Monday 6th- 18th June- Cairns

We arrived in Cairns and the sun was shining finally. We had got a free pick up to the hostel that we had previously booked. however, when we got to our room, the first thing we all said was "YHA's all the way!". The hostel was pretty poor and the kitchen was awful. We had booked 3nights so after that we moved to the YHA for 2nights until we found a better one. This was to be The Northern Greenhouse. It was only $22 books and you got free breakfast and free internet and the place was really good. The only downside was that our room was known as the 'party room, room 14' so a couple of times a week it got a bit lively but when we joined it, it was good.

So that was the accommadtion sorted. Now for the jobs. The idea was that we came to Cairns to work. On day 1, Emily had got herself a trial at a cafe just outside Cairns at a place called Kuranda. Started at 8 but because she had catch the bus, it meant she had to leave at 6.45am every morning. On her first day, she had read the time-table wrong and missed her bus but after speaking to the boss, was able to get the next one and everything was ok there. Lucky girl.

Then there was Jamie. Well as a chef he was spoilt for choice. The woman in the agency loved him as she was desperate for chefs. He was given a few names and numbers and on the second day he got a job in a cafe which was only making sandwhiches and baguettes so hardly fine dining lioke he's use to but when she was paying him $20 an hour and he only worked 9-3, he was laughing.

Myself on the other hand wasn't so successful. All the jobs going was chefs, waiting or bar work and most places only took girls on- sexists! I even spent a couple of days trailling the streets of Cairns looking for building sites or agencies. I even got the yellow pages and rung every builder in the book however they all said the same thing, that work wasn't good at the minute. So 90% of time in Cairns was spent lazy about the lagoon, topping up the tan with my i-pod in and Chris Ryan book at hand. Was just like a holiday for me.

In cairns, we did do a few activities. First we went white water rafting for Jamie and Emily's birthday. we chose to do extreme rafting as the motto goes 'go hard or go home!' This was a great day and we all loved it so much. It was done on the Tully river just south of Cairns and the rapids was of a grade 3/4. A grade 5 was described as Niagra Falls so i think we had the best place possible. We was in a raft with 2 more people plus the instructor. At first we just practiced all the commands and then the instructor got us on the side of the river on these rocks and we had to jump into the river, in the middle of this very strong rapid and current to practice 'Jesus' for if we fell out. As you jump in, you go under but then the current drags you down stream so fast it actually felt like drowning!

Further along the course, we got to some cliff jumping, sliding down waterfalls and swimming through a current. Also there was this massive waterfall that fell into the river and the instructor held the raft under it whilst the water bashed down on us. I never knew how hard water could be. This was truely a great day out.

The next day, Jamie and I had booked the 50m bungy jump then quad biking in the afternoon. Im not going to lie but i was bricking the bungy! When we got to the jump site and i saw the tower, i actually didnt think it looked that high however once we started to climb, I only got half way and thought "hell, this is high".

Jamie did his jump first and even he was scared stood at the top. Once he had done it, he loved it though and had booked for a second so that made me feel a bit better. As i stood on the edge at the top, harnised up, i couldn't believe what i was about to do. It seemed crazy. The bloke shouts 5,4,3,2,1, bungy and i went to jump but then grabbed hold of the railing again. I didn't think I could do it. Then I just took one last breath and jumped. The going down was bad as you jump out before going down so it felt like I was jumping ontop of the bar. Once i bounced back though it was quite enjoyable to be honest. Really glad I did it as it's another thing to tick off but I don't think ill be rushing back up to do it again.

In the afternoon we went off to some quad biking. When we got to the site, they had kangaroo's in a pen so we was able to feed them which was quite good. The biking was up and down mud tracks through the forest but because it had been so dry, the tracks was just dust so by the end we was just covered. Along the way, we even got to see our first snake as there was this big python laid on the track and wouldn't move so we had to turn back and go round. The biking was awesome though and we got some good speeds.

Also whilst in Cairns, we had a couple of nights out at the famous woolshed. One night after playing ring of fire with goon, I got well and truely hammered and was home for 11pm but no hangover so happy days.

For the 2weeks I spent in Cairns, it was just like a holiday and I really enjoyed the place however I did need to find work otherwise I would be going home in month. Luckily I managed to get the job on Lindeman Island.

Time for Housekeeping...