we leave cairns late tonight to make our way down to airlie beach ready for our boat trip out to the whitsundays. cairns has been alot of fun and the weather is getting much better with temps now reaching about 38 degrees, so hot, we keep ducking into random shops to take advantage of the air conditioning. we have tried to keep ourselves busy and see some of the place rather than just bar hopping. the pictures are mainly from our rainforest trip with a company called uncle brians, to give you an idea of the style of tour we were on, when we got on the bus we were told it was called gus and we had to keep him happy throught the day. the tour guide was a complete nut and kept us laughing all day long. the trip included a visit to josephine falls which was pretty spectacular but no swimming due to someone dying there just a week before we arrived. we did get to swim in three other places tho, one had a natural rock water slide, one had one of the most amazing waterfalls i have ever seen and the 3rd one was like swimming in a bath...so warm. the pictures should give a better understanding of what went on.

the day after we went diving off the great barrier reef, using our qualifications we gained in koh tao, bit nervy to start with trying to remember everything we had been taught but it all came flooding back as soon as we plunged into the water. the reef was beautiful and pretty breath taking, unfortunately we didnt get to see any sharks...although some of the other divers did.

after that we kinda had to get geared up for new years celebrations, we joined the ultimate party. a bar crawl around 5 bars with 750 other party goers, culminating on the rooftop of the last bar to watch the fireworks. fun had by all.

now i think we are ready to go see some more of the south of the country, should be entertaining in sure!

hope everyone had a good christmas and happy new year to all.