Cairns & the Atherton Tablelands - again!

We arrived in Cairns at about 6pm and checked into Global Waterfront backpackers - the 3rd time I'd stayed there!
We used our $5 meal vouchers and headed to P.J O'Briens Irish pub for food and some drinks! Becca had the steak and I had the chicken parma, for $5 it was pretty good! Got a glass of wine included in the price too! We had a couple more drinks before heading back to the hostel.
The next day we went shopping to look for a new camera to replace the one I broke on Magnetic Island! Managed to find a good one. After having always had Canon cameras I decided I wanted a changed and went for a Sony one! So far it seems pretty good!
We had sushi for lunch which was yum, then went for a walk around Cairns to take some photos and sat by the lagoon.

In the evening we went on a pub crawl which was really fun! Started at P.J O'Briens and went to a few different bars, getting a free drink in each one! I managed to get a second free drink in one of the bars by being the best Macarena dancer!! Haha! It was a good night and I think it was about 3am when we got to bed!

The next day we just stayed at the lagoon as we were pretty tired, before picking up our hire car as I was taking Becca to meet Mike and Tracy at the guesthouse in Malanda! It was really good to see Mike and Tracy again! Becca had brought a few things from Wales for them, like some Bara Brith and a calendar with photos on North Wales on it. I think they liked them! That evening me and Becca where treated to a meal out, then later on I showed them the video of my skydive!

The next morning we said goodbye to Mike and Tracy and we set off on our little Tablelands adventure! I took Becca to Lake Eacham where we found some turtles swimming in the lake, we went to Yungaburra and discovered a really cool cafe which had loads of cool arts and crafts thing to buy. I also took her to the Curtain Fig Tree, a place Tracy had taken me and Sarah to the first time we went to Malanda. Then we headed to Kuranda as I'd really liked it there last time we went. But unfortunately most of the shops were closing so we didn't get to see much.

Soon enough it was time to return the car the Cairns airport, and catch our flight to Melbourne. After having spent nearly 6 months there, it was time to say goodbye to Queensland!

Mission Beach

I was really excited about getting to Mission Beach as I was meeting my sister there! Hadn't seen her for over 6 months!
Got the ferry back to Townsville from Magnetic Island where I got the 12 o'clock bus to Mission Beach. I got there at about 3.40pm and Becca was waiting for me at the bus stop - complete with a pair of crutches as she'd fractured her ankle back at home!
We stayed at a really cool hostel called Scotty's, the dorms all surrounded a big outdoor area with hammocks, a pool and sun loungers etc! It was a really good place to chill out! 
We didn't do much the first evening as Becca was jetlagged and I was pretty tired from the Full Moon Party the night before, so we had an early night, as the next day was a big day - jumping out of a plane!!!

The hostel

Got up quite early the next morning ready for our skydives! To say I was nervous would be a bit of an understatement! We got picked up from the hostel and taken to the skydive office where we were given a form to sign stating all the risks involved - it was pretty scary and it took my a while to actually sign it after the warnings that many people have died from skydiving!!!
I decided to go for the most expensive option and had my own personal cameraman who would jump out of the plane at the same time, to film my skydive and take photos. The other option was for the guy I was attached to to have a handheld video camera, but I decided I wanted his only focus to be on opening the parachute!
So after filling in the form I did a quick interview for my skydive video, then met my instructor Mike, who was really cool. He kept making jokes about how he tried not to drop people as it's too much paperwork for him! But he was really nice and kept chatting to me to take my mind off what I was about to do!
Before leaving we had a quick lesson on the best position to be in for the free fall and how to land, then it was time to go! We had to get the bus again to the runway where the plane takes off. We had to wait a while because it was cloudy and they had to wait for a gap in the cloud so it was safe to jump.

Before getting on the plane!

Soon enough it was time to get on the plane! Mike chatted to me the whole way, pointing out the banana trees and telling me random facts about Mission Beach - none of which I can remember as my mind was slightly preoccupied!
Once the plane got to 14,000ft it was time to jump! I was second to go so had to watch the first guy leave the plane, it was pretty freaky as he literally just disappeared! Becca was 2nd to last so got to watch me - she said my face was a picture! I was hoping for a couple of minutes to prepare myself but as soon as the first guy was gone I was suddenly sat at the edge of the plane, and before I knew it I was falling through the air!!! It was crazy, but amazing! 

I don't look too happy here!

The freefall was so cool, seemed a lot quicker than 1 minute though. One thing I couldn't believe was how close my cameraman Pete was to me - he was literally right in front of me. It was cool though, he kept doing silly things to make me laugh, and trying to get me to do stupid things back to him - didn't really work though as at first I felt paralyzed with fear!! But eventually I managed to do a quick thumbs up and even blew him a kiss!

It was quite a shock when the parachute actually went up, there was a bit of a jolt, my ears popped, then all of a sudden we went from free falling really fast to slowly gliding through the sky. At this point we'd gone through the clouds so I could appreciate the amazing view of Mission Beach, and it really was amazing! Could see the Great Barrier Reef and everything!
The landing went much more smoothly than I thought, I didn't fall over which was good! Had a quick post skydive interview for my video then it was all over - seemed to go so fast! It was amazing though and definitely something I'll do again!

While waiting for my photos and DVD to be ready, me and Becca went for a well deserved drink! I introduced her to Aussie Strongbow - much better than the rubbish we have in the UK!

