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I’ve thought about trying to learn to scuba dive my entire life. And with a holiday fast coming in Cairns, Queensland, I thought I’d better get to it.

I telephoned some local dive shops and they made it all sound so difficult and frightening as well as being not cheap. So a little shattered I did a search on the internet for “Learn to Dive in Cairns” . And what a good move that was. I was given literally hundreds of options of Cairns dive shops and local travel agents only too happy to help me learn to scuba dive.

After sending out a few emails with lots of questions I was happy to find out that it wasn’t as frightening, hard or expensive as I’d previously observed. Basically in Cairns you can do a dive course in four, five or six days. Four days is the minimum to get your PADI certification. A PADI certification is the worlds largest and most accepted.The five and six day courses give you more scuba dives and you get to stay overnight on the Great Barrier Reef.

After a bit of hard decision time I chose to do a 5 day overnight dive course. Fistly I had to get a dive checkup done. Now this shouldn’t worry anyone who is reasonably fit and healthy. If you have no major illnesses or respiratory problems you should be OK. The largest issue is bronchial asthma I beleive.

The first 2 days are spent in the Pool and schoolroom. This is when you learn the basics of scuba diving and some basic skills. The most difficult part about this was having to tread water for 15 minutes. And rather unfairly the chubbiest people float better than the muscly ones. Those drinks after work every other day finally have helped me.

The third day you depart for the great barrier reef. You are taken out to your boat at the reef by a smaller boat full of dayguests, but as soon as you get there they get you into the water. You start your training dives immediately. The first four dives are part of your course, where you learn a few more skills. After that you get to do five more dives with no lessons included. You are now a certified scuba diver. And I got to do it on the Great Barrier Reef, not in some dark muddy city water.

I boarded the Oz experience bus to Cairns on a drizzly grey morning in Melbourne.

The Oz experience coach I took definately stood out with its bright yellow paintjob and was also very comfortable with plush seats and air conditioning. They like to encourage you to get to know each other on the coach, and you have to play a kind of musical chairs, where when you hear a certain song come on you have to walk around the bus untill it stops, then sit in the first seat available and talk to the person next to you.

I couldn’t count how many times we stopped, but at every stop it was the same “So over there is a McDonalds Cafe, or a Hungry Jacks or a Pizza Hut….” We were SICK to death of fast food. Apparently Australia is one of the most obese countries in the world, and although I only saw skinny people, I can now imagine why that is. It’s probably worth mentioning at this point a funny thing about names in Australia. “Hungry Jacks” is Burger King- god knows why they changed the name for Aussie people, but apparently they would be much more receptive to Hungry Jacks than they would be for “Burger King”. They have some strange names for fast food places, such as “Eagle Boys” and “Chicken Treat”. I was also surprised that their main supermarket is Woolworths, because in England Woolworths went under in the credit crunch.

We broke the journey at a Koala Hospital, which is full of rescued Koalas needing treatment, and they even have their own Koala Ambulance. A lot of the Koalas have “Chlamydia” and like true teenagers we all chuckled amongst ourselves every time it was mentioned. In koalas it causes urinary tract infections and incontinence, so they all have a situation called “wet bottom”. Cool. No-one could ever forget the woman who worked there, she had blue eyeshadow and pink lipstick and looked as if she had really walked out of Summer Bay. I wanted her to be my mum. She was so passionate about the Koalas, and even demonstrated the Koala mating sound for us.

Our next destination was a Surf Camp. It is mysteriously situated at Spot X so I can’t tell you where it is, but the surf lesson is included in the Oz Experience trip. You have to pay a surcharge of around $50 for your food and accommodation but at least you get the lesson for free. We were given cabin tents, which all looked very similar, and boys kept “accidentally” walking in on us getting changed. We were herded like cattle to get our food like in a prison and then we all gathered round a camp fire with our drinksn for a bit of a sing song. One of the instructors of course was an ‘aspiring musician’ and continued to sing badly on his guitar and promote his ‘CD’. It’s amazing how, even if they are completely unnattractive, guides in any discipline appear to be sex gods. Girls were sitting on the floor right in the instructors face like true groupies.

Look out for the rest of my road trip to Cairns.

After 6 months of working and saving I finally travelled the East Coast to Cairns. Secondly to Sydney Cairns has to be one of the best places to party in Australia. It was that good I actually went there three times in the space of a year.The Great Barrier Reef from Cairns was just a bonus.

