Great Barrier Reef

So, our second to last day in Cairns we went on a little boat trip to the Great Barrier Reef. It was a two hour boat ride out on a big dual hull sail boat. Our first stop was at some bird sanctuary island that the reef was right by, so we were boated to the island then snorkeled out to the boat to get ready for our scuba dive. And i really do mean scuba dive. I am an non certified scuba novice that they let go down 35 feet for about 30 min and scuba the reef. Oh and did i mention that this dive was a mere AU$70. So that was realllly awesome! we then went to a second area of the reef where i just snorkeled. there was a slight problem with the whole day, it was mad crazy windy, like gusts of 40 knots. But it was the GBR... so i got over that quite quick. any ways, after our 2 1/2 hour boat ride in we got back to the hostel and hit the sack because we had an early morning the next morning. We flew out of Cairns at 10 with breakfast at 7. There were a couple problems with the taxis as we were trying to leave, finally got to the air port where they tried to charge me $200 to check my bags because i could not show proof that i came from the states. As if my passport and accent were not enough. found my original tickets and finally got around that. Slept the entire flight to Brisbane. Arrived here is Brisbane and got into our rooms, only to find out that the previous tenant has yet to move out. And the lady helping us at the counter was not exactly doing that... so, after trying to explain what she had done wrong (nicely of course mother), i got moved to a different room temporarily. And i will be moving back down to my original room shortly. Had a wonderful burger just down the road from my building and am currently waiting on my phone to get here. And if you have any desire to call me for an absurd price, my number you need to call is +61449874509
so there we go, and off to the next adventure, i will be sure to try and get some pictures up the next time i am on my own computer and able to upload them.