Epic East Coast Trip

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02/11/2008

After a final day relaxing in Cairns i hopped onto the Oz Experience Bus at 7am and started the long 3200km road trip back to Sydney.

First stop was Mission Beach via a short visit to a Crocodile Farm where we watched the feeding of the crocs such as 'Andrew', 'Graeme' and 'Gregory', all of whom had been caught instead of being killed (problem crocs). One was eating boats and another had eaten over 50 cows. At the same place i fed Kangaroos, held a baby croc and dingo and saw some Cassowarys.

We arrived in Mission Beach and stayed at Absolute Backpackers for 2 nights. The highlight of the stay there was whitewater rafting down the River Tully which has grade 4 rapids and is the best place to do the sport in all of Australia and New Zealand.

I rafted for 5 hours with a BBQ lunch halfway. It was crazy stuff and we capsized a few times amnd i nearly drowned swimming through the rapids on a section where could 'float' down but i swallowed half the river before somehow hawling myself out onto the bank. It was all good. We had to wear shoes which made it so much harder to swim. There was a section where you could jump off rocks too. Afterwards we headed for the bar where the group watched the DVD of the days highlights and our raft featured quite alot. Carnage! (i bought it)

Next stop slightly further south was Townsville and Magnetic Island. We took the short ferry crossing over to Magnetic Island which incidently has 320 days of sun a year so yes, of course it decided to rain for a while while i was there. but not too much.

Met loads of people on the bus and we ended up going to the bar together and playing loads of random drinking games. The beach was closed for 2 of the 3 days we were there because of a Crocodile swimming around the island which meant no snorkelling or kayaking but they managed to catch it in the end.

We retnted a pink car for the day with fluffy seats and Barbie embroidered on it and cruised the island, including to a walking trail where i spotted my first wild koala. I managed to go snorkelling but it was a bit scary and this far up the coast you have to hire stinger suits.

The next leg, which im currently on was from Magnetic Island to Airlie Beach which is where i catch my boat Pegasus to go sailing around the Whitsunday Isalnd for a few days. Im sleeping on the deck apparantly. Airlie Beach itself is just one long strip of hostels, bars and placed to eat. The weathers amazing and i keep bumping into people ive met elsewhere. Meeting more and more people to do stuff with which is great.

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How have i not died yet? haha

apart from the obvious things you can die from out here it is possible for a Cassowary, a very rare flightless bird to kill you by slashing its huge claws. Many people die from Coconuts falling from trees, and there is alot of trees here. Some coral can kill also. 2 in 3 aussies get skin cancer and burn time is 6-12 minutes here because there is no ozone layer.
The main scenery at the moment is rainforest although pretty much out of that now...and many many farms.

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