Well, we leave Cairns tomoro and I'm going to miss it! There are lots of things to do here and I really like it - no idea why people say "oh theres nothing to do in Cairns, just get there and get straight out" as there are lots of things to do to fill your time! Had a BBQ by the lagoon last night and drank wine out of a box (I believe they call it 'goon' here)! Very Australian!!!

Went out on a really nice boat today to go and look at the reef... only eleven of us on a big, plush, 5 star boat which was great: what wasnt great was the ocean swell.... anyone remember what happened to me when I tried to go swimming with dolphins in NZ? Well, I'm afraid to say the same thing happened and I spent most of the day feeling (and being!) sick!!! Had to stand at the back of the boat, at the bottom, for the one and a half hour journey out to this amazingly beautiful tiny sand cay - it was lovely and sunny and hot, so had on the factor 30, but when we all got in the sea to snorkle it was so up and down that the motion of the ocean made me feel all queasy again! I got the captain to take me back to the little island on the dingy, but when he pulled me in my bikini top got pulled down - so embarrassing!!!!! But hey ho, I was then sick over the side of the boat, so I think that made up for it!!! All good fun though, and did enjoy the day, although I couldnt eat any of the yummy food as I felt so funny! Just had to lie down and sunbathe on the boat, but the dive master was very cute so the view wasnt bad!! ;)

Oh, I wasnt the only person to be feeling ill this time by the way - there was another lady being violently sick and Beth had a few bad moments too.... would definitley reccommend the boat though - Ocean Freedom or something it was called. I would have liked to have done my first dive as they really helped you through it, but today wasnt going to be the day. Got back to Cairns and lay by the lagoon for a bit - we didnt mean to go out last night but there was a bar called Rhino's that had free champagne all night for the ladies! Glad we exercised some self control though or today could have been even worse!

Start the OZ Experience in the morning... so will let you all know how it goes and if it's up to scratch compared with the Kiwi Exp!!!!

x x x