As soon as I got off the plane in Cairns I could feel the heat and I couldn’t wait to head to the beach. Being in Cairns was like being on a tropical island. There were palm trees, and clear sunny blue skies. This hostel was a motel and the staff again were so friendly and ready to help. I booked a scuba diving trip, unloaded all my stuff and went to the beach. The thing was there was no beach around just a big pool. The beach next to us was off limits for some reason so we just laid around the pool and it was lovely. That night we wandered around and it felt like the Bahamas actually. All there was were a bunch of shops no big chain stores, just souvenir shops and restaurants all over. The next day I woke up and my stomach was filled wit butterflies. I’ve never scuba dived before and was more nervous than excited. At first they gave us a brief course on what we needed to know. Then we got to snorkel for a bit while we waited for our turn. Snorkeling was really nice, there was so much life on the reef. It was really amazing seeing all the beauty underwater. Now I was called back to the boat to gear up for my turn. This is when the butterflies started going crazy. I got my gear on and jumped in, my first breath underwater was the weirdest and one of the coolest experiences of my life. We went under the boat where we had to perform a few basic tasks, clearing water from our masks and regulators, and also taking out our regulators and putting it back in. Now it was time to descend and it was smooth sailing from here on out. I saw so many types of fish and such beautiful coral. I loved it and became instantly hooked. I want to go and become a certified diver as soon as I can. After my dive the rest of the day consisted of snorkeling and it was an amazing experience. The next day was again just a lazy day soaking up rays by the pool. It was time to head down south near the Whitsunday’s Islands.