It's almost time.

Time is a crazy thing. Cannot believe that I'm leaving in less than 2 days. Packing is under a reasonable amount of control and so much has happened since the last post.

Since the last blog, I have now finished work and become a certified open water diver. That was seriously one of the best experiences I've ever had. It was hard, and sometimes mentally challenging but got through it. You have to when it ultimately is a life and death situation.  You have air or you don't. Pretty simple!

We had 2 days of classroom and pool training and 3 days on a liveaboard where we did 4 training dives and 5 optional dives. Of course I did every dive, including the night dive. That was a bit scary!

A moment of truth came to me (I guess you could call it that) when we were in the ocean and one of the skills we had to do was to flood our mask with water and then clear it. Now, clearing my mask is not one of my strong points (getting there!) so when I flooded it, I panicked. A thousand thoughts go through your head in a matter of seconds...I have to get out of here, I can't get out of here I'm 10m underwater, breathe, remember how to clear your mask, breathe, clear your mask, breathe, ok that didn't work, breathe etc etc. It's amazing what the mind can do. I eventually calmed myself down and what seemed like 5 minutes later finally cleared my mask. Success!!

Scuba diving opens up a whole new world (literally) of places to go. It has now been ticked off the bucket list but has added a whole heap more to it!

I can highly recommend it. It really is amazing.

Then we had 5 lovely days up at Port Douglas where we just relaxed. We were going to go out on a day trip to the reef but the weather was terrible. (And I suffered from land sickness and blocked ears. The land sickness just stopped today but still have a blocked ear!!) The 3 days I was out on the reef it was really windy (20-25 knots) and it just continued for the rest of the time. Instead we went up to the Daintree rainforest and Cape Tribulation. It was gorgeous up there!

We arrived home last night and today has been a day of packing. My best friend from high school, Marnie came over for lunch and helped me pack. It was so nice to have her here and keep me motivated. Going to miss her so much.

Tonight it's off to Dad's for dinner and then tomorrow it really is the final countdown. Packing will need to be completed! It's so surreal!