Cairns, no worries...

The last couple days in Sydney were wonderful for WYA, we met with a number of potential friends, members and supporters who were all so excited to hear about WYA and committed fully with all their contacts, resources and support to build WYA in Sydney. Yay!

This morning I flew to Cairns. As we began our descent, appeared hundreds upon hundreds of lush, tree covered mountains. We then circled out over the bluest, greenest water imaginable - just like in a movie - I half expected Matt McConaughey to meet me in board shorts at the airport and take me on a cruise to be chased by James Bond type bad guys. Through the water were darker and lighter patches dotted with little islands and a strip of beach along the coast. I think it is the only plane descent in my life where I could not stop smiling... Cairns is a delightful 26Celsius with a breeze. I could so easily be fooled into thinking sunscreen is not needed but for the knowledge that the hole in the ozone layer is directly overhead - that and I went for a 20 minute walk and came back as pink as though I'd been sunbathing for an hour.

I've spent today relaxing and getting settled. I get picked up at 9am tomorrow morning to begin my first day of scuba diving lessons!!! I'm in a room with 7 others at the hostel, hopefully they'll all wish to sleep tonight, but thankfully even if they don't they won't wake me :) I finally found a power converter and am charging my camera battery so I can FINALLY take pictures. I also found a digital underwater camera for $40, not bad eh? I realised yesterday that although I am spending almost three weeks in Australia I will likely not meet too many Australians. During WYD I met people from all over the world, and of course the people I'll meet at the hostel and on my dive course will also not be locals... how am I ever to meet my beautiful, funny, Aussie friends?

Once my battery is charged, I will post a picture of the beaches I am surrounded by but cannot swim because I could get eaten by a... crocodile, that's right! There are Danger, Crocodile signs posted along the beach and swimming is not encouraged unless you enjoy losing random body parts - some which may be more or less vital than others. All my dreams of swimming in Aussie waters? I'll have to wait till I jump in over a coral reef and come face to face with grinning sharks and Nemo.

I shall keep you all updated as this next round of adventures begins, wish you were here with me! I'm all alone and must now leave to try and make friends :)

ps. All those Aussie phrases which are on postcards or tourist T-shirts that you think for sure nobody would ever say? They are said! In daily life! I've even heard "fair dinkum"! no worries, cheers, g'day, mate, all are common also. I've heard others which completely threw me off guard and am trying to keep a tally in my head of unique, Aussie phrases.