The last 2 weeks have been extremely busy. As mum said, it is less like a holiday and more like an endurance course to see if we can fit in as much as possible!

CAIRNS

We spent a few days in Carins, more than planned, but we still have time to go to Ramsay Street, so nobody worry. There we sunbathed and swam in the lagoon, a big swimming pool by the sea. This is because you can't swim in the sea there firstly because of salt water crocodiles, secondly because of sharks and thirdly because it was jellyfish breeding season and they like to breed by the Carins river estuary. Considering these points we decided to stick with the artificial lagoon. One day in Cairns we took a day trip to the Great Barrier Reef where we snorkelled along the edge of the reef. It was absolutely amazing. The colours of the reef and the fish were unbelievable. We saw a white tip shark, which was more exciting then scary actually. It was just like we were spectating, and the shark was just getting on with it's own business. The next day we took a day trip north to cape tribulation, a rainforest. On a short trek in the forest we followed the aborigionals' lead and ate the bottoms of green ants. They taste like citrus. Interesting. We went on a boat trip and saw a crocodile that day, and swam in a lovely clear river (a long way upstream from the crocodile infested bit!) We saw the spot where Steve Irwin died, and then had the best ice cream i've ever tasted, as the green ant's bottoms didn't quite fill us up. We also had our first real night out in Cairns with the diving school during which all the instructors were trying their chances with all of the students. a typical holiday rep type night. Fun though.

WHITSUNDAY ISLANDS

After a 10 hour night bus where we slept like babies we arrived in Airlie Beach. From here we had a day long boat tour around the Whitsunday Islands. They're gorgeous islands, and one of them has a beach made of silicon. It was pure white sand that squeaked underfoot. It didn't get hot either so we had a big cricket match, the aussies against the pommies. It was really good fun. We saw a turtle on that day. They're huge, and look so happy and wise. We only stayed in Airlie beach the one night and then took a 16 hour bus journey down to Rainbow Beach on which we didn't sleep so well, but had our first encounter of some Israelis, which was very exciting!

FRASER ISLAND

Fraser Island is a little sandy island that everyone seems to visit when they are on the East Coast. We decided to get the cheaper self drive 3 day tour where basically we were put into groups of 11, given some food and camping equipment and then set loose on this island in a 4x4 (which neither of us could drive). Most were just english and irish people, but we had the most interesting group with us two english, one brazilian, one canadian and 7 Isrealies (the Canadian hated the Isrealies). We are both now fluent in Hebrew and have lots of people to vist in Isreal! We also had the most rubbish car which needed jump starting every time we turned it off, also nearly fell off a cliff and needed towing off by a passing car, oops! The island was pretty amazing too, it had these beatiful lakes which has tea tree oil in them and you could sit and exfoliate with the sand (we made the isrealie boys do it too). We camped on the beach with the dingos - one stole a loaf of bread from us, shocking! We couldn't swim in the sea as there were loads of sharks (you could see them as the waves broke) and jelly fish, it was really tempting though. We saw a beautiful sunrise over a ship wreck on the beach, which even I thought was worth getting up at 6 for! It was nice to have a shower when we got back though.