Cairns is where I completed my SSI Advanced Open water dive course. I went with Deep Sea Divers Den for a 4 day liveaboard dive course which was absolutely fantastic. I originally looked at diving with a company called Down Under Dive but they seemed quite amateurish and I had heard many a good thing about their learn to dive courses. Also after a buit more digging I found out they definately had one of the best dive centres.

Their boat has been fully rebuilt and has all the latest gadgets installed. It has very nice air conditioned rooms which cater for 2-4 people, has a large dining area, communal lounge and even a floating bar. As a bonus it also has a small spa on the fore deck to sit in and have a beer. The food was fantastic and served from a very well built galley, one of the best meals they prepared was BBQ Coral Trout. Yum Yum.

The dive vessel is always moored at the outer reef which would move every so often to different sections of the reef, which would either be done over night if some distance or early in the morning if a short distance. This was pretty good as you get to see a selection of reefs and have a truly unique dive course. They also had a fast transfer boat which delivers you to your liveaboard boat which also allows you to spend as many days and nights aboard as you want.

I truly couldn’t recommend anyone else to teach me to learn to Scuba Dive in Cairns but if you decide to look elsewhere please be very careful when choosing a dive school in Cairns as many scuba schools use fixed platforms at sea which you stay on and then commute by boat for the diving, not quite the live aboard you expected!

We get asked this question constantly here at my tour desk and the answer is pretty easy. We specialise in arranging all tours, reef cruises and accommodation in Cairns, nevertheless as a bubble blower myself, I tend to look after Cairns Diving and Cairns learn to Dive patrons. I tend to leave the annoying motel accommodation and car hire bookings to my collegues.

If you have time and money do the five day course. You are only going to learn to dive once, so make the most of it.

It’s sort of like doing a dive course and trip in one.

With a 4 day course you’ll do four dives, which is the minimum required to qualify for your dive qualification. They will all be “training dives”.

A 5 day course will almost always give you 9 dives. Now the first four are training dives but for the next 5 dives you are a qualified diver. One of these usually is also a nighttime dive. Another advantage is that the dives will be with the other learner divers from your class who have corresponding skill levels as you.

So the next dive trip you do after completing your course you will have already experienced 5 solo dives and be that little bit more skilled and confident.

Also the cost per dive is just about .

You may even choose to extend your scuba course into a 6 day dive course and get an advanced scuba divers qualification, but thats a different article.

So I trust I’ve helped all you budding Scuba Divers out in internet land.

We did the Sunlover Cruises outer reef tour in Cairns, Queensland. The initial destination was the Fitzroy Island where you had approximately 2 hrs to explore. Not enough time really since there were a lot of people about. Don’t forget to bring insect repellant because there are a lot of mosquitos around. Snorkelling from the beach area was ok, although it was nothing extraordinary.

After that it’s off to the outer reef (Moore Reef) and their pontoon. As others have noted, it is quite small for the number of passengers on the cruise. The so called underwater viewing area was a disappointment – I have seen better in the aquariums in Melbourne or Brisbane . They have not bothered to clean the glass so it wasn’t easy to see anything through the windows. My wife said the same thing about their glass bottom boat tour which I didn’t go on because I was snorkelling.

If there’s anything that you should do, it’s the Scuba-doo, especially if you’ve done a scuba dive before. It’s a great way to experience the reef. We even saw a turtle and one of the crew showed us a star fish which my son really enjoyed. It’s a little expensive but I think it’s worth it.

After the scuba-doo, I went for a scuba dive. It may be because it was the monsoon season but the waters wasn’t as clear as I’d hoped . Maybe it’s different when you do a specialist dive trip but with this sort of cruise, you don’t get too many choices. Corals were more of the dull and brown shades. Fish, while there were many, were nothing special. Then to top if off, my diveguide just kept swimming around and around, not even going out of his way to show me anything special.

By the time the dive was finished, I had just enough time to eat and change (if my wife had not set aside lunch for me, there was nothing left to eat) – therefore, I missed the semi-sub ride. If it wasn’t for the scuba-doo, this would have been a very ordinary tour.

I would do a smaller tour next time. There are lots of other options in Cairns

A 3 year old toddler was lucky to survive a fall from a packed tourist train yesterday near Cairns, Queensland, Australia. Shocked tourists say the girls father leaped from the moving train to rescue his daughter yesterday afternoon.

It is thought the girl fell from the window of the Kuranda Scenic Railway about 2 km from Kuranda Village about 3.35pm yesterday afternoon. Emergency Services were rushed to the scene and the girl was taken to Cairns Base Hospital with minor abrasions and a fractured collarbone.

