Got to Cairns and checked into a hostel for just over 5quid/night/person which for aus is very good. Hostel clean, has a pool and a bar so seems alright, bit out from town but they run a free minibus service everyhour until 3 in the morning so not a problem. Ended up in a room of 4, the first night one other person was in there, the remaining 6 nights we were
alone so good value for effectivly a private room.
Went to a club in town and everyone played a giant game of heads and tails, one bloke on a mic announcing it, everyone had to pick, if you got it wrong you sat down, right and you stay standing until 1 winner - i won and got a free jug of beer :-) good start to the night.
Later on it turned out the bar did power hour, about 3.50 sterling for all you can drink in that one hour - good spirits too, smirnoff, gordons, bacardi etc not cheap rubbish - we took
full advantage of this generous offer and both squeezed in 8 spirit mixers.
Next day, surprisingly feeling fine, we booked ourselves onto a dive and snorkeling trip on
the barrier reef. All excited we got to bed relatively early as had early start for the trip the next day. Awoke at 630, only to be told all trips cancelled as a cyclone has hit - heavy rain bla bla bla. Much to our disapointment (more so hannahs as this is all she wanted from the country) it was due to last a few days, and reef would be merkie for a couple after, then
too late for us as heading to NZ. As it turns out, the cyclone headed directly south instead of inland like predicted and was pretty much fine the next day. We waited another, then re-booked the trip for the monday. This was our last possible chance as you cant dive less
than 24hrs before a flight as the change in preasures will make your head explode.....or
something to that effect.
Woke the morning of the trip and it was clear & sunny. The boat was a fair size, gave us bacon and eggs for breakfast, only for some bloke a few seats away to throw it back up 1/2 an hr later, hannah wasnt feeling too good so this didnt help. An onboard marine biolagist gave us a presentation on the reef whilst heading out (about 1 hr).
Got to the first reef at went for a snorkel, this was just like the photos you see, crystal clear water with multi-coloured corals, all different shapes with so many different fish
going in and out. We then got kitted out for our dive, only 2nd time ive done one and hannahs first, and went down 10 metres. We found nemo swimming around, so many different coloured fish some neon coloured whilst others camoflaged on the bed, an eel..the list goes on - amazing is what we both agreed. Even some giant clam type thing the size of me, if you rubbed just inside the shell, the whole thing shut tight which was fun to tease. Sea cucumbers which felt strange, just so much in a 25 minute dive.
Got back on board and had lunch, then headed to the 2nd dive sight. Here most snorkeled,
hannah was content with her dive, i was more relaxed having done 1 before so enjoyed it a bit more than hannah who was understandably nervous. So i went out on a 2nd dive whilst hannah snorkled the area. Again so diverse its hard to explain, but such a good dive, and lasted 35 minutes this time too. Hannah saw a white tipped shark whilst i was under which sounded pretty impressive. We saw some whales off in the distance too.
On the way back we had some wine with cheese and crackers, both feeling tired from a days swimming and excitement. Early night as shattered, spent the next day booking things for NZ, packing etc but still spent a couple hours in town having our final lunch in Australia.
Thats it, overall thoughts on the place, in general we agree its slightly over rated, i wouldnt put people off coming here, but its basically a hotter version of england 10 years ago. Apart from the reef and koalas, but the general day to day stuff its the same as anywhere really. In comparison to Asia where things were cheap as chips and we were constantly on the go, things seem slower and less exciting - that could be due to lack of language problems, and that we've been looking for work rather than taking in new sights everyday - or that we may just not like it all that much, but weve had fun and new experiences so all is good. Onwards to kiwi land........