End of Oz Experience

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We arrived in Cairns yesterday evening, after an 8 and a half hour drive from Magnetic Island...

Magnetic Island was a bit of a dissappointment really. It was not a very nice atmosphere in the hostel, and there was not much to do there, unless you enjoy getting totally drunk every night, and then spending your days by the pool in a hungover state.

We tried kayaking, but it was a bit too much hard work, due to the huge waves that kept battering us. So that adventure only lasted about 10 minutes! The rest of the time, we spent by the pool, in the pool and playing cards.

We were quite happy when we left, and on the way up to Cairns we stopped off at a crocodile farm, which was really good. We got to hold a baby crocodile, a lizard, a snake, and a black cockatoo, which was a really cool experience. Then we saw all of the crocodiles and alligators, some of which had been rescued after killing people.

Today we have been to the Great Barrier Reef on a boat trip, and it was one of the most amazing things that I have done on this trip so far. We snorkelled for about 2 1/2 hours in total, and for the first 1 1/2 hours we had a snorkel guide who showed us things that we might have missed, and also got a sea cucumber for us to hold.

We saw loads of really cool fish, and coral. We were also very lucky, as we saw a white tip reef shark, clownfish, and two sea turtles, which were absolutely amazing. THey were just swimming around eating the coral, and they look so majestic, and so agile in the water.

Tomorrow we are heading up to Cape Tribulation, to see the rainforest, and we are looking forward to that. Then on Monday we are getting a bus at 04:55 to the airport and flying to Ayers Rock. I will blog again when I get back to Brisbane on Friday 21st, and I will write a long entry about all of the amazing and exciting things that we have been up to....

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Photos

Cattle Station Man
Jonathan the Cattle Station Worker.

Mel on her horse
Mel taking part in a horseback goat muster.

Frank
Frank the tree frog

Lauren
Me at the Cattle Station (Kroombit)

Goats
Goats at the rodeo!