Supposedly Cousteau and his cronies invented the idea of putting walkie-talkies into the helmet. But we made ours with a special rabbit ear on the top

We arrived in Cairns (pronounced "cans") last night, which is in the tropics, which we were quite ready for. While everywhere we've been has been warmer than NYC is during the dead of winter, it was nice to take off the sweaters and jackets, replacing them with swimsuits and t-shirts.

We spent our first day (today) on a series of snorkels and dives along the Great Barrier Reef. It was amazing. We saw all sorts of coral and fish that don't exist anywhere else in the world, and octopus, a barracuda and came nose-to-nose with a shark. It was absolutely amazing.

We've also been meeting some great people along the way, from all over the world, including a wonderful older couple on our flight last night that has invited Arielle and I to stay with them if we're ever back in Adelaide. Oh, and I should mention, I'm getting married. Yes, that's right, I've decided to get engaged -- I'm just trying to decide which of the Virgin Blue flight attendants it's going to be to. Perhaps the lovely Sarah from Sydney or maybe even the beautiful Sonia who lives out in Western Australia. Unfortunately the only one who seemed to be really interested was a flight attendants named Kamal. I'm not quite sure how to tell him that I prefer someone a little more female.

Okay, time to get going. We're heading out to a few of the downtown Cairns pubs tonight to check out the night-life (stayed in the resort last night and met folks there) in Cairns. Apparently the two biggest pubs (that also seem to have the best buzz) run a shuttle to each of the hotels, including ours, to pick you up. As I've been saying over and over since arriving, I love this country.