The bus journey from Rainbow Beach to Airlie Beach was very, very long. We left at 2pm and arrive the following morning at 6am. It didn't help that the second bus driver was a bit on the grumpy and sadistic side. He liked to flick the bus's interior lights on at random while everyone was sleeping just because someone's leg had flopped into the aisle. And when we reached Airlie Beach, there wasn't any gentle notice giving us a few minutes to wake up.

So, we were a bit tired and grumpy ourselves when we reached the hostel. Claire had called to book a few days beforehand and told them we'd be arriving at 6.30am. They had said that would be fine. The lady who eventually opened the hostel office was less than fine with us being there. She could have explained politely that we wouldn't have been able to check in until 11.30am but instead she went all grumpy on us. We spent a few hours wandering around, catching up on some emails and putting some photos in for developing and then had a nice big nap once we were allowed in.

We did supper and collected the photos after we woke up. We also found out that we were sharing our room with a nice Moari chap who reminded me what a great time we had in New Zealand. Australia is a nice country and there's lots of great stuff to see but I have to say that so far I prefer New Zealand.

Crikey! We've had quite a busy few days. We took a cruise around the Whitsunday islands, stopping at Whitehaven beach for a barbecue. Fantastic! White sand and clear, blue water - what more could you ask for? We also climbed up to a lookout for a stunning view of the beach and surroundings and went snorkelling for a while. Words are insufficient to describe the beaches and views so I took a few photos instead. The snorkelling was fun, we saw a Wrasse (fish with big lips to you and me) and lots of brightly coloured coral.

Fortunately the water around the Whitsundays was quite calm. This was due in part to a lack of wind but also because they are protected from the really big waves by the Great Barrier Reef. So there were no boating worries for us. Only one person looked like they didn't want to be on a boat but it turned out that she had been out drinking all night.

We discovered that the Whitsundays were better for diving than Cairns was as we talked to the crew that day so the following day we headed out on a catamaran to a couple of diving sites. For some reason I haven't been to good with diving in recent years. Since becoming certified divers in Egypt seven years ago, all of our dives have been boat dives and I don't like boats. I managed to keep my food down this time but I still didn't feel up to a second dive. The first one was pretty good and over too quickly. There was lots to see down there and lots that I didn't see as diving masks tend to give you tunnel vision. Claire went down for a second dive where the visibility was much lower unfortunately. We were also unfortunate not to be visited by hump back whales that day. The boat we were on had been in exactly the same place the previous day when two of them swam right by.

We had a lazy day the following day. Relaxing in the sun, eating ice creams, developing photos and sending stuff home. We had spent the night in a dorm room again with Bill (the nice Maori guy). It turns out that the young woman who was hung over on the cruise the previous day had been his doing.

The bus ride upto Cairns was uneventful and we made our way to Ryan's Rest, our shelter for the night. In stark contrast to the YHA in Airlie beach, the people at Ryan's were nice and polite and the place itself would have been ideal for relaxing for a few days. A shame we didn't know earlier. We would have booked more time there maybe. As it was, we could only stay for two nights and so we decided to fly to Darwin after that.

Cairns itself isn't amazing but it was quite warm and we spent a fair while relaxing in the sun along the Esplanade. Our flight to Darwin wasn't until 18:40 so we had almost two full days to enjoy the sun and the sights in Cairns. We ended up going a little bit hungry though as Qantas only served little salads on the flight to Darwin.