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Published: March 18th 2007
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Me and Maria
In a sunset - so pretty Ok its been a while since I wrote in here, I'll start where I left off. My flight to Syndey was a nightmare. I was given directions to two different places, before finally being told I'm in the wrong airport. I was in domestic instead of international despite there being signs to international check in?! My ticket says BA, so I'm waiting for the BA check in but I'm actually flying quantas so have wasted loads of time waiting. I check in and turns out I need a visa, but no one tolkd me that (I even asked before!) so this guy runs off and gives me one. The biltong shops don't take my debit card so I have to use my last cash. I'm left with 6 rand and am so thirsty but all drinks cos 7 rand. I was short 7p!! So I think I'll drink on the plane. The plane is 30 mins late so when we finally baord I'm desperate for a drink, I hadn't drunk anything in like 6 hours. But then they need to reload the luggage. And after 40 mins of reloading we finally make it on the runway. BUT then someone gets really
Me and George
The guy who took me on my dive - doesn't he look like Roan there?? How strange cos he actually looks nothing like that. sick and we have to go back to the gate, have him assesed by a doctor taking off board and have to unload ALL the luggage again to find his. Finally after an hour we take off and I get a drink. However the TVs don't work so they have to reset the system. But MINE worked so I only got halfway through the movie. When they come back on mine doesn't work so they reset mine which takes half an hour. By this time it was night and I'm trying to get some sleep. There is a random row of I think business class seats infront of me, which has a cover is is seperated from the rest of the plane and some old prat sits in the seat infront of me and puts his seat all the way back. Because it is an extra comfy seat it goes back further than normal chairs and hits my knees. So I ask him politely to move it forward a bit, and he says 'well they are made to go back to let him sleep' but I make a point that I now have no leg room whilst he has loads
The Boat
That I went on the reef on. Plues the crew posing so nicely for me. (he was at the front of the plane) so he grudgingly puts it forward a bit. I start watching a movie. After half an hour he puts his seat all the way back anyway and even after I ask him he refuses to put it back. My TV stops working and can't watch the movie, and now I can't sleep because of the wankers chair. Finally we land and I get stopped at customs because my visa is wrong, it doesn't have my full name. Finally it gets sorted and I fly on to Cairns.
I planned the trip a bit wrong really because I arrived at Cairns at 10pm after three flights (Durban-Joburg, Joburg-Sydney, Sydney-Cairns) and a total of 7 flights in 7 days so am exhausted and oversleep the next day. There was a kookaburra sitting outside my room which was making the weirdest sounds, it was great seeing one - it meant I was truly in Australia! However this meant I couldn't see the rainforest as I was too late for any tours. However I met this cool German girl called Ines (I think - its pronounced Eunice) and we had Brekkie together and went exploring the
town, had a swim and chilled at the bar at night. It was a nice relaxing day, although I wished I could have seen the rainforest it is another reason to come back!
I booked a tour for the great barrier reef the next day and can't sleep because of excitment (and jetlag) so am grumpy in the morning getting up for the 7am bus! It has been pouring rain and it is overcast and drizzly and I think it is going to be a crappy day. I meet some nice people on the boat, including another german girl Maria who I got on with really well. People kept asking me if we knew eachother before. Anyway we set off on a supposedly 'calm sea' and it is really wavy, we all get soaked because the waves are so big they come up over and ship. Some of the bigger waves were 6ft plus! But it was so fun rocking up and down and getting soaked, as the water was so warm! The weather cleared up the closer we got to the reef and it was beautifully clear and sunny at the reef. Me and Maria went snorkelling and it
Funny Sunburn 2
On my arms - although it looked redder than that. You can also see it on the photo of me and George. what a crappy tan :( was nice, but my snorkel and mask kept filling up with water as the waves were pretty big. Maria was quite nervous about snorkelling as when she went snorkelling before a girl was stung by a jellyfish badly. At one point there was a jellyfish almsot on my chest (doubt it was the stinging kind) but it still freaked me out and I screamed, but decided not to tell her incase she freaked out. We came in again and I went for my introductory scuba dive, which was SO COOL. I was quite nervous about it as i had to sign a death form basically saying that there is a risk of death, the equipment may be faulty etc and it wouldn't be thier fault. I had quite a long briefing though, so felt pretty confident about, although still nervous if that makes sense. The scariest part was going underwater for the first time, because its so unnatural to breathe underwater. The instructer was really nice, he was probably my age and was english, and he held my hand the whole time. I saw some amazing stuff, it was much better than snorkelling. I held a sea cucumber that was
Me in my scuba gear
Check out that pout! Hahah. Also note the funny thumb. a foot long, I stroked the soft coral and saw a family of nemo fish! 2 big ones and a small baby one living in an anemone like the movie before the barracuda 😞 I also saw parrot fish and giant clams which closed up when I put my hand over them. It was so amazing, I definately want to learn to dive properly.
Then we went to Green Island (imaginatively named) which was like a tropical paradise, lush rainforest, clear blue water and white sandy beaches if it had not been turned into a japanese beach resort. Half of the forest had been cut down to make way for the resort and the beach was littered with rubbish. It made me feel very sad that this place had been ruined so I got off it was soon as possible. When I got back some reef sharks were circling the boat, they weren't very big - about 3 feet long, and was great to see them. I snorkelled again but it wasn't as good as diving at all.
Eventually we headed back and unfortunately I missed the bus for 5.30 back to the hostel so me and Maria went to
Me in my scuba gear 2
Getting in the water... an internet cafe and wastes some time together. It was quite sad saying goodbye to her she was really lovely. She took some good photos of be scuba diving, bless her.
The only bad point is that I got weirdly sunburnt, on my knees, the top of my feet despite wearing flippers and in patches on my arm - like a rash! I'm going to get such a weird tan 😞 I have no idea how, I put SPF40 before and after swimmign and swan in a shorts and t shirt to prevent burning. Very annoying.
As I wait for the next bus some flying foxes flap right over me. They are huge beasts, it was amazing seeing them and I hope I see some more in Sydney. I spend the next few hours doing general preparation things and get a good nights sleep finally.
Today I have flown out to Sydney and arrive at my hostel called Wake Up! It is really nice although is a bit mroe expensice than I thought, it had a great location and lots of great facilities, very modern. And then I wrote this very long blog entry. My hand hurts now. and vene
Me in my scuba gear 3
Look how white I am, I am actually glowing. though my hour is up I can still go on the internet, although can only stay on this window - how cool is that?!
Oh other great news, a lovely camp in NY want me as thier animal care counsellor - isn't that just perfect for me!!! I ave to see if I can change my dates but I am so excited. It is a beautiful camp, very shi-shi so has great facilities. I hope I can go!!!
Lots of love - keep in touch!
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