Into The Rainforest...Into The Rain

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Hello! we are trying to keep up to date with the blogs...unsuccessfully!

Just before we got on the bus at Hervey Bay we had a pasta and hand fed the left overs to the resident wild possum at the hostel... soo cute!
We managed the 12 hour bus journey to Northern Queensland and Arlie Beach (Backpacker Central)... the bus journey went really quickly and We arrived early in Arlie!!lol

The saturday markets were on and in the lovely sunshine we wondered round watching the camel rides on the beach and all of the hand made jewellery stalls...i invested in anothe Jackie Collins book for $2... Ant also found a Harry Potter book after he finished the James Patterson one he finished in 2 days!! Yes Anthony can read!!! hehe

We really liked Arlie Becah from the minute we stepped off the coach there is only one main street and its full of cheapish backpacker places and plenty of bars. We booked into the Koala resort because that is who we were doing our Whitsundays trip with. We shared a gorgeous bungalow with the girls and a german man. most of the time we just chilled out in Arlie there is a massive free swimming pool next to the beach called the lagoon. we also went to a shark museum... which is famous in Arlie we learnt loads about the man who owns it called Vic Heslop... the Shark Hunter and saw loads of incredible things. The highlight of the whole museum was a REAL frozen GREAT WHITE SHARK!! it was amazing and a bit scary to see it in the dark room behind the cold glass.. 18ft long 2tonnes! massive still perfectly kept.

We had some brill nights oiut in Arlie aswell we met loads of class people at our hostel and Moroccos the main bar on the street was actually part of our hostel!... we got far too many free drinks especially on the night back from the sailing when the wet T-Shirt competition was on......(Don't worry dad I didn't enter) it was far too much fun laughing at the other contenters!

The main reason we were at Arlie was to take a trip the the famous Whitsunday Islands... which is a set of about 70 small islands starting the Great Barrier Reef. we were so excited and fully expected the odd shower we had been having to clear up when we were on the boat but...no. Unfortunantley it rained and rained and rained. it was sunny when we left the harbour and for about an hour then it started. thank god it wasn'e a live aboard cruise! there were about 40 people on the boat 'The Pride Of Arlie'. we really made the most of the trip though...whilst other backpackers moan4ed about the weather and just sat underdeck...me and ant decided to be really British and brave the rain! we then had a brilliant day during a bucket load of rain to crack on with the captin and crew and borrowed some waterproof jackets...Ant even ended up driving the 50ft boat for abou an hour!! which he still can't decide if it was better than driving up the beach on Fraser Island!

Every night we went back to one of the Whitsunday Islands called South Molle Island where there was a small resort on the beach.. needlesn to say there was a bar where we were forced to go both nights to drink heavily and play drinking games with the crew. the secong night was even fancy dress... so about 10 of us managed to scrap together costumes... i went as a jungle girl and went into the rainforest to gather leaves for my costume.. meking grass skirt, leaf necklace, leaf heair pieces and mud for my face and body lol. Ant put on my dress and make up and went as me! scary!

Any way even though it rained a lot we had a class trip and Ant and the girls even got to snorkel on the reef on the last day ...while the sun was out!!! brilliant!

From Arlie we went onwards and upwards to Townsville and Magnetic Island...

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