Day 70 to 74 - Noosa/Brisbane, Queensland to Byron Bay/Nimbin, New South Wales

NOOSA: a little slice of paradise. It's chilled out, friendly, with lovely clean beaches and a river where you can hire kayaks or boats. I immediately fell in love with this little town. There were options to go out in the evening but it's not a party town so you can easily escape and just be.
Rach and I hired a kayak for an hour and had a good giggle trying not to capsize, and freaking out the locals with our awful fake accents. Rach then decided to treat herself to a large victoria sponge cake and eat it like a sandwich on the bus bench... such a sophisticated lass.
BRISBANE: after arriving with no accommodatin booked and finding room in the first hostel we went into... we immediately liked Brisbane. Rach however was a little poorly (everyone "awwww") so I ventured out on my own. Across the river from the business district and the shopping areas I found the most beautiful little walk ways and mini rainforests. I even found someone to walk around with... that's right, I wasn't a total loner :-P . In the evening we stayed in to watch Home Alone. Has it been on TV yet?? We set ourselves up for that batch of home sickness, thinking about all the classic movies they play at home on telly around christmas time :-( .
Day two was then spent wandering the streets trying to find Rach a job and randomly finding me an awesome santa outfit for the Christmas eve party in Sydney. I am going to look HOT :-) pardon my ego :-P . Then... our time was up. At 3:17pm we hugged goodbye, Rach headed of the catch her train, and I headed off to catch my bus... a little weeping may have occured. This soon passed however when I was distracted by the guy sitting with me on the bus... and not in that way girls :-P he was just very chatty and entertaining. We even shared a value meal at maccy d's when the bus stopped, which, for those who don't know, consists of 1 Big Mac, 1 cheese burger, chicken nuggets, 2 portions of chips, and 2 cokes, EACH! If that doesn't cheer you up I don't know what will :-) .
BYRON BAY: a very late arrival due to some poor lady on my bus being taken away by ambulance :-\ ... and I went straight to bed. Well... that was after getting to know my room mates, who are from Germany and appear to be about 12 years old, doing nothing but getting drunk all the time... oh fun. Luckily I had Nimbin in the morning to look forward to.
NIMBIN: The stoner capital of Australia! This is the repuation it got after some students visited in 1973 for a festival and decided to never leave... lucky for some. An hour is plenty to see Nimbin. Really it is just a street with some funky shops, odd looking people, and every other person tries to sell you cookies or mushrooms. Still worth a visit though as their are some quite entertaining characters.
BYRON BAY #2: The most happening place in Byron just so happens to be opposite my hostel and it sucks! The music is awful and songs are repeated very often. Plus the men that hit on you are not nice. The first attempt went something like... GUY1: "what time are you going home tonight" ME: "whenever my friends go home" GUY1: "you're coming to my house tonight" ME "errr, no I'm not". The second attempt was even better. As i'm standing with a friend waiting for the loo a guy walks past... GUY2: *moves in to kiss me on the lips* ME: *slap*. There was also a sudden look of shock on my face. He got the message. Someone needs to teach these guys manners!
During the day there isn't a whole lot to do here apart from surf. Or you can walk alllllll the way up to the light house. When they say it is a long walk they mean a LONG walk! Though I did get to see loads of dolphins on my walk so it was all worth it.
Now I am just mentally preparing myself for a 13 hour bus ride down to Sydney. I leave tonight and when I arrive it will be Christmas eve :-D so here is where I wish you an extremely Merry Christmas and an awesome New Year. See you all in 2012!

