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Published: April 17th 2007
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G'day mates!
Well we're finally here in Oz after our false start last week when we turned up at the airport only to be told that we weren't on any flights they had that day and that our travel agent had changed our flights to Easter sunday and not told us, how rude! This meant we got to spend a couple more days in Christchurch just hanging around waiting to fly to Oz which felt like a lifetime as we were getting really excited to be moving on to our next destination. We can't complain though as we did find a good pub while we were there that did sunday roasts and it was pretty gooood!
So we arrived into Cairns on Easter sunday and headed to our base for the next few days where we had to check ourselves in and find the key in a clown hanging up above the pool table, a little strange but we did arrive well after hours and so were just happy to have a bed for the night. These beds however were not in the same room so Gary and I spent our first night in three months apart from
each other, Ahhh! Actually it was pretty scary as everyone in my dorm was already in bed asleep and I had to find my way round in the dark not knowing who was in my room, especially whether they were boys or girls. Also scary as we had just been shown photos of massive scary looking spiders some of the other travellers had seen whilst in Oz, which meant I was paranoid the whole night that there would be one in my dorm.
While in Cairns we did the Minjin swing, which is one step tamer than a bungy jump, where you are put in a full body harness and elevated 45 metres in the air looking at the ground below you and then YOU have to pull the cord which releases the swing and you go flying through the air at speeds of 120km per hour after freefalling to 2 feet above the floor. This was scary enough without the added pressure of having to pull the cord yourself and I was adimant Gary would pull it so I could just sit back and not have to worry about it but the woman working the swing decided that
I should pull the cord. My instructions were to wait until the green light came on and pull hard. I have never been so terrified and all for one little green light. It was definitely a great experience but I have never screamed so much in my life.
On our last day in Cairns we went on a Great Barrier Reef trip to Oyster reef and upolu Cay where we got to try Scuba diving, well almost got to try it. The long and short of it is Gary did and I didn't as there was a bit of a misunderstanding between me and the instructor over my ability to equalise my ears and so I couldn't go any further which I was really really annoyed by, especially as it turned out the misunderstanding was nothing more than a miscommunication and that I could have actually dived. Oh well there's always next time and we'll defintely be up for diving in Thailand (if we can afford to that is). Just a shame I didn't get to have my photo taken with Nemo like Gary did. We did get to snorkel though which was lots of fun apart from being
Verity on Upolu Cay
paying homage to the Japanese favourite pose! thrown around by the waves as it was rather windy by this point. Gary would also like me to point out that for the second time on this trip I was sea sick, what a meanie!
Onto Airlie Beach, the gateway for the Whitsunday Islands. We took a 12 hour Greyhound bus to get here overnight which was comfier than the American ones but still as entertaining with the funny bus drivers and the strange people hanging around the stations.
Our main reason for stopping here was for our two night sailing trip around the Whitsundays. We were on a boat called British Defender which was once sailed in the Whitbread around the world race by the British armed forces. It came 7th but is still the fastest boat in the Whitsundays (apparently). We spent our days sailing round the Islands, stopping off for a sunbaking session (as they call it in Oz) and doing some snorkelling along the way. The snorkelling was brilliant as we got to see some huge fish and some really cool coral and amazingly colorful clams. Just a shame that anytime an interesting fish swam by a diver chased it off. We were
Minjin Swing!!
Yes that small dot in the sky is the Minjin in full swing! also amazed to get to see sharks in the sea at Whitehaven beach, only babies but they were still sharks! gold ones at that. The beach was beautiful and had the finest sand which felt more like flour.
So after one last night on the boat celebrating one of our fellow sailing companions birthday and playing drinking games such as I have never and ring of fire, we crashed for the evening as we had to be up at 07:00 to do our last bit of snorkelling before we headed back to Airlie beach. I'm impressed that both of us actually got up for it as most people were far too hungover and couldn't even move from their beds.
So we arrived back at Airlie beach yesterday absolutely worn out and drained but still made it out for the reunion at our hostel bar for all the crew and passengers who were on our tour. Now we're heading out to chill by the lagoon until it's time to hop on to our next Greyhound bus which is going to take us to Hervey bay where we're going to do a self drive 4x4 tour around Fraser island with
Bathing Beauties!
Can anyone spot Verity's bum?? 9 other people. I can't wait!
Well until next time chaps and chapesses
Take care
V & G
xx
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