27th - 30th Nov - Magnetic Island

Next stop was Magnetic Island! I bumped into a group of girls as we were checking out of the hostel who were also getting on the Oz Experience bus, so we waddled down together to the bus stop, randomly they are from Gerrards Cross - small world!

The Curtain Fig Tree

On the way to our first stop we stop off at the Curtain Fig Tree - which you think, why are we stopping to look at a tree? but its pretty epic and then head to Lake Eacham and after that we headed off to the Atherton Tablelands, which is where there are a lot of waterfalls and we stop off at Millaa Millaa falls which is the waterfall that Peter Andre supposedly filmed his Mysterious Girl video at, and where Herbal Essences also film some of their adverts. A few pictures later we all head off on our merry way.

Mark playing Peter and us his adoring fans

We drop half the group off at Mission Beach (which is the best place to do a Skydive apparently as you land on the beach) and the rest of us (just four of us) head off to Magnetic Island. We have to get a ferry from Townsville across to get to Maggie (as its is commonly called, although every time I've used this phrase to Aussies or people that have travelled Australia everyone is like whats Maggie?! So I guess its not as commonly used as I was led to believe) and then a bus to the hostel.

We are all staying at Base Hostel, which is an awesome hostel, its right on the beach, which is stunning and it has such a holiday vibe to it, you instantly relax. The bar is completely open and overlooks the ocean and beach, with a few verandas scattered around its the perfect place to forget about everything. The rooms are quite small and the air con sucks so its HOT. But, well at least for me, you don't care, you are either on the beach, in the pool, at the bar or off exploring the Island.

So the first night we all party and do a bit of star gazing afterwards, as the licensing at the venue is only until midnight so the night ends fairly young, but also gets going fairly early too. The sky over in Australia in general is stunning, the lack of light pollution makes its all so very pretty. I could literally stare at the sky all day and night in this country and never get bored.

Hope - only 300m left!

The next day one of our group of four is leaving, so we decide to do one of the walks in the morning before he heads off to the ferry. We walk from the Ferry Port to a place called Geoffrey Bay on a coastal walk. After reaching Geoffrey Bay Lee and I, say our goodbyes to Mark and then we decide we are going to do the Forts Walk which is a walk where you can see wild koala's on route. However, as Maggie is a really small island, there public transport system only runs once every hour and we have just missed the last bus. So in my wisdom, I suggest that we head off walking until we find the next bus stop to kill sometime and then we can just wait there for 20/30minutes or so....in theory a good idea.....but not really recommended when the next bus stop is the bus stop for your destination! Yes that is correct, we walked for 50 minutes in the blazing sun up the side of this winding road up a mountain UPHILL, every time a car went passed we had to press ourselves into the side of the mountain so not to get run over! After walking this and the Forts Walk we must of walked about 8/9K that day!!

We finally get to the Forts Walk and trundle along down the path, which has koala's (yay) along the way in the trees and dangerous snakes (boo) in the bushes, after stopping off at some beautiful lookout points, and bumping into the other guy from the group and another girl from the hostel we all head back, defeated that we didn't find any koala's BUT wait for it, who do we bump into but Nathan and Chris two very lovely park rangers who take us 2 meters back the way we came, pointing up at a tree and there is a koala - how did we miss it?! Its beyond me! We stop and have a good old chat with the guys who fill us in on the wildlife and habitats and then head off to get some food and the bus to Horseshoe Bay.

Horseshoe Bay is basically what it sounds like a horseshoe bay, that has a lovely beach and a small section of the water sectioned off with a stinger net so you can actually get in the sea and swim! So that's what we did!!

On my final day, I decided to just spend it chilling, Jordan and Lee were leaving and I was staying for one more night, so I just lounged around the pool and the beach. In the evening I headed off to feed the wild wallabies at the old Ferry Port. I took down some apples and you basically just wait there until they have learnt that they can trust you and then they will come to you to take the food you have put on the floor or are holding. It was so much fun, I made 'friends' with a little shy wallaby who I literally sat with for 30 minutes, it would spend ages creeping over to me and then it would grab the food and dart back quick sharp, very cute. A lovely way to spend my last evening and then it was back to the bar for some more dancing on the tables and crazy antics!