Day 66 to 69 - Fraser Island & Rainbow beach, Queensland

Oh My Goodness ! ! :-D

Fraser Island is by far the best trip I have done so far in Oz. It was definitely worth the 16 hours spent on the bus. After a night in Rainbow beach in an ACTUAL bed we left for our 3 day/2 night self drive safari. There were eight of us in each 4WD and by happy coincidence we were put in a group with two english girls that we have been bumping into ever since Mission beach. Each car also got three tents, cooking facilities, plenty of food and a shovel (you don't want to know why). The first day there we went to the sand blow,  and lake Wabby. It was an easy half hour trek through the rainforest and when we reached the end it was amazing. Fraser Island is the worlds largest sand island, as well as a bit of a phenomenon as a rainforest has still managed to thrive on the island. The view was even more spectacular than Whitsundays and at the base of one of the the hills is a beautiful lake you can swim in. Day two we were up early again to get to Champagne falls before the tide beat us to it. This time a much shorter walk brought us to a small enclosed beach area surrounded by huge rocks and the waves crashing into and over them created an awesome sight. The sun even came out for us to get in a bit of sunbathing. The only thing that would have improved our time there is if someone had warned me and Rach how quickly the tide came in... when you're chilled out on your towel comtemplating life the last thing you want is a cold wave to come right up over your feet and nearly drench your towel - or in Rach's case gettinf wet yourself is bad enough because having been told there were no showering facilities she decided she wouldn't need a towel, oops :-). From here we ventured to Indian Head; a huge cliff face hanging out over the sea giving stunning views in all directions... even down if your brave enough to look :-\ . We then drove back down the beach to the Maheno ship wreck for some good old group photo's as a human pyramid :-) . Finally we stopped at Eli Creek. The water was ice cold and so shallow that if you lay down in it you scrapped knees, elbows, and for girls other protuding body parts, along the bottom. This however did not stop us getting in twice to let the current pull us back out to the beach. It was a simple but fun ending to the day and also a good way to wash a good amount of sand and salt off ourselves. The morning of our final day there we went to see Lake McKenzie and here the water was so unbelievably clear you would have happily started drinking it... unless your group are looking at you like a morron for even suggesting it and pointing out how many bodies had already been swimming around in it :-( .

As well as the sightseeing, the driving and the camping was also awesome. Driving on sand is an interesting experience :-\ . There were people in my group far better at it than me but I am glad I had a go. Camping was also great fun. The food was actually and best I have cooked so far on this trip - steak, chips, and veg in a red wine sauce. It's even better when every other group has followed the suggested food list and ends up with over cooked meat and potato salad :-D . Even the occasional dingo sighting was exciting, and they only attacked camp once... tore open the bin, tore through one tent, and stole one bag of goon (wine).

Rainbow beach was nice too but it is just a launch pad for the Island, so a night there before and after the trip was all we needed.

Day 60 to 65 - Whitsunday Island & Airlie Beach, Queensland

B E A Utiful!

We have just spent two nights on a boat cruising around the Whitsunday Island and the Great Barrier Reef :-) . The island is said to be the 3rd best island in the world and it isn't hard to see why. The water is absolutely clear blue so you can see everything in it, from the brightly coloured coral to the tiny white sharks that are almost transparent. The beaches are also stunning. We had a few hours to explore Whitehaven beach and the sand is so fine it looks pure white. The sand can even be used to exfoliate, polish jewellery, or whiten teeth. I tried the first two, but the later was a bit too much for me. Having sand in my mouth, no matter how pretty, is not something that appeals to me.

On the beach we also went for a paddle to see what fish we could find and we found sharks! :-) OK so they were 1 meter long and swimming around us when we weren't even knee deep in water, but, they were amazing none the less. My travel buddy (Rach) did attempt to run after one but, funnily enough, it could swim away faster than she could run through water :-O

On the reef we were given free snorkelling gear so we could do some more exploring. I got excited last time we were out on the reef because the fish were so big... but they were TINY compared to the fish we found here. The crew actually had to warn us because a lot of people see how big they are and freak out.

The boat trip itself was also great. The crew were hilarious as well as being really helpful and informative and the others on the boat were all lovely and so much fun. The food supplied was AMAZING and there was plenty of it, so fat greedy people (like Rach and I) could have seconds and thirds :-D . There was also a good supply of alcohol going around so our last night we had ourselves a little party...

The other nights aren't really very exciting in comparison. Airlie beach is still lovely though. We got very excited at the hostel as we found our room not only had an ensuite, but had an actual bath in it :-) ... with no plug... :-\ . We have also made fools of ourselves parading around the beach and the lagoon in bikinis and a santa hat! A lot of people stared, some laughed, and some even came over and asked if they could take pictures of us... who needs performing monkeys when you have performing blondes :-) Anyway, after that embarressment I am glad to be leaving Airlie tonight... even if I am going to be getting on a bus for 16 hours :-\ get ready for that blog entry...

Day 57/58/59 - Magnetic Island, Queensland

Today you are all very lucky people because you get to read a guest blog. Which means I am feeling too lazy to write anything so Rachel, my new travel buddy, is going to blog for me :-) . Enjoy...

