After one of our worst flights yet (thanks to Jet Star trolly dollies) and Australian Immigration, we made it to Cairns! We started in JJ's Backpackers resort, but ended up in Calypso which was where the party was at (Except for the strange German guy in our dorm who liked to watch me brush my hair :S)! Cairns was really quiet, even though our bus driver said he had never seen town so busy!! We were like "Where are all the people??!!" It was the 26th of Jan, which is Australia Day! and after walking along the Esplanade and realising we couldn't swim in the sea because of jellies AND crocodiles, we settled for the Woolshed... A backpacker bar! We met some girls from England who let us in on the $10 jugs of beer, and we didn't look back! Many jugs were consumed and we became experts at replying to OZZY OZZY OZZY!!!

We spent a day at the lagoon, where I let Simons back burn. It wasn't even an all over burn, it was all streaky... I'm still in bother for it now!! On the 29th, we went white water rafting on the Tully River! It was so much fun!! The rapids are grade 4, so they are pretty big! We all managed to stay in the boat except Simon. He fell out on the biggest rapid, claiming he was pushed... We were eaten alive by massive March flies, and I got sunburned knees, but it was the best day! We flipped the boat on purpose in one of the rapids which was really good, and on one of the rapids that the boat was too big for, we had to go over by ourselves! It was a bit scary because it was a massive drop, and when you went over the water sucked you 2 meters under which popped my ears! I would defo recommend it to everone!!

We went to Fitzroy Island to go sea kayaking (we nearly missed the ferry because Simons Ipod was on Darwin time...) and we stopped in Shark Fin Bay to snorkle. We saw a turtle here, and we followed it for ages, even seeing it come up for air! I couldn't ask it it's age though because I had a mouthful of snorkle! We were so hot on the Island because it was 37 degrees, so we snook into a campsite and took a sneeky shower in the shower block there! We nearly missed the ferry back too! We were sat in the bar having a well earned skooner, when one of the crew came looking for us!! Luckily we knew him!! I had the most AMAZING steak that night in PJ O'Brians Irish bar, it was serious foodgasm!!!

Our earliest morning consisted of being picked up from our hostel at 4 am, and being driven to the Tablelands. We had to get up so early because we were going on a hot air balloon trip!! It was so cool, we went to 5000 feet, which seemed so high!! The burners that fill the balloon seriously burn your shoulders and head though - especially of they are already sunburned!! After the trip we had to help put the balloon away, so the basket had to be tipped up while we were still in it, and I got covered in cow poo!! We got dropped off in Kurranga, the sleepiest town ever!! We had a game of mini-golf (which I won!!!) and went on the skyrail back down to Cairns over the rainforest!

Our third adventure from Cairns was a trip out to the Great Barrier Reef. We managed to catch the boat on time today! The reef was really beautiful! We wished we had an underwater camera!! We risked swimming without stinger suits (living life on the edge!) and we saw loads offish! One was massive and let us stroke him!! We went on a "snorkle adventure" too with a marine biologist so we saw a lot more fish on that too!

Next stop was Magnetic Island! We got the Grayhound bus to Townsville and the ferry across to Maggie and arrived at "Base" just in time for the weekly pub quiz! We joined a team and at half time we were winning!!! In the end though we came 4th :( No prize for us! It rained quite a bit on the island, but we still managed to walk to the old WWII forts, seeing a wild Koala on the way! We tried to walk to a waterfall too, but the path had turned into a river, so we had to turn back! The evenings at Base consisted of many happy hours and jugs of beer, dancing on tables and bar games! We had such a good time!!! We even won a "couples competition" and got a free jug of cider! Our last night on Maggie we got to spend in a private room with an ensuite and a sea view because fome french guys who got kicked out used my shampoo in a revenge attack and covered our dorm in shampoo!

We went further South down the Coast to Airlie Beach! It is amazing here! My fav town so far! We had a couple of days by the lagoon "controlled burning" to even up the white water rafting legs and chilling out. After three nights In Airlie, we got on our sailing boat the the Whitsundays. Our boat was called Boomerang, an 83ft Maxi Ocean Racing Yacht. We had a little gang on board, and we went snorkling in some of the bays of the Islands. We visited White Haven Beach - The nicest beach I've ever seen! The sand is 99.9% silica, so it is really fine! We exfoliated and cleaned our teeth with it!! We also saw lots of sting rays in the shallow water which was good! On our last day on the boat the captain got us to help put the sails up and we sailed "properly" with out the engine for a few hours! We had been sleeping on the deck under the stars because below deck was WAY too hot to sleep, and cabin fever had set in so we were all glad to reach dry land! We also hadn't had a shower for two days, so we stank! Simon said he smelt like he was dead!!! The showers back at the hostel lasted a while!! It was so good to be clean!!! In the evening we had a party with our sailing crew, so there were lots of free beer and drinking games!!!

We are heading off the a cattle station next, then Rainbow beach and Fraser Island! There are a couple of overnight buses ahead of us, but we are excited!!!