Finding Nemo

Hope you are all well and that you all got lots of lovely romantic Valentines pressies?? We had a really romantic night....on the greyhound bus and enjoyed a lovely chicken sandwich together at a roadside cafe.

Since we last emailed we have moved across to the east coast and for the last three weeks have been on lots and lots of adventures! We couldn't believe it when we landed in Cairns cos it was lovely and green and tropical compared to the dusty red rugged west...we thought we had got the plane back to Thailand! Happily it is also a lot more populated than the west, with loads and loads of bars and shops...sigh of relief from Ruth!

Cairns is the place where Alex had decided to try scuba diving and despite fishy encounters on the west I chickened out! The first two days were spent practising in a big swimming pool and learning in the classroom so the school bus picked him up at 7am each morning and brought him home again at 6pm. Even after the first night he absolutely loved it and that was with no fish....I also loved it cos each night when he got home he got out a homework book and had to study and practise underwater hand signals...what a geek! After Alex passed his test (with 47/50, third best in the class...only one gold star) he was allowed to go out on the boat with the big boys and I came along for a snorkel!

Alex had sold me this snorkelling affair as a "romantic cruise around the great barrier reef". Erm, not exactly it was more like a floating dive boot camp! There were 30 people on the boat and only four of us were snorkellers and the rest were divers, who talked about diving non stop...and when they weren't talking about diving they were filling in homework books about diving or sometimes just sat doing underwater hand signals at each other. Despite all of the hardwork it was thoroughly worth it, the fish and the coral were unbelievable and they were literally everywhere! Alex said it was like something from the Little Mermaid with giant clams and fish of every colour. The only down side of the trip for Alex was that I kept seeing everything first, you should have seen his face when I told him I'd seen a shark before him. After he'd done 8 dives, he'd still only seen 1 shark, I'd seen 3 sharks, 4 turtles, 2 sting rays and Nemo!!! Unlucky Harrington! He was double angry when I eventually got up the courage and did a short introduction dive, because the lady I was with took loads of photos of me diving and we don't have one of him underwater!

She may mock, but as part of the course we went for a night dive, where I saw Brian the famous 2m long female turtle, much better than what you see girlie snorkelling!!

When we got back onto dry land, we went out for a massive party to celebrate being qualified divers. Lots of dancing on tables, a dance off of 40 people started by Ruth and my first chance to watch a Miss Naked Backpacker contest, great night all round.

Not so great at 7am the next day when we caught the bus south. Mission Beach was the next stop, a small town on a beautiful beach, only problem was that it's currently stinger season and you can't swim in the sea!!!! We knew this in Cairns as we had to wear Wet suits whenever we went in the water, but we never saw any jelly fish, so we thought they were exaggerating. A short walk along Mission Beach, threw that theory out the window, it was covered with them, the size of dustbin lids!! (Another wild australian animal to add to our collection). Unfortunately, the next animal was a little less appreciated..... BED BUGS!!!!! Poor Ruth had over 100 bites on her back, I didn't have 1, sweet revenge for her gloating over the diving!

After a couple of days admiring the scenery at Mission Beach we got back on the bus and had an overnight journey to Airlie Beach, where we got on another boat for a trip around the Whitsundays! This boat was not as posh as the last one...in fact the bedrooms were tiny with 8 of us crammed in a room the size of a broom cupboard. Like on the other boat, we got given stinger suits for swimming in...but these suits were more like lycra catsuits which all the boys were thrilled with. They were also riddled with holes so not much use on a practical level either! But this boat was a leisurely cruise, no getting up at the crack of dawn...which meant a much more lively night life. The group we got had some real characters including three mad Irishmen who we played charades with and sung songs with until the small hours! During the days we were dropped off at whitehaven beach to top up the tan and taken to several other bays for more snorkelling. The fish at the Whitsundays are much more used to the snorkellers than the Cairns fish and they swarmed us the second we stepped toe in the water. This was helped along by a loaf of bread which Alex had taken to lure out the really big Mauri Wrasse fish which worked a treat! the only problem was that the fish didn't really get the hint once the bread was gone and chased Alex out of the water with the plastic bag!

(For the Foxtons people, we also got another suprise while we were at the Whitsundays...we bumped into Fran Giltinan. Of all the places in all the world!)

Once again the end of the trip culminated with another drunken night out with lots more ridiculous dancing and the now mandatory very sore head on the bus the next day!

You'll be pleased to know there's only one more adventure left to tell in this email..... Fraser Island. We didn't really know what to expect on this trip all we knew was that it is a big sandy Island with no roads on it at all. So we turned up at the hostel and were placed itno a group of 8, given a 4x4 truck, an hour long lecture on the dangers of Fraser Island, where we were told that we would either die or be brought home in a wheelchair. We were also called Pommie Pricks by the Tour guide, so by the time we got in the 4x4 none of us wished we'd bothered. However, it turned out to be our favourite trip so far. We had a great group and laughed all the way around the Island. The first day was Alex's birthday and we spent the majority of the time at the most beautiful beach we've ever been to (and you thought we'd seen enough). Lake Mckenzie, fresh water, powder white sands and brilliant blue skies. We also bumped into our Irish friends from the Whitsunday trip and I played cricket with them on the beach. Not a bad way to spend my birthday!! I started drinking very early with all the guys, so Ruth offered to be the first driver on the beach. Driving a 3 tonne 4x4, is slightly different to a Mini Cooper so there were a few hair raising moments (thank god the man had prepared us for death). I'm still not sure how Ruth nearly had a head on collision with the only other 4x4 on a 75 mile long beach, but she did!!! It was only thanks to my lightening quick reactions, that I grabbed the steering wheel and pulled us to safety. (She wasn't allowed to drive again and was given the Pommie Prick Award at the end of the trip).

The days were great but the nights were hilarious, camping in the middle of nowhere, with noone else in sight. The first night we stayed on a campsite with a dingo fence around it so no dangerous animals spotted. For my birthday we cooked a feast of steaks, corn on the cobs and potatoes on the open fire. The second night the 8 of us set up our tents on the beach, lit a fire and started drinkng. Everything was going well until, our friend Helen spotted our first Dingo (Australias version of a wolf). We all went into mayhem mode, and scared for our lives drank more and more and more. By the time the Dingo came back with his mates, we were fearless and chased them down the beach (one of the things the warden had informed us would lead to death for Pommie pricks like us). Just before heading to bed we decided to mark our territory, so all the guys circled the tents and peed on the floor!

That brings you all up to date with the goings on down under. Once again we send you all our love, and please keep sending emails. Sorry we can't respond to them all individually, but we love getting them.