I met some really lovely people on Maggie who I bumped into further along in my travels! I also really want to head back to Base for one of their full moon parties which is meant to be epic! Unfortunately I was a little too late in booking my accommodation this time around but I still have 10 more months! Whoop!

The next day I checked out, headed over to Townsville and waited for the Oz Experience bus to collect me once again and take me on my way to Airlie Beach.

Cairns - 22nd - 27th Nov

So two and a half weeks in I head off to Cairns. I fly from Sydney on a 6am flight, its actually really easy to get to the airport from the hostel I was in but unfortunately meant I had to get up about 3.30am to check out and get the train. I flew with Jetstar which is basically the Easyjet of Oz, checking in took ages so by the time we got through security it was time to board! I had a travel companion for most if my time in Cairns and this was in the form of my annoying American friend Rich.

Sid

So we land and it is HOT neither of us can check in as its only 8.30am so we head out for some brekkie and then wander aimlessly around Cairns and along the Esplanade, (which is a word I have massive issues pronouncing...) this is also the day my random sunburning starts.

We find the loneliness tree in the world, Sid, stuck out at sea so we befriend him before wearing ourselves out walking for a good few hours in the sun, we then decide to head off and check into our hostels. I'm staying at Gilligans, the party hostel and I must be the only person who hardly partied who stayed there! Shocking I know! Don't worry I made up for it at other hostels!

So after checking in, I met up with Amy, who is one of my friend Alexis's best friends, she moved over to Cairns with her now husband. We hit it off instantly and spent a good few hours gossiping away having a few drinks at a nice bar called the Rattle and Hum.

The next day, I had a day trip to Cape Tribulation with Jungle Tours. On this day trip I did a crocodile cruise - I did manage to see one but only its head! Then we went to the Daintree Rainforest and had a walk through the rainforest, getting the low down on the animals and plants etc our tour leader was ridiculously informative and made the day really good with lots of inserts of random information along the way.. We stopped off for lunch at someplace that I can't remember what its called but its (I believe) the only beach where the rainforest and beach meet each other and where if you were doing the overnight tour you would stay at for the night. After lunch we headed off again to another part of the forest and had a talk with a native tribesman, learning more information and trying out some of their natural paint that they would use to decorate themselves and then on to a beautiful lagoon in the middle of the forest which is so picturesque and peaceful with beautifully cold water, bliss, the perfect way to end the day and on the final journey back we stopped off on a few look out points for more pretty photos. A very enjoyable day.

My ridiculously small flippers in relation to everyone else.....

The next day I did a boat trip to the Great Barrier Reef with Ocean Freedom who I would totally recommend! This has been one of my favourite days/activities so far.
I decided that I was going to do an Intro Scuba Dive on this tour and it was AAAAMMMMMAAAZZZZIIIIIINNNNGGGGG - this may be a slight over exaggeration to some people but I absolutely loved it! Its such a weird feeling being completely weightless and submerged under water with all these other creatures! Unfortunately I didn't see a turtle or a shark but that really didn't matter to me. Depth wise we didn't go down too far I think no more than 10 meters but it was still breathtaking. I must admit, I found the breathing a little odd, I had to pinch my nose whilst we were under water as I couldn't stop breathing through my nose and making my mask fill up with water! And getting all suited and booted up was interesting too, I tell you walking around with flippers on, a weight belt and a massive oxygen tank is hard work!!! I also did snorkelling a few times and had a tour on a glass bottom boat, although in fairness you can't really see much when you are on the boat as the glass is so thick and also fairly scratched. However, we did spot a barracuda and this was just before the first snorkel! I wasn't happy about this I can tell you, they look so mean and vicious, I knew if it came near me when I was in the water I would freak out!! But thankfully, it didn't and I swan in completely the opposite direction and so I survived!! Woooo!!!!!!!!! I met some really lovely people on this boat, one girl I've kept in touch with and the others we all hung around together that night/ the other nights they were in town. And then as is the way they head off and then you don't really see or speak to them ever again, which may seem a little odd but you get used to it.

