Final Week of Oz

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Hello,

After the whitsundays tour we made our way up to Mission Beach which was where we took part in the white water rafting. We were picked up around 7.30 in the morning and driven to the main base where we grabbed some breakfast and got our briefing. Within about half an hour we were on a coach being driven through the mountains to the top of the course. The sites were once again amazing and we were told that the course we were rafting through was actually surrounded by the oldest, untouched rainforest in world!

The coach journey was long but when we arrived we spared no time in getting our life jackets on and getting in the water. There were seven of us and we all managed to get in the same raft together so it was bound to be fun however it turned out! The rafting itself was alot of fun although not as free flowing as many expected. As soon as we started we hit a rapid called the alarm clock - (guarenteed to wake you up!) It was a choppy rapid which led to nick falling out of the raft much to the amusement of us all!! As we went on there were alot of near fall outs but it made it alot more fun. There was a good mix of rapids but the shorter more intense ones definetly provided alot more laughs and enjoyment! The biggest one of the course was a 4 meter fall which the instructors pretty much guarneteed you all to fall out of the raft! All in all it was another great experience and when we returned to the base a video of the day was played and we saw the photos taken by the crew which provided alot of amusement!

After the short stay in Mission Beach it was on to Cairns for a couple of days and a barrier reef boat trip to do some snokrelling in the open water! We all went out on the first night which in hindsight was probably not the best of ideas considering we had to be up at 6.30 the following morning! However, it was a great night and we met up with some irish people we had met back over the fraser island and whitsundays weeks.

The next morning was painful but still we managed to get oursleves up and on the shuttle bus by 7.15! By about 9am we were on the cruise boat heading out the barrier reef. It took an hour or so until we arrived at the first spot and not long until we were geared up and in the water. Once again it was amazing. It was slightly different to the reefs we had snorkelled over before as these were in open water but just as impressive. We saw hundreds of different types of fish and even more types of reef! We stayed at the first spot for a good couple of hours and you could freely jump in and out of the water which was very handy in our conditions!

The second spot was slightly more impressive, The reef in many places was no more than 3 feet from the water surface so it gave us a good chance to get a real close up of all the different types of reef. Its a shame i didnt manage to get photos but probably any picture you see of the reef would show you what we would have seen over our whole snorkelling experience!

That night Nick and I got a flight back down to Brisbane where we were going to stay with John & Fred (family) in Noosa.

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