I know it’s been quite a few days since I have written a blog post, but I’m sure you will excuse me when you learn that we have been on the Great Barrier Reef diving for the last 4 days.

We arrived in Cairns from Hong Kong pretty exhausted and ready for a good sleep. The problem was, we arrived at 6:30am so had to get through the whole day or we would ruin all of the ‘getting over jet lag’ we had achieved in Hong Kong. We got through the day by walking around Cairns town, walking along the Esplanade and going for a swim in the lagoon over looking the ocean. Again, this was FREE!! This is the main thing that has blown my mind so far in Hong Kong and Australia so far, so many activities are free, which is great when you’re trying to save money.

Here’s two photos of the Esplanade.

We met some lovely people at our first hostel (Travellers Oasis). A couple from the Netherlands and a couple from Germany. The couple from the Netherlands are completing a VERY similar route to us up till Christmas, so we may end up seeing them again in the future. The hostel was AMAZING! It felt like a paradise walking around which palm trees everywhere, hammocks and a swimming pool to chill out in. We decided we would make use of the kitchen facilities while we were there and made ourselves a sausage and egg sandwich. WOW that was the best sausage and egg sandwich I’ve ever had!!

The next day we got up early to go on a tour that EVERYONE has recommended. The Uncle Brian – Fun, Falls and Forest tour. Loveday and Jon thank you so much for recommending this one. http://unclebrians.com.au

To say this tour was AMAZING would be an understatement, from the moment we got picked up at our hostel to the moment we came back our tour guide ‘Cousin Jimbob’ made sure that everyone was having a great time, getting involved and more often than not having the mick taken out of them (in a good way). On the way out we enjoyed this song. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wy_TB6onHVE

Our first stop on the tour was to Babinda Boulders where we went for a walk in crystal clear  mountain waters and jumped off Boulders. Great fun! On our drive to the next stop, Josephine Falls, we drove past where they filmed Jurassic Park (of course he played the music at this point).

Josephine Falls was gorgeous! It was a tiered cascading waterfall flowing into beautiful clear waters, but the best bit of it all was that there was a natural slide eroded into the rock. Obviously, we played around on the slide for quite a while. Simon and I went up and down the slide at least 6 times (far more than anyone else). There were some very young German girls on the tour who had to be convinced to do it once… I won’t say anymore on this matter.

After this was lunch. We visited a Tea House and the food was great. Buffet style salads, chicken and cous-cous. Yummy! And of course we had some dessert, sticky toffee pudding with caramel sauce AND cream!!! Brilliant!!!

Our next stop was Milla Milla Falls. You may recognise this waterfall from the Herbal Essence adverts! It was stunning and also freezing!!! However, in we got and off we swam. Right underneath the 30m waterfall to sit underneath it and watch the water fall (get it?!). As we swam up to the waterfall, I couldn’t believe how much my breath was being taken away by the power of the water, but we made it under and are so glad we did. Here we had some photos taken with a wet ‘hair flick’. I was pretty disappointed as mine didn’t come out as well as I would have hoped, but you get the idea! Simon’s is pretty epic!!!

Our last stop of the day was to Lake Eacham. Lake Eacham is a crater lake which is 60m deep at the centre. Wow! The water has lots of natural salts and minerals and left us feeling super smooth and shiny! What I’ll take most from this swim (which most of the group didn’t do) was swimming peaceful out into the lake, with the sun on my face and the lovely cool water on my body. It was just such a lovely way to end the day!

I have shared the folder of photos that were taken of us on Facebook so please have a look through and see if you can spot us.

We also both had a go at playing the Didgeridoo. Funny videos of that to follow!!!

After this, we drove back whilst listening to the YMCA, Barbie Girl, Britney Spears and so much more. We even learnt this Australian song and all the hand signals. The road we drove back along has 250 odd turns left and right back down through the mountains. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLWzPQmd5sc

We had a very early start the next day again to get taken to the live aboard, but I feel that the live aboard deserves a post in itself! I’ll write that soon, but right now we’re going to go pick up a car and drive into the Daintree Rainforest! Write soon xx

P.S. First impressions… BETTER THAN EXPECTED!