Gudday Everyone,

We are still here and having a great time. Sorry for not blogging for over a week, especially after giving everyone a hard time for not putting on any comments!! This will be a bit of a long blog as there is soooo much to write about, so sit back, get a cuppa and relax!!

Friday 23rd March

We spent the day on the Great Barrier Reef, sailing out on a catamaran that cost 3 million quid- very nice boat. We went to a place a called Michalmus cay (a small sand bar) where we did some snorkeling. It is like another world under the sea. Beautiful colourful coral, loads of fish and giant clams (as big as a dustbin lid). I did a glass bottom boat tour as well and saw turtles and nemos!! It was quite a windy day so the sea was a bit choppy, this made it difficult at times to swim and we also felt a tad sea sick. They put the sails up on the way home and we had a great sail back to shore, a lovely way to sit back and relax.

Sunday 25th March

What a fantastic day. This was one of those 'once in a lifetime' days and was completely amazing. We set off at 7 ish and went to Cairns Airport where we got on a light aircraft that sat about 10 people. There were 6 of us on the flight and the pilot called Greg. We flew north over the land, where we could see the daintree river, rain forest, waterfalls, oxbow rivers and giant sand dunes. We arrived at a small island called Lizard Island and walked to a secluded, beautiful beach, in Watsons bay. On the way we stopped off at various points to look at things, we ate green ants that tasted like lemon and lime, quite nice really! We got straight in the sea and did a guided snorkel with Greg, again saw amazing things, so many different fish, big bright blue starfish, a shark and many more giant clams. The rest of the day consisted of snorkeling, eating yummy food and relaxing. We flew home over the reef. It was so interesting to see it from the air, where you can see the shapes and beautiful colours of the reef. I've never been on a small plane before and it was so exciting, the pilot dipped the wings so that we got good views of the land below. A day to remember and definitely goes in my top 5 days of my life.

Tuesday 27th - Thursday 29th March

We set sail on a 3 day sailing trip around the Whitsunday Islands. We went on a Tall ship called Derwent Hunter and she was a beautiful ship, 60 years old and a part of Australian history. We had a great crew; a skipper, a decki and a cook. There were 18 passengers who were a really nice group of people. During the days we did lots of snorkeling and relaxing. We also did some great sailing which was exhilarating and fun. With the snorkeling we saw different things to the previous time. We swam with turtles which was so relaxing, they are so laid back and graceful. We also saw so many fish. At one point the decki threw fish food on our heads and they swarmed around us which at first was a little unnerving but it was also an amazing experience. At the end of a hard day (!!!) we sat about drinking wine and chatting. On the wedsnesday went to Whitehaven beach which had amazing sand, 98% silica (basically very fine sand), the water was so shallow and lovely to paddle in. Linda and I slept in the galley area so had quite a bit of space but it was still compact! It was a great 3 days and I'm so pleased that we did it. Definitely an experience not to be missed. There was great snorkeling, beautiful sunsets, lovely company, loads of food and sooo relaxing.

We have just spent 2 days on Magnetic Island were we stayed at a party hostel (never again!!), chilled out and visited a koala sanctuary but more of that later.

Thats all for now, love Penny