The last leg of the Road Trip - Airlie Beach - Cairns

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Well the road trip is now over 😞 it was the best 3 weeks ever. Here is just an update on what happened since last time.

Day 12 - Airlie Beach

The today was well good - we swam down at the lagoon and layed in the sun for a while. My tan had finally started to get better 😊 yay! That evening we had didgeridoo lessons which was so funny. I actually managed to play it quite well. After that we went and got ready, had a cold shower, had a BBQ, then headed for the clubs. Becky and Meri entered a wet t-shirt comp and Becky won which was so funny. We got loads of free drinks all night. Wehay!

Day 13 - Airlie Beach

Again most of the day wasdown at the lagoon, I just loved it there. We were all hungover from the night before so laying in the sub and having a cold swim was the perfect cure. In the evening me and rob
decided it would be fun to buy a trout (still had it's head and everything) to cook on the BBQ... Well cutting the head off was just horrific, very slimey, it took forever to cook and then tasted very
bland. Suppose it's an experience though.

Day 14 - Airlie Beach

Another lovely day in Airlie. Hung out with the staff at Peter Pans. I bought some "thongs"
We sorted out our Whitsunday boat tickets then had another lovely BBQ.

Day 15, 16 and 17 - the whitsunday on "tongarra"

The boat trip round the Whitsunday islands was probably one of the best trips ever. The boat was called tongarra and the staff were amazing. It was a crazy party boat with 24 people on, loads of alcohol
and loads of sun 😊
We spent the firstday cruising round the island, had a lovely dinner and spent the whole night playing drinking games. Was insane!
The 2nd day we were woken up at 6am. We had all slept on deck under the stars which was so relaxing. We sailed to White haven beach which is so beautiful. The sand is so fine that apparently you can even
clean your teath with it! We walked up to a viewing point and the view was just something else. I ate a green ant because I was told it tastes of lemons and it actually did. Crazy!!
We got picked up, had lunch then went snorkling. It was amazing. We saw turtles and loads of fish. Coral was lovely aswell. We set off out to sea again and we spotted dolphins and Wales which was amazing. The wale was showing off a little, did acouple of free willy moves.
That night we drank again. I did a snorkle beer bong which was insane. The night went on for hours until everyone fell asleep.
The last day was sad as it was coming to an end. We snorked again bit didn't see as much as the 1st time. Had a brunch whilst laying in the sun then came back to Airlie to get ready for the after party. The
party was good fun but sad to say bye to everyone.

Day 18 - Airlie Beach to Townsville

We were woken up in the morning by loads of builders everywhere... Little scary. We picked up 2 girls from the boat to take them to magnetic island. The drive took forever, was a good drive though. We
passed a few bush fires which was scary but we also got to watch an amazing sun set! We arrived in Townsville and we dropped the girls off at the ferry for them to go to Magnetic Island. We went for a walk around townsville... wasn't the nicest place we have been... oh well.

Day 19 - Townsville to Magnetic Island and back - Full Moon Party!

We headed over to the island fairly early as townsville didn't really have anything of interest. The boat across was so fast, only took 15 minutes to get to the island. When we arrived it felt like going on holiday.. from a holiday.. the island seemed to be like a city, had supermarkets, 3000 people lived there, had a school etc. We bought a fantastic ice cream each when we arrived as a holiday treat, walked towards where the party was being held (base hostel) and on the way bought some goon. We sat on the beach drinking for a few hours which was really relaxing. Unfortunately the police came and took the remaining alcohol away 😞 so we headed in for the party.
It was a great night, loads of people there just dancing through the night. At about 4am we caught the ferry back to Townsville and slept 😊

Day 20 - Townsville to Mission Beach!

