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Published: August 25th 2007
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So we thought we'd give you a break from the blogs for a while, but now we are back by popular demand (!) We have had an eventful couple of weeks since leaving Bangkok, it's almost as if it was a strange dream. Being in Oz definitely feels to some extent like home, though it took us a while to get over the fact that people were speaking English to us, for one thing, albeit slightly differently! And believe it or not, we are kind of missing the food... apart from the fish sauce...and the deep fried insects... and the dodgy floating bits.
We flew from Bangkok to Singapore (very nice airport - although we went slightly overboard with the perfume sampling) and arrived in Darwin at 4 am. Due to our early arrival, the hostel was locked and bolted and we didnt know the entry code so we took it upon ourselves to break in...ahem, we wont make a habit of this. We made quite a few friends here and all went out that night for St Paddys Day. Jack arrived from Sydney at the convenient time of the middle of the night! We were really happy to
see him anyway!
After a few days relaxing, which was more difficult than it sounds after the frenetic pace of SE Asia, we visited what Darwin is best known for - its National parks. Unfortunately it was still the wet season so absolutely loads of stuff was flooded, roads washed away in some parts, and this certainly meant no swimming in most of the waterfall pools because the water level had risen loads which meant the crocs (yes, real life crocodiles!) could easily have swum up into them. Hmm. We stuck to the safer pools! We also saw loads of wallabies, which especially loved the rain (and there was LOTS of rain), emu, cane toads (massive, poisonous and a pest, hence the reason Australians play cane toad cricket, golf...), also termites and their mounds, which some people wax lyrical about - they are quite impressive!
The main natural beauty there is the many waterfalls (one's called Edith falls, mum!~Heloise). We especially enjoyed the tranquility and peace of these parks after the craziness that is SE Asia. We went for a few walks, and one in particular was eventful because of a massive downpour - by the end of
it we were actually walking through a white water rapid (which was the path) to get back... In our dear friend Olly's words, we were actually "wetter than the sea". Also went to see some massive gorge called Katherine Gorge in a supposed powerboat. Laura got a very wet bottom, she was one of only 2 who got wet (wow, a chosen one!) - Heloise and Jack found this very amusing. The guide was very pleased to tell us that some aussie film was made there...
So we get to the end of Darwin. So our airport adventure when flying to Cairns merits a mention (if it's not buses it's planes with us!). Jack flew out at 1.30amish and our plane was at 6.15. So naturally we thought it a good idea not to stay in a hostel that night (save a measely amount of dollars) and go to the airport with Jack. Actually, there is a lot of time between 1.30 and 6, especially when it's the middle of the night. Enough said.
Cairns is really nice, but we spent most of day 1 in bed 😊. the second day, we went on a boat to the
Great Barrier Reef! Absolutely amazing!! We did a 'fun dive' (30 min scuba dive) and saw fish of varying sizes and lovely colours, a shark, a turtle, jellyfish (Ian, Emma - we're not even fish scientists and we were really excited so we can't imagine what you'd be like here...) It was pretty much like sticking your head in an aquarium - to put it bluntly, we couldn't believe how lucky we were to be there. We saw loads just snorkelling, but on the dive, we saw 'Nemo', he is alive and well, but no sign of Dory, or, luckily, Bruce. That night in the pub we went to for din dins we ran into a couple of people Heloise knows from uni - the world is closer than you think, as British Airways would say.
From Cairns and its ocean life, we travelled a few hours North for an evening to have a mini rainforest adventure in a place called Cape Tribulation. Still on the crocodile quest, we booked oursleves onto a night walking tour through the rainforest with a very enthusiastic guide called Marina. First off she offered us 'poison'. Turns out this was insect repellant -
we got an ecowarrior lecture thrown in for free! But mission accomplished - we saw a croc (he was only small, about a year old, but it made us happy anyway!). We also got to see many many spiders, a snake (a blind snake which apparently is very exciting, but we thought it was a worm at first), a kingfisher, and mating peppermint stick insects which Marina was very VERY excited about.
We left v early the next morn which should have given us plenty of time to give back the hire car...hmmm...not so much. We ended up only just making our bus so phew. So that brings us to our current location: Airlie Beach which is where the famous Whitsunday island are. We went on a sailing tour of them for the past 3 days which was very cool. The weather was perfect for the 1rst couple of days and we went snorkelling, made many fishy friends (and some tried to eat us when one of the crew from another boat decided to throw food to the fish right where we were!) This morning, however, the weather completely changed, Apparently the whitsundays have 320 days of sun a
year. hmmm. then we are some pf the unlucky ones. The cabins are really packed so Heloise slept on deck only to be awoken at 4am to a downpour of rain ( noticing a theme here?!). She practically threw herself down a flight of stairs to get out of the weather, and was reunited with Laura, who had woken up just a few minutes before and was thinking it would have been a nice idea to sleep on deck due to the rainforest heat and humidity of downstairs...
This morning, along with the rain, the wind picked up somewhat, there had been a wind warning on the ship's radio apparently, which means there would be a good sail - most of the other days it was all about the motor, which was a bit of a shame as there were fewer opportunities to put our superb sailing skills (ahem) to use. But we both got a go winching up the sails and 'driving' the boat on one of the two steering wheels ( rather a large boat, can hold over 30 people, all the boats used for these trips are decomissioned racing boats which have been gutted and refurbished pretty smartly). Heloise's 'drive' was more eventful as the second she took over, the winds picked up and the boat went at a right angle to the water - she was convinced it was her terrible driving, until the skipper said that it was because of gusts of wind coming off nearby hills. Phew! Ever so slightly alarming though! Then we all had to sit on the higher side of the boat to supposedly wieght it / keep out of the water, but lashing rain and crashing waves ensured we were once more wetter than the sea itself.
We are now waiting for our overnight bus down to Rainbow beach (sounds awesome!) where we are going on an island adventure - it's a sand island with no roads, so you drive around in a 4x4. (Parents, fear not, we will be careful!)
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steph
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if i write something will you update the blog?
prince william and kate middleton have split up i have my first exam tomorrow life is very tragic and traumatising xx