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Published: March 12th 2008
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Hey im very excited, Raymond has finally landed on Australian soil at long last :-) He had a good flight and didnt seem too jet lagged which I was quite suprised about as I was knacked when I travelled back and forth from New Zealand. Was a nice first couple of days for him, strolling about the city seeing all the major sights. Went for a look at the Opera House and Harbour Bridge and a night we went to Darling harbour. Drinking cocktails all night to celebrate the start of our trip together and ended up a bit drunk!
So not much time for Raymond to see Sydney at the moment as we caught a flight up to Cairns on his 2nd day. Had a smooth flight with Jetstar and got picked upon arrival by our hostel. Cairns is a really cool place with a nice holiday atmosphere about the place. I suppose this is the case as everyone uses it mainly as a stopover for other places and getting out to the Great Barrier Reef. It has a tropical climate and so is much hotter in the evenings than it was in Sydney. In fact I think the
weather is better all round than in Sydney! Had booked a trip out to Green Island which is in the Great Barrier Reef. It was a couple of hours on the boat from Cairns. An absolutley beautiful island, a little slice of paradise! Spent most of the day snorkelling and exploring the saltwater crocodile pen before heading back on the boat to Cairns. We only had 2 days in Cairns as we need to keep moving on down the coast as we want to be back in Sydney for xmas and New Year. Its unfortunate as would have liked to do some more day trips as there is so much to see around Cairns.
Our next stop was Mission Beach. We are travelling down the coast by Greyhound and are hoping that there will be no hitches as we are on a tight schedule! Checked into Scotty's Beachhouse which is a really laidback and relaxing place to stay. Everyone is really helpful. Never had to time to relax and enjoy the pool as we got picked up straight away for our skydive!! What an experience! As you can see from the pictures it was pretty crazy. I had a good
instructor, Dan, who made me feel totally at ease. There was an English girl with us who was absolutely petrified. Her instructor had a screw loose i think and all he done was wind her up till she was almost crying with fear. She was convinced she was going to die! Anyway we both loved it! Raymonds instructor had him doing back flips and spins - allsorts! I had bad earache about half way down but it passed. The views are awesome and you get such an adrenaline rush although it wasnt a mad headrush the way my bungee jump was but still an unbeatable feeling. We were on such a high all day afterwards and it was hilarious as Raymond had the marks from the goggles on his face for the rest of the day. Would like to go back to Mission Beach as it is a beautiful place, just a shame we couldnt swim as it is jellyfish season at the moment.
After Mission Beach we headed on down to Airlie Beach. There was supposed to be someone there from our hostel to pick us up as we were arriving after 9pm. Of course there was no
sign of anyone so we jumped a taxi and were dropped off at a pub which doubles as the reception. I managed to get hold of one barmaid who was swigging on a bottle of beer and smoking a cigarette and after about 45 mins finally made it into a room. Not our double room of course as they had no record of us so said they would sort it out in the morning for us as she was very busy at the moment! Its the first time ive ever checked in anywhere where the receptionist has been drunk! Raymond wasnt amused as he ended up with the top bunk :-)
Anyway Airlie Beach is the meeting point for those who are going sailing around the Whitsunday Islands in the Great Barrier Reef. We had 2nights and 3 days on our sailing boat, Freight Train. It sailed in the America Cup races about 15 years ago. Unfortunately I have no pictures to put on here as we were advised not to take digital cameras on the trip as they lose so many overboard. I did take a disposable camera with me as I wanted to take underwater pictures of
Sydney
at Darling Harbour us diving and snorkelling etc and those turned out well. So our boat was much smaller than I imagined! There are 18 of us including 3 crew. There is no where to sit as such, everyone just sits about the deck area. Very sore bums all round after 2 days I can tell you! If you stand up you have to dance across the boat so that you dont get knocked on the head by the sail which would either take your head off or knock you clean overboard. Down below is so hot that noone hangs about except to sleep. Raymond and I are at the back of the boat where there are 4 tiny double bunk beds but at least you can lie there in peace and quiet. The rest of the beds are round the kitchen and the stairway so there are constantly people coming and going. I dont know how they sleep on them anyway as they are the width of a wooden plank and with the movement of the boat there is much difficulty in trying to stay on them. Everyone is really nice which is lucky as we are in such a confined space.
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Raymond and I on his first day here One of the crew, Erin, prepares allof our meals. There is always way too much food left over even though we are all so hungry after diving and swimming most of the day. It sun goes down about 6.30pm so we eat in the dark mostly and hope that nothing has landed on our plates :-) Raymond and I have both woken up about 3am because of the sweltering heat and have to go and sit upon deck for a while. A very beautiful time as the sky is so alive with stars, you can see the whole of the Milky Way and have seen two shooting stars.
Our days are good fun too. In the morning we get woken up by the captain playing the "Good Morning Vietnam" radio show at full blast! We get taken out on a dinghy to the various beaches nearby and go snorkelling. We have been first on the islands before the other boats arrive which is great as its so peaceful and beautiful. Unspoilt pristine white beaches! The diving has been out of this world, seeing all the various types of underwater life. The fish are so colourful and you get so
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Raymy on the big wheel close you can almost touch them. Have also seen giant green sea turtles which was pretty cool.
We ended our trip with a bit of snorkelling and looked forward to getting back onto land. Our legs were wobbling for days afterwards. It was also good to get in a shower as we hadnt one for 3 days! Unfortunately we were catching an overnight bus to Hervey Bay later that day and so hadnt anywhere to relax for a while. So our shower was had at the side of the lagoon beside the beach :-) Went for dinner and a few drinks before catching our bus but then had to wait until everyone was on as our driver said we werent booked. Its mayhem trying to get on the bus as it is because no one queues but we got on in the end up so now on our way to Hervey Bay for our trip to Fraser Island!
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Nicola
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Hello
Looks like you had a great time the closest we got to fish was deepsea world in north queensferry lol but we still had a ball, love to you both xxxx