Well I made it to the other side of the world safe and sound. Needless to say after travelling for about 34 hours I felt a bit drained. It's funny how just sitting and doing nothing but waiting, really takes it out of you. I blame this for the fact that I tired to check into my first hostel 4 hours before i was due to...oops!! I was able to leave my bag, which let me have a wonder round Cairns much more freely. This place is lovelly! It's surrounded by huge moutains that are totally covered in trees. This place has the ocean on it's front doorstep and a massive jungle everywhere else. Weird!

One of the main attractions Cairns has, except for the weather, the ocean and the jungle, is the man-made lagoon right on the seafront. On a sunny day, especially at the weekend, the lagoon becomes the heart of the city. People meet here, go for a swim, relax on the grass and generally socialise. Personally I thought that spending all that money on a man-made, salt water lagoon just 10 feet from the ocean was a bit of a waste. That was until I saw signs warning people about the strong tides, jelly fish, crocodiles and other aquatic nasties. The lagoon then became to make more sense.

Finally got checked in to Gilligan's (the first of my two hostels in Cairns) and got to see the first of what will be many hostel rooms on this trip. I was pleasantly surprised, it was actually quite nice. There were 3 sets of bunkbeds, all full, a balcony and en suit bathroom. The hostel also had communal kitchens, an internet cafe, tv rooms, a great pool and was also "the biggest night spot north of Brisbane!" I think we are all agreed, it was a good start.

Didn't have to wait long until I met the people I'd be sharing we. Fran, Vic and Chris were a group travelling together. Fran and Vic were English and Chris was Norwegian. They all met at Auckland university where they were on exchanges form their respective universities back home. These guys were really nice and we all had dinner together on my first night. The other two guys were Lee and Johnny. Two more brits working there way round Oz. Everyone was really friendly and chatty. That definately helped settle some of the nerves I was feeling about this whole trip. What helped even more was the few drinks that Fran, Vic, Chris and myself all went for. But it wasn't long until the call of my bed became too strong and I had to surcome.

Day two of my world tour started very early with everyone else getting up to go diving. Vic and Chris went to continue the scuba diving course they had started the previous day. Lee and Johnny were moving on to Mission Beach to go sky diving (Johnny spent most of the morning pretending to be James Bond about to save the world, very funny!). So once the two boys had moved on to pastures new and Vic and Chris had gone diving I was able to start my day.

No! Unfortunately the combination pad-lock I had put on my locker broke meaning that I couldn't get in. Brilliant! So I spent most of the morning waiting for a member of staff to come and cut it open. I have to admit I was expecting the whole "are you sure this is you locker? Is there any ID in there to confirm it's yours?" Instead I opened the door to a bloke, who was obviously not happy with something in his life, he walked in with a huge set of bolt cutters. Two seconds, job done! And lesson learned too.

After that false start Fran and I went and chilled by the pool for a few hours but I got bored quiet quickly so went for a walk around the town and tried to sort out a few little bits and bobs. That didn't happen either because it was Sunday! I think it's going to take a bit of time to get my head round what day and time it is. So did a bit of reading about things to do in Oz and my God there's a lot! I'm going to have to do a lot of picking and choosing.

My second evening in Oz wasn't really exciting. With a combination of jet-lag and sheer laziness I got a very early night. In my defence I did start my dive course the next morning so wanted to be fresh. Did manage to meet our two new room mates. We have Ben form London. He has been living and working in Sydney for two years and was doing a little travelling before he went back hope to Blighty. The other guy was Yoshi form Japan, he had been studying in Melbourne and was only with us for the night because he was meeting his friend the next morning. So far so good on the room mate front.

Monday was the first day of my PADI Open Water Diver course. I'm not ashamed to admit that I was a little nervous about the whole thing, but my nerves were out weighed by my excitment. Did spend most of the moring sat in a class room watching a very patronisng DVD and filling in sheets, like being back at school. But in the afternoon we got into the pool which was really good fun. We did, however, get homework to do that night. With a combination of the homework and the atmosphere in the hostel it all reminded me of being back at uni.

Got back and found that Yoshi had been replaced by a Swedish girl called Hannah. Another really cool person so all going well. We all went out for a few drinks but, again, I didn't have too many. Not sure how good an idea it is to go diving with a hangover!

The second day of my dive course started in the pool and went well. I'm still not totally comfortable with the whole breathing underwater thing but I'm getting there. Back in the classroom for the afternoon where we had to do a test...fun! I'm pleased to say that I passed so can now officially continue my course out on the Barrier Reef!

Had a very busy evening. This was the day that I moved from Gilligan's to my second hostel, Traveller's Oasis. The two places couldn't have been more different. Oasis was really small, chilled out place that had obviously grown over the years so there was a whole combination of styles to the place. It had a really nice atmosphere. I had a private room here so after I had dumped by bag I met all the guys form Gilligan's to have something to eat. That's after Ben and I went to "Reef Teach". This is basically a very excitable Irish marinebiologist, called Paddy, talking about the reef in a very animated fashion. If anyone ever comes to Cairns I totally recommend this!

Wednesday was my first day diving in the ocean at the Barrier Reef. My nerves did re-appear in the morning but that was mainly due to the fact that the ocean was a hell-of-alot bigger and deeper than the pool I'd practised in. But by the time I got there I was totally excited again. I saw some really cool fish, a ray, a massive sea turtle and a white tipped reef shark (don't worry mum they're not dangerous!). We dove down to 12 meters and had a good half an hour down there, same thing with the second dive of the day. All amazing!

Thursday was the final day of my dive course, by the end of the day I would be a qualified Open Water Diver. Did two more dives and went up to 18 meters deep! Saw more really cool fish and a few giant clams. Did have a bit of a scare on the way back to harbour when one of the boat's engines started billowing out smoke (again mum, don't worry everything was fine just a bit of excitement that's all). That evening all the dive course met up for a meal to celebrate us qualifying.

Friday was a day of doing jobs. I packed my bag and manage to sort out my bus ticket to Airlie Beach. It was really nice to have a lie in after getting up at 7am for the past four mornings and not getting back until 6 in the evening. Friday night I met up with a few people from my dive course for drinks because we were all going our seperate ways the next day. But again I couldn't have too many, obvioulsy because I have a budget to stick to but also because my bus was due to leave Cairns at 7 the next morning.

All-in-all Cairns was really nice and a good place to start this little trip of mine. I have to admit that it hasn't all sunk in yet but I'm sure it will eventually.

Airlie Beach here I come!