Hello! We've spent the last few days being beach bums here in Cairns (possibly my new favourite hobby!) Yesterday we took a trip out to the Great Barrier Reef. It was an early start (wake up call at 630am... eek!) and then we set off. We were on a 30 foot catamaran (Osprey 5 for all you boaty types who like to know random details... aka Dad!) We were glad we were on a cat considering the winds - 20-30 knots most of the day, so at least it gave us some stability...

A WARNING - Never ever stay in JJs backpackers in Cairns. We lasted all of a few hours in there... it was horrible. Hideous. Disgusting. It was so dirty and the people were all... well... low-lifes is the only way we can put it... and all the rooms had the same key (interesting set up... the point of locks was????) so we decided to book into somewhere else, without actually spending a night there! We are now in a very basic, very small room in a hostel/motel rig...