating as a sex & swingers hotel much to the locals' disgust. There is a c*** a too bird that is perched outside the hotel and apperntly there was a recent newspaper headline which showed a picture of some 'club members' going into the hotel with the headline reading 'Would you like a cock-a-two!'

We had an amazing Daintree ice-cream and also shown the Australian stinging tree. The story goes when American soldiers came over in the war the Australian women took to them which angered the Australian men - so the Aussie men told the Americans to use the stinging tree leaves as toilet paper when they were in the forest - as you can imagine it wasn't pleasant as the stinging leaves can seriously hurt you!

Next stop Port Douglas a nice rich town that once was a gold mining area but had gone down hill once the gold had run dry. But a tycoon had pumped lots of money into the town over recent years with great results - a palm tree lined entrance reminiscent of Beverly Hills with plenty of expensive resorts. We loved visiting Paddy's Irish bar (of course) by night and by day we walked on the glorious FourMileBeach - some guy showed us an impressive Potato Cod fish he had caught. We walked up to the lookout and at the Marina families were having barbeques. We ate an epic burger at a cool burger joint - it was interesting to see how the burger place shut at 2pm and how the family who owned it would go off for the afternoon. We started to see what the Aussie dream was about.

Making our way back to Cairns we were very impressed with our tours - it seems you do have to go on the tours here otherwise you won't get to see much or self drive but with that we started to really appreciate how big the country was and how long it would take to see it properly. We had another night in Nomads before taking the plane back to Sydney - we flew over the reefs - an awe inspiring sight. I think we will explore Australia again but probably not in the back packer accommodation - glad to experience it but with age growing it's all about 5 star next time baby!

Back in Sydneythe airport taxi took us over the Harbour Bridge - we had a very comical Dutch driver who sowed us the Aussie PM's house Julia Gillard. The sun was setting and Sydney had a nicer feel to it - slowly we started to see how great it actually was. We got our old room back at the hostel and felt at home. We started the next day with a walk to DarlingHarbourand ChinaTown. Walking around Paddy's Market was brilliant it was a mecca of good fruit and veg which we would use in our evening meal + it had lots of other good souvenirs /nic nacs.

We had a change of heart about Sydney and realised we needed to through ourselves into things so we signed up for the Oz Party Bus at the hostel which would take us to Bondi Beach via Bronte beach, a walk, BBQ and fee goon! We got on the bus with a lot of young back packers there was DJ desk and plenty of flashing lights. We all got off at Bronte set up the sausages on the BBQ and opened the goon - we got on well with people and after walking up the massive hill to replenish the goon supplies we were soon involved with party games. The walk to Bondi was nice via Tamarama - Bondi is certainly not one of the nicest beaches especially compared to Manly etc but as it was low season it seemed quite quiet but still a hot afternoon/evening. Some went back on the bus back to the hostel - we have been obsessed by the tv show Bondi Rescue so feeling confident we skipped along to the life guard tower in search of 'Hoppo' one of the stars if the show. We were delirious when we were brazen enough to enter the tower - it was awesome Erin even got to wear the lifeguard jacket and hat + meet a couple of lifeguards that appear on the show. Corky one of the lifeguards explained how the rips formed and when it is busy it is crazy to patrol. What legends it was a bit cheesy but we were so made up!

The bus ride home was cool we chatted to a lady who was saying how the reef up in Cairns was getting damaged by the daily boat trips though she said there are some outer reefs which have been left un touched. It is hard to manage as the reef is worth about $6 billion to Australian's tourist industry. We fitted in a bit better at the hostel as faces became familiar we were even invited to party at the 'Scary Canary' the bar next to the hostel. Erin cooked up a storm with plenty of veg, corn on the cob, Turkey sausages and brown rice/sauce. It was nice to eat a good wholesome meal - with some of the other backpackers looking on enviously.

We had a great few days in Sydney with another walk around The Rocks, we took in the stunning St Mary's Cathedral and spent many hours in the botanical gardens which were so well kept and an oasis of calm just outside the city centre. The harbour glistened and we ate a seafood salad which was again so tasty. I think the crazyness of Thailand had made Australia feel a little timid at first but now we were fully enjoying it and before we left it was nice to have a drink on sunny Darling Harbour to chat about our trips especially looking back at the Great Barrier Reef trip and also being very chuffed at going in the lifeguard station at Bondi! There is so much more to see in Australia so next time we need more time but we learnt it was a place that you had to get involved with and if you did you would reap the benefits!

Tomorrow we leave for New Zealand for the last leg of our trip - I am very excited about the majestic scenery and more importantly seeing my Aunite, Uncle, Cousin and Ziggy the dog in Wellington.