Magnetic island...what an adventure. We arrived to a very sticky heat at about eight at night and immediately we loved the place. Unlike the usual hostels we stay in, this felt like a proper back packers place with log cabins only yards from the beach-the place was absolutely stunning. After a quick nosy around, a good pee stop at the toilets, we headed to the bar where we sat with four danish guys who we had met previously in cairns. Unfortunately for us blondes, we were not willing to spend much on drinks, so thought a bit of innocent flirting was necessary to rehydrate us in the thirty degrees heat. A few drinks later and we all caught the mini bus/clapped out banger to a local pub where we carried on dancing until the early hours. What we soon realised at magnetic island is that its not exactly what we would call a 'happening place for night life lovers',  a night in this bar, surrounded by wilderness would certainly have been apt for every granny and their cup of coco-no offence to all the elders out there!

The second day at magnetic was proberly our most laid back since we had arrived on the east coast, I think the most energetic activity me and Cass got up to was deciding what outfit to wear for the night ahead-we are such girls! After a nice relaxing day at the pool and on the stunning beach that the hostel looked onto, we had some punch for free!!!...music to my ears! It was ladies night which meant all girls got free punch, or comically if you were a guy dressed in a ladies attire, you were also eligable for free drink. Needless to say, plenty of punch was involved, some great if not slightly concerning dancing going down by the lady boys...all in all it was a great night.

To make up for our fatty friendly/non productive day previously, Cass and i thought it was about time we hunted down some koalas, and so proceeded to go on a two hour walk up a designated route which is known for having koalas. Its often the case I have discovered that having two traveling buddies who are both blonde, isn't always ideal-especialy when we both forget its necessary to take any sort if water with us whilst climbing up steep hills at thirty five degrees...what a mare!! Fortunately someone out there decided it was highly likely that two blondes would one day partake in this trek and cleverely had a water tap at the foot of the hill-i have never been so pleased to see a make shift water supply in my life.

Unfortunately for us, we didn't spot any koalas, and instead burned about twenty percent of our body fat in sweat - sexy ladies! However it was a great day for a jaunt up to the famous fort of magnetic island...it was only when we returned that day did the adventure really begin.

Unbeknown to us, we found out after we returned to our hostel, that we would have to get the ferry back to townsville before midnight that night as our bus from townsville in the morning was before the first ferry... blonde moment numero deux!! The quickly came the realisation that we were both too tight to pay for another nights accommodation, and so proceeded to try and sleep on the ferry stations bench outside-best night of my life naaaaaat!! After the zillionth game of cards, and rehashing old stories from our previous lives in good old britain we both settled down, counted to one thousand and back and endeavoured to sleep...I can frankly say it was the worst nights sleep of my life, never to be repeated, but thank God we had each other...go team blonde!!

And so this is it, goodbye magnetic island...and goodbye from cassies new and slightly blonder side kick :-)

Day 56/57 - Mission beach, Queensland

WARNING: epic post.

GET HIGH. GET WET. GET LAID.

That is what I have done during my stay at Misson Beach. Except we did it backwards. We laid down in bed, by the pool, in the pool, etc and stayed there for nearly a day. Then we spent a day getting wet white water rafting on the Tully river. Finally we got high, 14,000 ft high and jumped out of a plane :-) .

Mission beach is very pretty and very relaxed but unless you have booked some crazy activities there isn't really anything to do. Lucky we booked the 2 day mission then :-)

White water rafting was amazing. We made it clear to the organisers that we wanted extreme, even though we couldn't afford to pay for it, and they said they would give us the most extreme guide they had. They definitely did. We took all the hardest routes. We flipped the boat sideways just for fun. We dove head first into a rapid and the guide pushed us all out the boat. Finally I volunteered to sit on the very front of the boat and ride it down a rapid. The whole day was amazing and even just the view from the boat was worth paying for. We had gorgeous sunny weather for most of the day as well as a sudden brief downpour which just added to the excitement.

Then today it got even better. We left early in the morning to go Sky diving at Mission beach. We jumped from 14,000 ft and had a 60 second freefall. It was probably the longest 60 seconds of my life, staring down at the ocean and the great barrier reef, a stunning stretch of beaches, and a rainforest. There really isn't anything I can say that would do the experience justice, only that I absolutely loved it!

Day 54/55 - Mission beach, Queensland

WARNING: miserable post.

