Cairns!

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Hello All!

This past weekend was absolutely AMAZING!

7 of us headed up to Cairns on Thursday night where we stayed at a hostel called Gilligans. Friday morning we got up and hopped on a boat for a 3 hour tour... a 3 hour tour. Just kidding.

Friday morning we woke up and went and rented an underwater camera that we all shared. (Yes, pictures to come).

We got on the boat named Sunkist and headed 2 hours out onto the ocean to the Great Barrier Reef. Once we got to the reef we could snorkel or scuba. I decided to be a little adventurous, so I went scuba diving. I had about 30 mins of training (def not enough to be certified) but I made it! 2 other people from my group went scuba diving as well (Eric and Bryan). I was so frustrated because I was struggling to get used to breathing out of only mouth, it was very unnatural for me and I was having trouble relaxing under the water. Our instructor, Warren, sent me back up to the surface of the water and gave me one more chance. I was very frustrated with myself, but I'm so happy I was able to relax and actually do it!

The reef was gorgeous!!! The fish were so colorful and so was the coral (our pictures do not do it justice)I saw nemo fishies and the girl that was with us on the second dive saw a shark. No worries Grandmas, the only sharks that can handle that warm of water this time of year are the harmless ones!

We did one dive in the morning, because it was our introductory dive, we could only be down for 20 mins and we couldn't go deeper than 10 meters (30feet). Once we came back up, we had a chance to go snorkeling, which was also cool because you could really see all the vibrant colors because the sun was shining. Visibility was great. The water was very calm out there.

They served us lunch on the boat and then we went down for another dive, where we didn't have to hold hands and could just follow the instructor.

It was absolutely amazing...everyone needs to do this!

Friday night back at the hostel we all got cleaned up and headed down to the pool/bar/restaurant/night club and watched a band, got some food and beverages. After one or two drinks, I was talking with Mandy and Darin, about skydiving. Mandy and I wanted to do it very badly and Darin was afraid of heights, but after a couple drinks got up the courage to go sign up with us! We scheduled our pick up from the hostel at 8:00am! We were stoked!

After dinner, a few drinks and deciding we were going to go skydivng, we were so exhausted from the day that we went back to the rooms before 9:30pm and went to bed.

Saturday morning FINALLY rolled around (I was very anxious) and we got ready and headed off to where we would be skydiving!

We signed our lives away, got suited up and took off for the most intense experience of our lives! Skydiving is my new favorite thing to do! I was fine until everyone else jumped out of the plane... then I looked like I was going to pass out (you have to watch the video). No worries, my parachutte came out perfectly and I'm just fine! :o)

Saturday night we headed back to Sydney and on Sunday I went to Paddy's Market to do some shopping for people back home.

I'm at work now... only 2.5ish days left! Can't wait for Spring Break! We are leaving on Thursday for the Whitsundays Islands, Fraser Island and Byron Bay.

Hope all is well back home!

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Comments

[Grandma Zoe]

sharks
Well, I certainly feel better knowing there are Harmless Sharks!!!!!!!!!! Glad you had such a good time. I'm anxious to see the pictures. Love you!! Grandma