May 07

Hi, hope you’re all okay. I thought I’d give you a quick update on my time in Cairns before I head off south later this afternoon.

So, I’ve been in Cairns for over a week now and I’m still not a big fan of the place. If it wasn’t for the Great Barrier Reef, it would have nothing going for it. With that in mind, the reef is where I’ve been spending the majority of my time. It’s absolutely incredible. After settling into my hostel I booked onto a three day dive trip out to the reef to do my Advanced Diving course. It was a wicked experience and I learnt some valuable new skills. After the course was done with I decided to stay onboard as a volunteer. It was a sweet deal. I had to do around three hours work a day in exchange for my accommodation, meals and four dives everyday. The diving was just amazing.

The variety of the life down there is staggering. Literally hundreds of types of fish and coral all in the most vibrant colours. Everyday I’d see giant turtles and be able to swim along side them and scratch their shells (they like the divers to do that).

If you’re really good they spin over and get you to scratch their underside. They are so graceful under the water – by far my best experience in Oz so far. I managed to fit in a couple of night dives, some deep dives and plenty more to pad out my log book. I wish I could have stayed on board for longer – but you know what they say… all good things must come to an end. I’m back on dry land now and rather than sit around the hostel (its raining, a lot) I’ve been out on a trip to northern Queenslands rainforests. My trip started with a seven kilometer cable car ride through the rainforest canopy, followed by a few walks around on the forest floor and then a scenic railway along some spectaculr scenary back into Cairns.

It was good fun and nice to see another aspect of the countryside - although the weather was pretty aweful.

I'm heading south on the Greyhound bus today to work on a banana plantation for a little while. The plan is to top up my bank account (which is haemoraging cash!) and then continue further south to the Whitsunday Islands - and hopefully some sailing. I'm a litle apprehensive about the fruit pickivng, it's very hard work and long days. I'm due to start at 4.30 in the morning!!

I'm still meeing new and intresting people and still having a wicked time. Hope you're all well. Lots of love.