Hi everyone. coming to you from Cairns! First impressions are that you could be easlily convinced you are in america.. Its a bit of a backpackers paradise but its all good. We have got a car and have just organised a 4 day dive course. As we havent dived before this is 2 days in a pool and to learn and then 2 days on the Great Barrier reef! Dont worry mum its not deep water diving and they do health checks and stuff on the boat every day etc. We have got a good car, it seems to be a popular thing to do with backpackers. Although this morning there was a slight cause for concern when it didnt start and we were miles from anywhere. Luckily it was just a dead battery and we got a jump start from a guy on a tractor. We have now replaced it. Again mother please dont worry it is a registered car in good condition with airbags and the lot. We dont have to go too far on it but it seems to be the best way to get to Brisbane. Its very expensive out here, well compared to Asia anyway and at the moment very hot but the locals are saying there is a cyclone coming. These can bring about 15 inches of rain overnight, sometimes more.. So quite looking forward to seeing that, we will just have to find a place to stay on high ground! We are staying at the diving place for the next 2 or 3 nights though and there are alot of people here so we are doing a pub crawl with them tonight. We then spend a night on the boat for the diving and then off towards brisbane. There is quite a bit to see on the way including Steve Irwins zoo.. so I guess we will only be driving a couple of hours a day. More photos to come, i will get an underwater camera too. Off to wrestle some crocodiles now but I have updated quite a few of the photo albums so check it out.