The incident was witnessed by a number of shocked tourists. Passengers said the girls father appeared very shaken by the accident, however he refused to comment. Witnesses say the girl was in surprisingly high spirits immediately after the incident.

Queensland Rail declined to guess on how the incident may have happened, although a thorough safety investigation will be launched. All the regular warnings regarding safety and not to put any body parts outside the train were made as usual.

The train returned to Kuranda Station before departing at 4.15pm and finally ending it’s journey 1 hour late at Freshwater Station. The railway operates 2 services each day between Cairns and Kuranda. The Kuranda Scenic Rail service has only been running for 8 weeks after a derailment in March, caused by a landslide dumping tonnes of debris over the tracks injured 6 people.

Party Tours have sprung up in all the busy tourist towns lately. And so they should. They make a fun night impossible not to have. We are lucky enough to have 2 similar Pub Crawls in Cairns, with the Ultimate Party and the Frog and Toad Pub Crawl. Both tours operate two nights a week. I’m sure they work in similar ways in other places such as the Sunshine Coast and Adelaide, but I have experience of the Cairns one so I’ll tell you about that one.

There’s pizza and party games and of the utmost importance, the operators endeavour to keep the ratio of sexes the same. Lots of people have found the love of their lives on a party tour. It probably will only last until the holidays over, but as long as everybody has fun it’s just being young isn’t it?

Popular with both travellers and locals, these tours also attract Hens parties, netball teams and groups from the armed services.

Basically your party tour runs like this; Everyone meets at the first venue at a set time, this is where tickets and money is organised and the all important bracelet is given to you. This wristband is what gets you in to the nights pubs & clubs as all entry charges are included in your tour cost, both on the tour and all night afterwards. This usually saves you money on entry fee’s alone, without counting all the other inclusions. You get special treatment at all the top nightclubs, pubs and bars. There are also giveaways including reef cruises and skydives. Fun and games are the emphasis of the evening, with the organisers knowing how to get the party started.

You are taken between each venue by bus and if you are lucky it may even be in an roofless double decker bus.

So why not experience a little bit different on your next partynight. It’s Fun and easy and you’ll meet some great friends. It’s perfect for single tourists.

There are plenty of Florida vacation packages to be found, but the question is really how to find the one that’s right for you.  After all, not all vacation packages are alike, so you want the best value for your money.

Here are some tips on finding the best vacation package for you and your budget, for the Florida vacation spots that you want to visit!.

Where to Visit?

The first thing you need to think about is where in Florida you want to spend your vacation.

Many people don’t realize that the state of Florida is pretty long, and while you certainly can visit both (for example) Key West and Pensacola, you’d best either have a long time for a vacation – or plan to spend a lot of time driving.

Your best bet — stick to one general area of the Sunshine State, unless you find a great package tour that takes care of the driving for you.

Plan Ahead

You can sometimes find great last-minute Florida vacation specials, but if you book at the last minute you might also find yourself paying a premium rate.

Here’s an example – Bike Week in Daytona Beach sends the hotel rates soaring.  Also lobster mini season in the Florida Keys will also make for a pricey stay.

So check the weeks before and after your tentative vacation dates, and see if one of them can get you a better deal.

Should You Book the Cheapest Vacation Packages?

Don’t automatically go for the cheapest rates, until you check if there is any fine print – like stiff cancellation fees.  Also make sure you know what isn’t included, so you don’t get a rude surprise.

When it comes to hotels, you don’t want that cheap rate be because it’s in a not-so-savory part of town!

When you do a close comparison, a package that has a higher rate might be the better overall deal. Naturally, the cheapest might also be the better deal – just check the fine print, first.

Want more information?  Here are some more ideas for Florida vacation packages for you.

Book your trip and have a great Florida vacation!

If you really wish to see England and everything it has to offer, the ideal way is by car. Driving through England means traveling at your own speed and choosing your itinerary yourself. This itinerary gives a trip from your cheap hotel in Brighton to England’s North East, and this should have your mouth watering. I’ve chosen this trip due to the way the landscape shifts, from sea to sea and city to village.

1st Day – Begin in the southern coastal area of Brighton. Brighton is a wonderful place with a Pavilion, funfair and pier. Exit your hotel in the morning and head along the coast through the A27. An ideal area to hold up to have lunch would be Portsmouth, that has a famous Spinnaker Tower along with all the fantastic eateries at Gunwharf Quays. Get back on the highway and take it till Southampton, from which you’ll change to the A36. The A36 can take you up to the historic area of Salisbury, with its impressive medieval castle.

