Hi all, well it's been a couple of days and thought you could probably all do with an update by now!

I'm pleased to say that the suitcases have finally turned up, not without another twist. After many fruitless calls to local airports, we finally got word that our globetrotting cases had turned up, we hotfooted it down to reception, where Iain was euphoric at the arrival of his case however I was left distraught when the kind lady at reception advised that only one had turned up and Iain's didn't even have tags on! It has to be said though Iain did a sterling job and sorting it out and less than 48 hours later mine finally turned (Iain Tweedly, my hero).

Yesterday was our last full day in Port Douglas and we spent it at the Great Barrier Reef which was absolutely amazing! The sun had it's hat on all days and we chose the snorkel and cruise option. I'd never snorkelled before and Iain had done it once before a while ago but it was absolutely brilliant although a little scary to begin with. We donned some rather fetching blue lycra suits and a quick lesson from the guide and were away. We went on a boat called Poseidon which was definitely a good choice as it was one of the smaller boats so there were plenty of crew on hand to help. We snorkelled at Agincourt and saw lots of different types of coral and lots of creatures including stingers, parrot fish and a 'finding nemo' type fish. We were a little surprised (to say the least) that we were also swimming with reef sharks, which are fairly small and (allegedely) not dangerous at all!

We had a lovely lunch on board, prawns, pasta, ham, salad, much more than we expected and had a snorkel tour later in the day.

We finished the day off by returning to the Portsea and having a dip in the jacuzzi and then a swim up to pool bar for a couple of glasses of vino (it would be rude not to!)

We were picked up at the uneartly time of 4.20 this morning to be taken to Cairns airport to our flight to Hamilton Island (Whitsundays). The flight passed without a hitch (amazingly!) and we landed at 8.40 am this morning. The airport was fantastic surrounded by clear blue water and once you go through to arrivals you find that that is actually the outside of the airport and the customer service second to none. A little buggy came along and took our luggage down to the boat and the boat was ready and waiting for us with us two the only passengers. The trip across was beautiful (Ian - on a par with Lake Garda aka just like sailing down the Clyde - but without the sun palm trees, coral reef, white sandy beaches). but the best was yet to come! As the boat started to come into the Dock at Daydream Island, we began to wonder if we were actually on the correct boat or if they had been expecting royalty in our place as there was actually a band playing to welcome us to the island and a personal host to take us up to the hotel!

The resort is lovely with a few aptly named restaurants such as Mermaids and fantastic looking spa and a fabulous open air cinema, which we plan to see in action.

This is home for the next three days before we move onto Airlie Beach and we're contemplating doing a boat trip to Whitehaven beach either from here or Airlie.

Iain says any emergency Leeds Utd updates are much appreciated.

We also wanted to says thanks for everybody who has left us a message, it's lovely to read when you're so far away from home.

Anywhere best dash, we're going to watch Home and Away before we head out for tea!

Lots of love to everyone.

Sara and Iain

xxxxxxx