Cairns, Australia.

I expected Cairns to be a lovely tropical town perfectly situated for diving on the barrier reef. It was cold and rainy. Just what it was like when we left Alice Springs! The winds were also up at sea - about 25-30 knots. It was overcast, so visibility underwater wasn't going to be as great either, but we couldn't not dive on the Great Barrier Reef having just learnt to dive! As we got our boarding cards for the boat the lady at the counter suggested that we should go on a larger boat and take some anti-sickness medication... We stuck to the original boat. The ride out was pretty rough! The boat was shuddering as it crashed down on the water. Scary stuff - I wanted my dad!

Reena getting ready!

We reached the outer reef about 40 minutes later. I went for two dives. The first dive really wasn't that great at all. There was nothing down there and it was freezing - I was shiverring. The second dive was a little better. We got to see another turtle. This time it was eating algae off the coral. We also got to see clown fish - the 'Finding Nemo' fish! It was still pretty bare out there. We were told that it could have been due to the rough sea - the fish either go deeper or hide in the coral to prevent themselves being battered against all the rocks. Poor things! At the end of the dive someone threw out fish pellets. These massive sea bass swarmed in - really scary looking with jaged teeth. Fun to be sitting in amongst it all though!

Reena went for the third dive. I watched and then caught up with some sleep - I was too cold.

We met an American chap called Brian on our dive boat. He'd been travelling around Australia giving lectures on computer stuff... virtual machines within machines... i dunno... well we invited him along for dinner at the Woolshed! We got free meal vouchers from our hostel. After about 9pm the place becomes a meat market... We left for a kareoke bar.

Reena, Me and Brian

I only spent three days of the seven that I had intended to spend here, and decided to head for Brisbane.