Sharks, coral, jagerbombs and a 47 million dollar hostel

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On the 14th of July we leave Airlie Beach behind along with some of the great people we met on our Whitsundays adventure to make our way to our final destination at Cairns. We have a compulsory stop at a place called Townsville and though it is hilarious to think it that it shares the same name as the city in The Powerpuff Girls, it is a pretty decent place to be for a day and since we knew we would be going all out in Cairns we used it as a chance to relax a bit by soaking up some sun on the beach. We also desperately wanted to see Toy Story 3 but instead of being kind, fate decided to laugh in our faces and even after checking 3 different cinemas, all of them had started their last showing of Toy Story before we got there. It was a great shame, but we knew we would have our chance again .. I hope.

So on the 15th we make our way up to Cairns in our Oz bus with possibly the best driver I have had yet who was named Gydo. The man was extremely laid back with some serious knowledge about the area and an element of crazyness to boot, which made him a lot of fun to travel with. After a couple of hours on the road, we stop at Mission Beach where we drop off Sophie and Becky to do their skydive before carrying on up the coast to the Crocodile Farm. The Crocodile Farm is the last Oz Experience stop before finishing in Cairns and I must say, it did not disappoint. Two minutes after getting off the bus we had the opportunity to hold a baby crocodile who seemed completely relaxed being handled by plenty of eager backpackers as well as being shoved in the face of those a little less eager. Next up were the dingoes within the farm itself who were every so slightly more tame than the ones we saw on Fraser Island. So tame in fact that we were given the chance to hold one of the female dingoes named Kimberly who ended up pretty much falling asleep in my arms before I had to pass her on. After failing to think of way to take Kimberly home as a pet we headed on to meet one of the keepers at the farm to watch some crocodiles being fed. It is just incredible seeing the massive power that a crocodile has and how fast it can strike its prey before proceeding to death roll in order to break its prey down into more managable chunks. It was interesting to learn that crocs can't swallow their food underwater and very interesting to learn that the best way to survive a crocodile attack is to 'accidentally' trip over your mate while you make your get away. Duly noted. All the crocs had at least one female in their pen, some having two or more as apparently crocs can be absolute players! However, there was one croc who was on his own and after asking why that was, we learned he had basically got pissed off with the females in his pen and gone ahead and eaten them... With the females being around half the size of some of the full grown males it can't have been much of a fair fight. To help digest that pretty lovely fact, we went to feed some kangaroos before heading back onto the coach and making our way up to Cairns to make the most of our final few days in Aus.
On arrival in Cairns we check into a hostel named 'Gilligans' which in total costed 47 million dollars I hear. Here we met plenty of wicked people from our bus and in our room, none of which were English, coming from all other parts of the United Kingdom as well as Sweden. With the night ending in a bar named The Woolshed with a cheap and delicious steak meal and plenty of drinks with our final Oz driver, it seemed Cairns was going to be a fun couple of days.

Our second day in Cairns was spent lying in, which has become such a rarity its like gold dust! But after falling out of bed we managed to find enough energy to head out the hostel to check out Cairns centre with a couple of the guys from our room. We also managed to get ourselves a pretty decent price for a day trip to the Great Barrier Reef on a pretty large cruise ship with a free dive included which was rad. After returning to the hostel we are finally reunited with Will and Sam after loosing them when we did our Whitsundays trip and to celebrate. What better way than to make cheesy nachos and fajitas, a delicacy on the backpackers menu. In the evening we headed out for a few drinks, but with the all to familiar 7am start the next day we Kish and I decided to get just a little bit of sleep.

Day number three in Cairns, and our final full day in Australia. As with Malaysia I found myself looking back over the time I had travelling up the east coast and man were there some amazing times. It wasn't quite over yet though as today Kish and I headed out through the city to the marina where we would get on 'Osprey 5' which would be taking us out to the Barrier Reef. The boat itself could comfortable hold 130 people and made seriously quick time across the sea to our destination. We reached the reef in the late morning and headed off the boat to do our free dive which was amazing to see all the marine activity from down below, but it kinda sucked having to link arms with the instructor. So to get ourselves I more independant look at the fish and coral, we took the scuba gear off and snorkeled out to where the shallow reefs were. With the sun breaking through the clouds and down into the ocean, all the coral lit up showing off a complete range of fantastic colours and patterns and the sand turned a bright white colour which was truely stunning. To top that image off, rising from where the coral dropped off came a huge sea turtle who seemed completely unnerved by our presence and continued to swim right by us. Soon after it was time to get back onto the boat a sail to our second destination where we had a huge buffet lunch laid out which in the eyes of a young backpacker is a complete godsend! To let our food go down we headed out to the front of the deck and got some sunbathing in before heading back into the water to make the most of seeing this incredible site. From the top of the boat you could easily make out the shape of the reef barrier and the various shades of blue and green that covered the oceans surface. From a snorkeling perspective the view is just too good. There was an abundence of weird and wonderful fish of all crazy shapes and sizes as well as clams that were getting on for 100kg in weight! Though I think the highlight for me was catching a glimpse of a small white tipped shark swimming in and among the coral before disappearing out of view, at which point I decided to swim the other way. With the Great Barrier Reef explored to the full we headed back to shore with a dreadlocked man of aboriginal descent serenading us with some amusing versions of Bob Marley songs. Once back at the hostel we meet up with Becky and Sophie who arrived earlier from Mission Beach and spent our last night in Aus laughing, dancing and drinking way too much. The best way to go out with a bang.

There isn't too much point going into detail about the next day or so as it was pretty much all travelling from hostel to airport to another airport to another city and off to New Zealand. But in terms of experience and adventures that I had while in Australia, they were second to none. I don't regret a single day and really feel that my time there helped me to become a much more open and adventurous person. The one negative I have found to travelling is that people always tell you how awesome it is meeting loads of new and interesting people, but nobody ever mentions how much it sucks when you part ways and have to say goodbye. We had travelled with Becky, Sophie, Will and Sam for the best part of a month and all of a sudden we were on our own again. Though we will definately be catching up with them when we are back in England with the help of the one and only Facebook. Anyways, stay tuned dedicated blog followers for the next stage and kia ora New Zealand!

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