Rich the mud monster.

I spent the next 2 days after this just chilling out around the Lagoon, doing 'admin' stuff and lazing around the pool at YHA with Rich and Will. Amy treated me to brunch before she headed off camping, which was yummy! In the evenings the 2 Americans and I hit a few bars. On my last night we went out for a few quiet drinks and on the way home decided we all wanted to just lie down and watch the stars for a little bit. Because there is hardly any light pollution here the skies where ever you are are amazing. In Cairns you can't go onto the beach/into the water because of crocodiles and jellyfish, so whilst we were near some rocks, I found a long concrete ledge which I thought would be perfect for us all to chill on. Rich, decided he wanted to head down the rocks to this one small section of sand which was within the bordered off beach. The next thing Will and I hear is Rich screaming "Guys don't come down here!!!" and we are like What the? We then see him humped over the rocks with his arms waving around as he tries to pull himself back on to the rocks. By this time, we've realised that, yep, you guessed it he ended up walking on some bog like sinking sand. Great, I think, I'm gonna have to try and go over and pull out this guy who is twice my size from out of the sand, and I'm blatantly going to get stuck myself. After a bit more wriggling and wobbling from Rich and having to dig deep into the sand because his flipflops were no longer attached to his feet but now slowly sinking further into the sand, he thankfully manages to pull himself back onto the rocks, with his flipflops and thus back to safety. Now being the good friend that I am, I'm obviously very concerned and considerate of him and what he has just been through and am in no way shape or form laughing hysterically in his face, this does also not continue for about an hour with me crying with laughter and being stopped by a woman in the streets to ask if I was ok and if I knew the 2 guys I was with. Nope, none of that happened cause obviously that would be mean and highly inappropriate. (Sorry Rich). Thankfully there are a lot of sprinklers around and so we take him over to one of these to get him hosed down, he's cut his foot but he's ok and then we head off to another bar to get him a stiff drink, because bless him, he needed it. This still cracks me up 3 weeks later!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The next morning, still laughing merrily away to myself I check out of my hostel and head to the bus stop to jump on the Oz Experience bus to head to Magnetic Island.

In general, I liked Cairns but I found it to be a bit 'plastic' for me, the town itself didn't have enough culture or depth to it for me. There are a lot of hippies there too, which is cool but none of them seem to work apart from the bit of odd hola hop twirling or fire eating in the evenings. It does have a good vibe to it but for me its lack of depth meant that 5 nights here was enough for me - I mean I don't want to start planting roots now do I?!

My kind of nothing much week - w/c 19th Nov

After Surf Camp we returned to Sydney where I spent the weekend just exploring Sydney and pottering around, I ventured out of the CBD (Central Business District) to Newtown for drinks and sushi on Saturday night - nicest hidden sushi restaurant ever, will definitely be heading back there.

On the Monday and Tuesday I registered online with TAW which was part of the Ultimate Oz package, planned the initially stages of my trip down the East Coast, booked flights and completed my online RSA (Responsible Sale of Alcohol) which you need to have for each state in Australia if you want to work in a bar / with alcohol, my RSA is for Queensland and Victoria, so part of my thinking is that I will try and get some bar work in Melbourne when I get there next year, but we'll see, I'm quite enjoying just taking each day as it comes.



