Cairns

I arrived in Cairns, my final stop along the East Coast, bright and early at 5:30am on Wednesday morning on my final Greyhound bus of the trip. Although it was a bit of an early start it was worth taking an overnight bus to give myself more time in the day to explore and save myself a night's accommodation. In Cairns I stayed at Gilligan's hostel which had been recommended to me by loads of people and turned out to be in a fantastic location whereas the others seemed to be a little walk away - no fun when you're carrying a heavy backpack.

I made the most of my early start by having a quick Skype call home - something that's usually a little tricky to orchestrate out here thanks to lack of wifi and a 9 hour time difference. Later Emer, a girl I'd met on the Clipper and was also on the 5am bus, and I met up for breakie at a place called Re:hab, another brunch place I'd spotted on Buzzfeed which was just what we needed. Coffee is amazing out here and was definitely necessary that early in the morning!

Anyone travelling up the East Coast will finish in Cairns, meaning you're pretty much guaranteed to run into other backpackers you've met along the way so I was never without friends. The first day was a very chilled one, swimming at the Esplanade and catching up with friends.

Next it was time for a trip to the Great Barrier Reef and I'd booked a cruise with Ocean Free, a really friendly company who really looked after us - lots of good food, fish feeding (including Barry the barracuda who followed the boat everywhere), riding their glass bottom boat around the reef and snorkelling. Two minutes after we got into the water on girl looked down and saw a huge reef shark. Most people thought she was joking until she showed us the GoPro footage! The highlight was definitely swimming with turtles, just like Finding Nemo!

My final day was a Waterfall Wanderers tour into the rainforest. While the tour is usually full with 28 people, there were only 6 of us girls and our guide Mikey so we ended up having a really intimate tour as a small group. We visited all the famous spots including Josephine Falls where there is a natural rock slide and Millaa Millaa, known for the Herbal Essences advert and Peter Andre's mysterious girl video. We also had a chance to spot some wildlife, including a wild tree kangaroo which looks more cuddly than a koala.

Made it back for a $4 (about £2) hostel dinner and a night out at the Gilligan's bar. At the airport now, having packed up my summer clothes and suncream in preparation for real Australian winter down in Adelaide.