Diving, Drowning and Disgrace!!! read on.......

At last the sun came out in Cairns and we could see what everyone had been banging on about! Cairns really is very beautiful with the green rainforest hills and crystal blue sea! We went for a day trip out to the great Barrier Reef where I did my first ever dive. It was sooooo scary but I am so pleased I did it. Think I was the most nervous person (issues with being underwater - thanks Ross) but it turned out that only 2 of us in our group did it coz the girls freaked out. So Soph and I got to go alone. (Jen, the qualified pro was in another group). It was so cool swimming with all the huge fish and turtles!! So odd breathing underwater though. Had some interesting dreams afterwards! We spent most of the day snorkling around the reef and sunbathing on the boat....bliss!

The next day was our white water rafting on the Tully river which was nice and full due to all the rain we had been having! We were so lucky once again with the weather, the Cyclone had passed just in time! Rafting has got to be one of my favourite days so far....despite nearly dying and utter shame!!!

We were in a group of 6 (10 boats altogether) and our instructor was an Americal guy called Sam who we later found out was recovering from a dislocated shoulder - great news!! The rapids were awesome and the scenery around the river valley was so beautiful. Lush rainforest, blue skies...perfect! This was until we reached the 3rd rapid known as "full Stop", a grage 4 and pretty steep drop! As Jen and I were at the back (being the lightest) we were prime targets to fall in....which we did. All I remember was going in backwards and assuming that the boat had tipped. I was desperately trying to hold onto my paddle (as if that could save me) whilst being chucked around in the rapid. When I looked up I realised that the boat hadnt tipped at all and Sam was screaming at me whilst shouting 'get her' in the most terrified voice iv ever heard. it turns out both Jen and I had fallen in! At this point I feel suction on my feet and Im slowly getting dragged backwards away from the boat. Thankfully Sam managed to grab hold of me and pull me away from the rock where i was stuck, letting me float down the rapid getting battered about on the way and trying to keep my head above water!

It all sounds pretty funny but I did genuinly think i was going to drown. i swallowed so much water. The worst part about the whole experience was how scared Sam had looked and sounded - I really have never seen anyone like that ever. When i tell him this after he THEN informs us that 5 people have drowned at that spot in the last 3 years and that a girl had got sucked under in the exact place Id got stuck. As you can imagine we wer epretty shaken up getting back in. Somehow, neither of us lost our paddles in the whole experience - such pros and we carried on down the rapids to our BBQ stop for lunch.

We carried on down some more rapids including, DD Cup, Foreplay, wet and moisty to name a few then did some rock jumping into the river which was quality. Then, clearly overconfident, we got to another grade 4 and who falls in?? yep, your truely. Jen says she has never seen anyone look so terrified which is understandable after the mornings events! Luckily Sam managed to grab hold of me....but only as I realised that my bikini bottoms were around my ankles! I remember thinking that actually, it would probably be better to drown than face the next 30 seconds of shame! As Sam pulled me in I managed to pull them up about halfway, but only to my knees....meaning I was lying, bent over the side of the boat giving a pretty explicit view to the 8 boats behind us!! i was mortified! As I scrambled into the boat, head first into a paddle i yanked them up quickly and Jen assures me that everyone was too busy worrying about me drowning to notice my nudity...Im not so sure. needless to say we were all pretty close by the end of the day and Sam invited Jen and I to a party with all the raft guys.....we didnt go!

All in all it relly was a brilliant day but so much scarier than id expected. A trip worth doing for sure! The next day we flew down to Melbourne and had the most amazing views of the Reef on the way down. A geographers paradise once again! yes, im a nerd! We were looking forward to being back in the city and ready for some more crazy nites out in Melbourne and Sydney!..........