I have no signal! This may not sound like a big deal to some of you, and you may be thinking how sad it is that we can't cope without mobile phones, but... when you need to ring to book the next stage of your trip and you don't have a landline, or pay phones, or even a town you can walk to that has signal, it is a big problem. However, the poor woman at reception has been receptive to our panicing and has rung aroung for us.
(No signal also means you can't text or ring anyone when you get a bit down and so feeling home sick is inevitable)

Moan #2 - It's raining. Now I can't complain too much because it is so hot I am still chilling in the pool in the rain, and walking around in shorts and t-shirts. However, it did mean we spent a day doing nothing, waiting to sky dive, just to get to the end of the day and be told we'd have to re-book :-( Luckily we have been able to change our plans and rebook, and we got over the fact we wasted a day totally bored out of our minds, because, at the end of the day, we are still in Australia...

Moan #3 -  The internet died for about 16 hours just after I had paid for 24 hours worth. Again this is a huge deal when you want to book accomodation and transport etc...

Day 53 - Cairns, Great Barrier Reef

What a day!

I scuba dived for the first time today, and I did it on the outer Great Berrier Reef - the most untouched part. It was amazing. The guys teaching us were so much fun and really attentive so I felt completely confident when we first went under. We were also only in a group of three whilst diving and we stuck with the instructor so my silly fears of bumping into a shark were eased.

When we wern't having our diving lesson we were given snorkelling gear so we could continue to explore the reef. The fish and coral I saw were incredible. I wasn't expecting the fish to be as big as they were, or as colourful, and if you dive down a short distance you find even bigger and even more beautiful fish. One was SO big, and had really big funny looking lips, I ended up engrossed and followed it for quite a while so I left the main area of the reef... oops :-) .

We got back on land late afternoon and the day was so amazing we were on an absolute high! That lasted until we got back to the hostel and the exhaustion kicked in. The plan was to nap, have dinner, ring my Nan for a chat, and go to bed. What actually happened was I laid down for my pre-dinner nap at 6pm and woke up the next morning. Sorry Nan, I shall have to ring you another day.

Day 52 - Cape Tribulation, Queensland

My East Coast adventure has officially started now and I kicked things off with a jungle and river tour in the Daintree National Park - the worlds oldest rainforest. What a way to start...

It wasn't the most exciting trip I have booked but it was still incredible. The rainforest was like nothing I have ever seen before and the beach at Cape Tribulation was stunning as well. We desperately wanted to go in the sea but were informed we did so at our own risk, the risk being a 90% chance you would get stung by a jelly fish, so we decided against it. We were also taken to the Wildlife Habitat where I had kangaaroos eat out of my hand and held a koala :-) . B the way, koalas smell really bad :-\ . There was also a bit of excitement when we were walking around looking at all the birds as one of the species is apparently very friendly and decided to follow us. One of the birds in particular took a liking to an american girl I met. For a while we weren't sure if she was ever going to get off the walkway as the bird seemed to have her cornered. Eventually she made a run for it, but lost a flip flop in the process. I was then volunteered to go on the flip flop rescue mission which turned out harder than I expected. At first I was concerned, from the evil started the bird was giving me, that I wouldn't get the shoe without being pecked. Secondly, once I had the shoe giving it back was a struggle as the bird had decided to follow me, meaning the owner of the shoe wouldn't come close enough to take it. We did however manage to escape in the end and she was reunited with her flip flop :-) .

Back in Cairns in the evening I met up with the girls after dinner for a drink. It was a lovely chilled out evening sitting between the lagoon swimming pool and the beach... and then the vodka came out... and then free champagne for ladies was discovered... and then...

Day 50/51 - Cairns, Queensland

Is it possible to speed in a plane? If it is then our pilot definietly did. The plane was over an hour late departing Sydney and we arrived in Cairns less than 20 mins late.

Anyway, once off the plane the heat hit us instantly. The hostel we booked is like its own little oasis not too far from town with its own pool and bar. Its beautiful. Stepping out of our room we are greeted with palm trees and other plants and then just around the corner is the pool with a rock formation and fountain. We decided to explore the rest of Cairns as we figured it must be just as gorgeous so we stepped out of the hostel and were greeted with a really big parking lot. We found the contrast amusing but we are about 20 minutes walk from town so it does get better.

Our first attempt exploring and we got lost, but then you would if you went out without taking a map, looking at any road names, or even knowing the address of where you're staying. The second attempt, the next day, however was much better. After a dip in the pool we took the free bus into town and discovered it's actually lovely here. The view from the esplanade is gorgeous and there is a free public swimming pool right next to the beach. After exploring, and falling in love with Cairns, we walked home - and actually knew where we were going this time. Then back into town in the evening for a free backpacker meal, and even more food when we found an irresistable night market.