Cairns

Our Hotel was like a one bedroom flat with a small kitchen and a balcony overlooking the ocean. It rained every evening in Cairns, but we were happy to hang out in our room. We cooked our own food, which saved us a lot of money because Australia is SO EXPENSIVE! The fist day we booked an into dive in the Great Barrier Reef. Neither of us has been scuba diving before, so we were a little nervous but super excited. In the intro dive the teach you all the basics right off the boat in the reef. Then we link arms with our instructor and swim around the reef. It was amazing. I loved it. Jayson was a little worried about his breathing and I was at the end of the linked arms and had to swim on top of Jayson, so I wouldn’t hit the coral. But we saw the colorful reef and were surrounded by many fish. Unfortunately no sharks or turtles, but happy to make it out safe. We did see a big turtle when we were snorkeling around the reef. It was a great day. The next couple of days we just hung out and went to the beach. Our last day we took a tour to the Dain Tree forest and Port Douglas. The Dain Tree forest was really special. So many different types of trees. Not very many animals but we saw spiders the size of your hand and we were always looking out for a Cassowary. It was raining by the time we got to Port Douglas, but we were able to hang out at a cafe and walk around the shops. The next day we had an early flight to Sydney.