We landed in Cairns after a 3 hour flight and got picked up by Marc's friend Karl, it was lovely and sunny and very different to Sydney. We spent the day in Cairns central and had tea and beers in the Rattle & Hum. We stayed at the Bohemia resort which was really lovely and more like a hotel than a hostel! Each day we travel down to the Lagoon which is by the sea as there is no beach and there is always some kind of music playing. We hired a car and drove up to Port Douglas (where Karl is living) and lay on Four Mile Beach to catch a few rays before going on a crocodile hunt - much to my pleasure we didn't see any! We spent the next week looking for somewhere to stay (instead of hostel) and looking for car. We didn't do so well with car hunting but found a really nice place to stay, just outside the centre and really cheap. The best thing was everything was brand new and never been used. We are all unpacked and it feels like home. Hired a car again and went to Trinity Beach and test drove a few cars one being a 1984 Nissan (haha older than us) we decided not to get it as over here they have rego and road worthy certificates instead of MOT's, tax & Insurance and we didn'y quite understand it all yet. Met up with Mike and Hannah again and had a night out in Cairns, tea and drinks in the Rhino Bar. A good bar that gives lots of beer and prizes away. We found a car and after all our walking (as it is 3 miles from our apt to the Centre) we decided we couldn't wait anymore! We have a 1990 Mazda 929 - its about the size of a bus but it takes 5 mins to the centre so I am not complaining. Went out for a day trip to Kuranda in the car and had a walk round the markets and went to bird world where you can feed all the birds and they land on you head, shoulders and arms. Marc was covered in them. Back to the car and it wouldn't start uh oh - marc tried and tried it but no luck! We both got in a mood and sat in a cafe and had lunch, not many words were exchanged but we were both thinking we had been robbed and how can your car brake down on the first day??? Luckily we found a mechanic near by who came to our rescue only for us to find that because its an automatic we hadn't put it in park properly and one little push and she was up and running. We have a pool right by our apt so we got up for a few lengths its a really nice start to the day and then we met up with Mike, Hannah, Ashley, Adam and Katie. (These are who we met in Sydney on the Real Gap Activity week) and we all caught up with everyones trips. The following day Me & Marc went diving, we were in the first group and it was a strange experience being able to breath under water it takes a while to get used to it and all the equipment is very heavy. I didn't see much, i'm not sure if thats because I was concentrating on breathing and not sinking but snorkelling was much more successful. We dived at Oyster Reef which looks like a massive swimming pool the water is bright blue and we snorkelled at Upolu Reef which is as clear as tap water and has a tiny sand island in it. We seen lots more snorkelling lots of nemos, a few sting rays and a turtle. Went to the Woolshed with our $10 meal deal vouchers (a meal, drink and desert yum) watched the Derby match unfortunately we all know what the score was! Marc decided that he enjoyed scuba diving that much that he was going to do the PADI 4 day open water course which gives him a licence world wide to dive anywhere with a buddy! He spent his first 2 days in the class room doing theory and his last 2 days on a boat doing practical, I watched lots of films whilst he was away and decided to join him for his final day on the boat. I was hugely sea sick the whole journey and didn't really move from my seat so wasn't a very good day for me but Marc passed so that was good. We met up with his instructor Chris and the other people on his course and had tea and a few drinks in the Rattle & Hum. Marc decided that he wanted to do the next level (advanced) and has done a few move dives with the same boat whilst I done aqua aerobics in the rain - it was different! Marc finished his course the following week and can't wait to book his next few dives. We visted Babinda Boulders and Josephine falls which were all really nice and we tested our car on a good few hours drive. To get to Babinda we drove down the East Coast and it looks fab so we are really excited about starting our journey down although it is nearly 4000 km to Sydney! We spent a day at the rainforest where we were picked up and driven to Mossman Gorge rainforest where we took a few photos and had a walk round, followed by a trip to Daintree Zoo where we seen lots of crocodiles and a few that are going to be turned into handbags and steaks :-( we seen the Cassowary up close which is an important bird to Oz as it digests seeds and without it digesting seeds they would not be able to grow. Then we finally got to Cape Tribualtion which is a gorgeous beach where the reef meets the rainforest, would have like to have longer there as we were catching a few rays and enjoying the beach to ourselves. We visited Daintree River where we had a boat ride and seen a crocodile and a sea snake. You wouldn't be able to spot them without the guides and then once they point them out you are like oh yeah - just shows how easily they could sneak up on you! We pimped our ride with an air freshner, some seat covers and a steering wheel cover so we are almost ready to hit the road now! Something noisy is living in our roof and likes to scratch a lot at night hmmmmm Visted Hartleys Crocodile Adventures where we seen lots of crocs being fed on a river cruise, we got an upclose look. Lots of crocs kept here have been captured in parts of Australia when they have ended up in tourist places such as the beach or a river people swim in! The rain has arrived early in Cairns as summer is also rainy season. Not doing our tans much good! One of pur favourite things to do is go the pictures so we went to see My Best Friends Girl. Bought of New Years Eve Tickets today for Lawn with a view which is in Sydneys Royal Botanic gardens and we are meeting my friend Hollie and Marcs friend Danny so looking forward to that. Updated our CV's as soon it'll be time to get a job so we can at least try and maintain our bank balances. Another day doing a swim and catching a few rays we spent the night time in the pictures watching Burn after reading. Finally the sun is back out again so we take full advantage and spend the whole morning lying by the lagoon. Got picked up at lunch time for our adventure package, first we spent half an hour on a jet ski. Marc had so much fun driving really fast and going round in circles and doing sharp turns . . . . boys will be boys! I had a little go but didn't make it over 40km so Marc took over again. We then went parasailing which was nice, got to look over the whole of Cairns and we felt like we were just floating didn't feel like we were all that way up and the water didn't look real. We finished our day with a go on the doughnuts, our driver did his best to chuck us off but we held on for our dear lives and got bashed everywhere and survived until the end! Went to Marcs favourite pub Out Back Jacks for a beer and a hot choc. Marc is suffering with headaches so he treated himself to a chinese massage and got some smelly patches to put on his shoulders. Back to cloudy and rainy weather again now. Since it was my birthday night out I decided to treat myself to a manicure and pedicure and a cut and blow dry. Oh it felt so good to be pampered again, living in flipflops means that you always have dirty feet and with a rubbish hair dryer it meant I could never have my hair down. Lovely! Marc took me for a meal at The Bush Fire and Grill, it was posh and made a big change to all the backpacker places we had visited with $10 meal deals haha ofcourse we both got the steak! Marc bought me a gorgeous gold bangle and got me some heart ear rings off my mum and dad. He done quite well I think. After tea we moved onto the Rattle 'n' Hum where we consumed lots of vinos and schooners, finished in the Woolshed for more schooners and cocktails. The next day was not too good we honestly couldn't move from bed until 3pm we were that hungover. Not even paracetomols could cure this. Skyped home and spoke to my mum, dad, vicki, andrew and auntie pam, mason is looking so much bigger now. Obv the only way to cure our hangover was to get a chippy tea. Packed the boot and filled the tank ready for our journey down the East Coast tomorrow - fingers crossed the car doesn't break down!!!