Day Two – Leave Salisbury on the A360 then get onto the A303. On this route you’ll be lead to a site all must see once, the mysterious and impressive Stonehenge. From here, you’ll travel west, through Warminster, and get into Bath. Bath has some of the remains of the Roman baths, consisting of England’s finest classical architecture. After this, go on the A46 and A433 north until you end up in the Cotswolds. Tetbury and Cirencester are two towns that have a lot of pleasant motels and budget hotel chains for a night’s stay.

3rd Day – On this day, you’ll take a trip to Coventry. While you’re going, you’ll stop and view two of England’s greatest sights. First, you’ll take the A429 and rest along the way at Stratford-Upon-Avon, the birthplace of William Shakespeare. Head north on the A46, and you can stop at the immaculate Warwick’s castle. Be sure to allow time to see the beautiful cathedral in Coventry.

4th Day – From exiting your hotel in Coventry, drive north on the M69 and after this the M1. You can stop at the strange attraction of Chesterfield’s crooked spire. After this, head west up to the tiny town of Bakewell, located in the Peak District. An additional option is to head north to the lively area of Sheffield, where you can find a range of excellent hotels.

5th Day – Continue heading north on the M1 until you pass Leeds. From a short stop there, take the A64. This will bring you to the classic town of York, where you can be shopping in the labyrinthine streets full of old style shops, view the Minister and walk along the old city walls. York has a lovely park-and-ride service for visitors, as the city really doesn’t give a lot in the way of parking spaces. If you’ve still got some daylight, you might head northeast up to Pickering, well-known for the North York Motors steam railway which you can ride. Otherwise, you can stay at any of the wonderful UK hotel chains in York.

Day Six – Now, you’ll be getting to the coastline. Take the A170 and soon you’ll get to Scarborough, a rustic fishing town right on the coast. Scarborough contains an old castle that’s right on the headlands, and this is a wonderful area to hold up for a seafood lunch. Travel on the A171 and soon you’ll get to the beautiful cliffside town called Robin’s Hood Bay. Stay in any of the sweet quaint hotels at the hill’s top; the streets at the level of the sea are quite narrow, so driving down there is not recommended.

Day Seven – Keep on the A171 along the coast and soon you’ll be at Whitby. It’s an attractive town with a bustling harbor, little side streets along with an old gothic abbey. You’ve reached the end of the journey! Now, you can take your car to the local branch of the car rental agency, or you can drive back to Brighton and enjoy the the sights on the travel back!

Along with the economic problems of the world, just about everyone feels the pressure not to spend money for issues that are not that very important. Some people also feel guilt of splurging for personal enjoyments instead of having the bucks earn interests in banking institutions. There is a reason for holding back on spending however being a person, there is a need to unwind and relieve stress too.

You will find ways to get a vacation to top vacation destinations without the need of spending much but still enjoy the time you allot for your own benefit which you’ll spend with buddies and family members too. Please read on the points below for you to figure out how to enjoy the ideal trip and not having to spend lots of money.

Being familiar with your own balance. If you feel that you have worked very hard, deserve a break and would like to spend a holiday away from region or perhaps at any area of the country, do it. See the best travel spots. Nevertheless, just before doing whatever else, see simply how much you undoubtedly have in your bank and make sure that you’ve still got enough when you are getting back again. Using this method, it is also possible setting a realistic plan for you not to end up with a huge debt because of your holiday.

Hunt for lower rates. There are actually a number of low priced vacation deals available by companies in order to level when using the capabilities of people to spend during this economic trouble. Lower price rates will often be presented through inexpensive airline flights, hotels and packages. You should merely discover ways to spot the ideal time to make use of these discount rates.

Make your reservation early in advance. This possibly is the foremost decision if you desperately want to save on your holiday. By booking early in advance for airline ticket and hotel room, you’ll be able to slash off a part of what you’ll have to spend on even for peak seasons. Check for deals on the internet and make your booking about 3 to 6 months in advance of your planned vacation.

Involve some buddies or family members to travel with you. More often than not, when individuals travel in groups or in a significant number, they will take benefit from group rates. It’s oftentimes typical for flight companies, trains and buses. Accommodations will not be a problem too especially if you plan to go to resorts. Rather than booking hotel rooms, your group will be able to decide to rent a bungalow on the other hand to be able to spend less. There’ll definitely be rather a difference due to the service you can have as compared to having a deluxe hotel room. Nevertheless, if you don’t want to find yourself having a significant portion of your holiday resources, to share room or space together with a group is among the most beneficial things you can do.