Hi all,

Well other than the weather, my introduction to the East Coast has been a great one. Cairns is a pretty cool place, though it is quite commercialised. There are lots of nice restaurants (though on my backpacker budget I haven't tried many of them) and there is also a lovely big lagoon next to the sea to swim in - Stinger season presently, so the sea is out of bounds.

Last week when I arrived I met up with two girls Lianna and Laura who I had been on a tour with on the West Coast, which was nice. We went out on the Great Barrier Reef together on a boat trip which was amazing. My Dad described it correctly when he said it looked like a child's colouring book, as there are just so many different types and colours of coral and fish in the water, I could have stayed out there a lot longer.

The evening that the girls left I met up with another couple, Adrien and Lyndsey (how wierd is that!?!), who I had met in Darwin. They were staying in the same hostel as me, which was a suprise. They have a camper van, so on Friday we drove up to Cape Tribulation. It was cloudy and raining on the way up and we had planned to go to Mossman Gorge, but visibilty was pour. We stopped at a lookout point too, but we could only see a tree about 30ft away! So after bypassing lots of sights and settling into our hostel we decided to try Jungle Surfing. Basically you are hooked up to a zip wire and you fly through the air between trees 25-30ft up. It's great fun and not at all as scary as I thought it would be. On the last zip we were able to go upside down as well, which was really funny. I couldn't work out which way I was facing!

On Saturday we got up early to have a walk down at the beach, which was deserted. It is an amazing sight to see and one of the few places were the jungle and sea meet (according to the Lonely Planet guide anyway!). We had a coconut throwing session, which I lost nearly every time....absolutely no upper body strength! It was a little disconcerting when we saw signs warning us of crocodile sightings in the area.

After we drove South again and stopped off for lunch in Mossman before heading to Mossman Gorge where we did a big walk through the jungle. It was pouring of rain, and though we had raincoats on we got pretty much soaked through, but it was fun. My trainers still haven't dried though and they honky tonk now!

In the afternoon we drove to Port Douglas, which is a really little, beautiful town. We had a look round the shops (Adrien was really excited about that!) and then went back to the hostel to check in. I though I would have a little adventure tonight, so whilst Lyndsey and Adrien were sleeping in the campervan I decided to stay in there tent. We had some drinks in the bar and then sat outside to eat and watch a film, where we were bitten to bits by mosquitos. I even got three on my head damn it! The heavens opened which forced us to stay inside where we sat up until just gone midnight to see in my birthday.

Back at the tent I got in and noticed that there was a huge puddle on the mat and on closer inspection with the torch saw that water was trickling down the sides on the inside....the hostel reception was now closed, so I ended up having to sleep with Lyndsey and Adrien (poor chaps!) in their camper van, which was a little bit of a squeeze I can tell you. All adds to the adventure though!

On Sunday we went to the markets in Port Douglas, which consisted of approximately 7 stalls and had a look at four mile beach, before heading back to Cairns.

I booked into a very posh hostel, where the Irish lasses, Elaine and Scorch, whom I had met in WA were staying. It is such a nice hostel and definately more like a hotel. (www.gilligansbackpackers.com.au) Best of all the beds are massive!

Elaine, Scorch and I met for a couple of drinks early evening, before getting ready to go out. Elaine had hairstraightners, which I was overly excited about, so I went to their room after I was ready and the sweeties had got me a bottle of champagne, some little jelly sweets, a braclet they had made and a muffin with a match for a candle! How lovely is that!?! We went to a pub to meet Lyndsey and Adrien who also got me a card (it's amazing how much you appreciate gifts and tokens when you think you aren't going to get any!) and then went onto a restaurant, though not the Mexican as planned as that shut at 9.00pm, can you imagine!?! So we had Italian, which was also very nice. I had pumpkin risotto. Then we went for lots of drinks in various places all Cairns, which was lots of fun, but I got a snotty nose, so couldn't breathe/see very well, which was a bummer. On the way back to the hostel we stopped for morning supplies and chocolate bars...yummy!

Monday the 13th March....got up at 12.30pm!

Loads of Love to you all

Lynds x x

PS Happy Birthday Nadia for today.