I was exhausted all day. I basically slept in the back of the van the entire day (except when rob woke me up at like 9am to move the van because he was to hot and didn't have his contact lenses)
When I woke up we had arrived in Mission Beach, we managed to get free camping because I had booked a skydive which was good. Then me and rob got hungry and headed on an adventure for McDonalds which took us about 2 hours of driving to find! The girls where not happy! We had a few heart attack moments on our drive when lights stopped working and we went across a train track with a train approaching, the warning signs weren't working!! Scariest moment ever.

Day 21 - Mission Beach to Cairns - Sky Dive day!!!

Well my skydive was the most amazing experience ever!!! 14000ft I jumped from. I was falling at like 250ft a second!! How nuts is that. I was up at 6.30am to prepare myself. My nerves where making me shake but I was so excited!! I did some training with my tandem master on what to do if we landed in water... how to land, how to jump etc. Not that I remembered any of it when we left the plane. The views where just breathe taking. I could see all the beaches along the coast line, the islands dotted around just off the coast and it was just beautiful.
When I landed I was buzzing for hours. I met up with the gang and we sat on the beach eating cake and taking some photos. Headed into Mission Beach to look around.... not much there to be honest. We had fish n chips though (they taste nothing like fish n chips from home)
We left for Cairns which wasn't a long drive but we got there when it was dark. We parked up and went for a walk round the center of town. I booked my Fiji Experience and we got loads of vouchers for free food. Wehay 😊
We decided to go out to celebrate the success of the road trip. Had our free food and had a few drinks. We played some competitions at the bar we were at... I had to shove 3 lots of 5 marsh mellows in my mouth and attempt to say various sentences... not going to happen!!
After a good night out we headed back to the vans for one last sleep 😞 packed up everything ready for the morning then crashed out.

Day 22 - The last day 😞 Cairns

Well knowing we had the vans until 3pm we decided to take advantage of the wheels and drive around looking at what was around us and also to find a place to stay.
It was rather stressful when we found out hostels are rather pricey and mainly full!!!
We drove to 3 hostels, looked into renting an apartment and came up against a lot of brick walls!!
Eventually we decided to stay at Gilligan's hostel which is absolutely huge!!! Every floor has its own kitchen, tv room, internet cafe and gym! The gang was split up which was a shame but it was only for bed. My roommates were very very noisy which annoyed me... at 3am i decided to polity say shut up!
The room was nice though, en-suite and a balcony, big beds as well. We had another free meal in the evening and then caught an early night.

So.. that's the road trip stuff. I can't believe i'm saying it but i actually missed the vans when we dropped them back. Sleeping in a proper bed felt alien!! Took me a while to get used to.
So from the 6th to the 11th I stayed in Cairns and here is how my few days there went.

Cairns

The 1st night there as I said - we stayed at Gilligan's. A really nice hostel but a bit pricey and the gang had been split up because of room availability.
We decided to move to a hostel called Koala's... not as nice as gilligans... looked a tab like a prison but we all had a room together + 1 guy who was so annoying!!
Rob, Becky and Hannah needed to find jobs so they all headed out in search of work whilst I explored Cairns. Met up with them a few hours later then we headed for our free meal (such a good idea!!) We actually dressed up in Togas which was funny. We got a lot of attention. Not many people were dressed up even though our annoying room mate had said "everywhere is toga night blah blah blah"!!
The day after was just a lazy day, i think we all needed to sleep. Was nice though 😊 Still got our free meal. Spaghetti was basically all I had every meal... got sick of it after a while!
My last full day in Cairns was nice because we all went to the lagoon for a swim and sun bathe. Had some food and ice cream 😊 Then went out for a nice meal (compared to the free meals it was a luxury) and went clubbing. Was a really lovely evening. We headed back to bed quite late but not to late. I packed all my stuff up knowing i wouldn't want to get up early in the morning.
I then said my good byes in the morning to the gang, so so sad to say good bye 😞 then caught my plane to Melbourne!!

I absolutely loved the road trip.. by far my best memories for the trip so far.
Will do an update for my week in Melbourne before I fly to Sydney.
Speak soonish 😊
xxxxxxx

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