On the Tuesday afternoon I met up with an old friend from Questors - Siobhan, who is living in Sydney and she very kindly took me and one of her friends on a road trip to the Northern Beaches! We visited 'Summer Bay' which is actually called Palm Beach, and they were doing some filming there so that was cool to see and made me really, really, really miss being in front of the camera (I am missing acting soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much there aren't enough 'O's to express it), then we headed off to Whale Beach, Avalon and Balmoral. A freak wave decided to SOAK ME on one of the beaches, massive panic followed as I had all of my electrical equipment in my canvas bag! Thankfully it was just me that was water logged, phew! We then went on a tour of all the very grand houses which all have the STEEPEST driveways ever, no exaggeration they were almost vertical. It was a lovely day out and about and good to escape the city and spend some time with Siobhan!

Bluebell Jellyfish - they were washed up all over one of the beaches

Wednesday was my last day in Sydney before my flight to Cairns, so I completed my barskills course in the afternoon, which was good fun once all the 'overexcited because they could drink the beer' 18 year olds shut up, me and Rosa were not impressed!! But we got a few free cocktails from it and I can now officially pull a beer!! That evening I packed and the remaining Ultimate Oz group left in Sydney - Rosa, Liv, Sarah, Sharlene, James, Sam, Rich and I all went for goodbye drinks as myself and Rich were flying up to Cairns the next day (well I say the next day, our flight was at 6am, we were up 3.30am to get to the train station, tired.com!).

And then on Thursday my East Coast adventure started!

Surf Camp w/c 12th Nov

Soooo people I know I have been soooo bad at updating my blog - this is because of 2 reasons really 1) I'm being tight and most of the time refuse to pay for the internet and 2) because I am having too much fun that sitting on a computer when I could be out exploring and in the sun kind takes second place!
However, I do need to update everyone soooo here goes...after my first week with Ultimate Oz I decided to do SURF CAMP!!! Let the story commence...

About 11 of us - Rosa, Laura, Sammy, James, Rich, Sam, Adam, Josh, Jan, Dan and I from the Ultimate Oz group decided to do Surf Camp the following week, this was in Gerroa which is about 2 hours down from Sydney on a beach called Seven Mile Beach (and do you know why its called Seven Mile Beach...yep well done you!!). Apparently its the best beach to learn on because of the waves, I think they are smaller and softer so make it easier for beginners (I'm sure there are more technical terms than 'smaller and softer' but you get my drift). The company I did it with was Surf Camp Australia and I would definitely recommend them. You stay in the camp for 4 nights in dorm rooms, all meals are provided and its like a little self contained community, where its about a 10 minute walk to the beach (or a 15 minute walk to the pub!) We did 8 lessons during our 5 days there and it is hard!!!!!!!!!!!!! It is safe to say my dreams of being a surfer chick didn't quite work out!!

I did manage to stand (just about) by the end of the week but f*ck me is it hard! Some of my group were made to surf and were riding green waves by the end (thats a step up from the white soft waves and basically when you get on a wave before it breaks). I fell / flew off my board quite a few times! On a number of occassions my surf board decided it wanted to try and knock me out and getting hit on the head with a surf board HURTS!!!!! I won't advise you try it....Even carrying the damn things from the lock up to the beach was a mission! My arms were not long enough nor were they made to be wrapped about a foam board - talk about discovering muscles I didn't know I had! The first few days (before we were shown how to paddle out behind the waves) we had to carry our boards out and that in itself is a tiresome task, especially when you are contending with large waves which like to suck you up and throw you back on the beach! On a few occassions I would be talking to the instructor and then I would disappear back to where I started with a little shriek! Haha it was good fun though! The few times I did manage to stand up it was an awesome feeling, I can see how people get addicted to it, however I don't think it will be a hobby I would continue with, my ballet feet caused me massive issues initially because you have to flex your back foot to stand, not point it...yeh my foot didn't like this...but we had words and it came round in the end!
On our last night everyone from Surf Camp, so around 80 of us went to the local and only 'pub' (it was like an old mans working club with a bowls lane in the middle!!) and then to the beach, good times!
All in all it was an awesome 2nd week, below are a few pictures from it.

Roomies

Surf Camp Surfers



James, Me, Sam & Rich - James is kindly demonstrating the arm position used when surfing

Bruised!!