Cairns

Hey everyone!

On Friday i spent a lovely day by the lagoon sunbathing and cementing my tan, and then just had a chilled out night with Kate in the hostel, watching White Chicks and eating home made spag bol - yum!

Saturday it rained AGAIN so i just wandered around the shops in Cairns and got myself organised for diving (i.e. buying sea-sickness tablets and more factor 30 suncream - the sun is crazily strong here!). At night, me gemma, rich, kate, and 2 new friends i picked up at teh hostel (paul (oz) and heather (usa)) went to the cinema to see Deja vu - what a treat to go to the movies...haven't been since i was in glasgow so thouraghly enjoyed that!

Today (sunday) i was up at the crack of dawn to be picked up by Cairns Dive School for my first day of training in my quest to becoming a certified scuba diver. The day was split in 2: the morning was spent in a classrom where we had to watch videos about diving, the safety measures to take and all about the equiptment, and then the real fun began when we got into the 4 metre deep pool.

Here's your scuba lesson for the day:

You need to put weight belts around you so that you dont float on the surface of the water, and so that you can actually dive. Apparantly, i'm very buoyant so i needed to put about 4 kilo's of weight on me to make myself sink, compared to the 1 kilo everyone else in my group needed - great! I thought i was going to be on the surface forever, but we finally got the right weights for me. Once you have the weight belt on, and the BC (basically a big life jacket thing that u can control how inflated it gets), your compressed air on your back, fins and mask, you are good to go.

Going underwater was amazing...you feel as if you are flying and you get such a buzz from it (or mabye that was the nitrogen :S). We learnt how to help your 'buddy' if they are in trouble, and vice versa; how to breathe properly underwater; how to descend and ascent without getting ill etc etc etc.

Anyway, sitting in the internet cafe after completing my homework (yes, we have questions and answer sheets to fill out - its not all fun and games this travelling malarky!), i'm feeling a bit fragile - think i may have decompression sickness (although all you who know me well probs are just shaking their heads in amusement - i know i am a hypochondriac, but still............). I'll mention it to the instructors tomorrow and hopefully they will dismiss just as quickly as you readers are!

Anyway, i am very tired tonight, so its going to be an earlish one as I am being picked up by the dive school again at 7am tomorrow. Going to go for dinner with Kate somewhere and then just going to chill out with rich and gemma at their hostel for a few hours before heading to bed.

Next time i'll update this blog i'll have been out on the Great Barrier Reef for 3 days - how cool!!!

Take care everyone

xxxxx