We didn't do much for the rest of the day - I was kind of in a blur, couldn't believe I'd actually jumped out of a plane!
We decided to go out for tea that night, we went to a place right next to the hostel and had kangaroo and a few glasses of wine. Sat with some other people from the hostel so had a nice evening chatting to them.

The next day was white water rafting day! Becca stayed at the hostel as it wasn't really a good idea for her with her bad ankle! But at least the weather was good and she could sunbathe by the pool - my tan is way better than hers so she needed to at least attempt to catch up!
White water rafting was really fun, and a bit scary at times! The rapids were crazy! I was lucky though and only fell out once! Everyone now and again we were allowed to jump out of the boat and swim along the river with the current from the rapids drifting us along. We also got to stop and jump off a massive rock into the water which was fun!
It was a full day trip so we had 2 hours in the morning, then lunch then another 2 hours so it was quite tiring! On one of the rapids our instructor told us to all sit at the back of the boat huddled up together - this meant that when we got to the bottom of the rapid the boat flipped and we all fell in the water! It was fun though!

Just cruising along...

Crazy rapids!!

Got back to the hostel at about 4pm, had a good chilled out evening before having to check out the next morning. We spent the next day chilling out by the hostel pool before getting our bus at 3.40pm to Cairns!

Magnetic Island

Early start on 26th, got the bus at 7am from Airlie Beach to Townsville. Arrived at about 11.30am but had to wait about 2 hours to get the ferry over to Magnetic Island.

The ferry journey took about 20 minutes, and once I got to Magnetic Island I checked into Base Hostel which was right on the beach! The dorms were all in little cabins and there was a swimming pool and bar both overlooking the beach.

After I'd got settled I went for a walk over to Picnic Bay. It was a pretty little beach area but it was like a ghost town, all the beach front shops and cafes were closed and there was no one around! It was a bit creepy. So I took a few photos then walked back to the hostel. Went for a drink in the bar in the evening as it was ladies night so all the girls got free cocktails!

Picnic Bay

The next day I bought a day ticket for the bus and set off to explore more of the island. I went on the Forts Walk which is well known for being able to see wild koalas! It was quite a tiring walk and flip flops probably weren't the best footwear, but it was worth it because I saw 3 koalas!!! They were really cute. The walk took about 2 hours and went up a hill to a fort overlooking most of the island, so there were some pretty good views!

After the walk I got the bus over to Horseshoe Bay which is the opposite end of the island to my hostel. It was a really nice beach with lots of watersports etc. I treated myself to some chips and sat on the beach watching the world go by! I then got the bus back to the hostel where I chilled out for a bit before going to get my free meal for tea! I decided to be healthy and have a chicken salad seeing as I'd eaten so many chips for lunch! I had an early night as the next evening was the full moon party!

Horseshoe Bay

On Friday I decided to take advantage of the free snorkel hire so got the bus to Florence Bay, but it was about a half hour walk from the bus stop, up some quite steep hills and in 30 degree heat - not fun! And when I got there and went in the sea the visibility was rubbish as the water was really sandy, so I couldn't see anything! So I just sunbathed on the beach for a while.

Florence Bay

That evening it was party time! As it was Halloween it was a fancy dress party. I met some cool people in my dorm so hung out with them most of the evening, they were all dressed as crayons which was pretty funny! I was a pirate :) I also bumped into a few people I'd met up the coast which was nice. But it was such an expensive night! Tickets were $20, and drinks were stupidly expensive. They were mimicking the Thailand full moon parties by serving drinks in buckets! But instead of being really cheap like in Thailand, they were $15 a bucket, and it was just a double vodka and coke!! Oh well, it was still a fun night up until I managed to break my camera! So I don't have any photos of the party :(

Think I got to bed at about 4am, and had to check out the next morning at 10am. I didn't get out of bed until about 9:50 so it was a bit of a rush getting packed and ready. But it was an exciting day as I was meeting my sister in Mission Beach!!!!

Airlie Beach & The Whitsundays

Managed to sleep for quite a lot of the 11 hour journey to Airlie Beach. We got there at about 6pm and checked into Base hostel.
Our Oz Experience bus driver booked a table at the Down Under Bar so we could all meet up for drinks that night, my quiz team also claimed our free jug of cider! After a few drinks there we moved on to a club called Mama Africa. It was ok but a bit expensive!
The next day was raining :( so all I did was head out at 2pm to check in for my Whitsundays boat trip which was the following day (21st-23rd Oct).

It was still raining the next morning which was annoying! Got on the Boomerang sailing yacht just after lunch and we were given a massive platter of fruit to eat! I decided to take sea sickness prevention tablets, I'm glad I did because the sea was pretty rough! We were introduced to our captain, Cane, and the other 2 crew members, Ash and Justin.

It rained throughout the whole first sail so we all got drenched. We looked funny though all sat at the side of the boat with yellow waterproof jackets on! It eventually stopped raining at our first location where we went snorkeling! It was really good, the reef was really high up so we could see the coral and lots of fish. I saw a lot of Dorys from Finding Nemo!!
Back on the boat we had a massive bowl of Nachos waiting for us - yum! There will be a lot of food mentions in this post because the food on the Whitsundays trip was amazing! We just chilled out on the boat for the rest of the evening and Justin made us more amazing food for tea! Barbequed chicken, Thai curry sauce, rice and loads of salad.

The next day the sun was shining :) After breakfast we went for a snorkel which was even better than the day before as the visibility was a lot better. Had another fruit platter then BBQ sausages with salad, potato salad, pasta and fresh bread for lunch! After lunch we sailed to Whitehaven Beach - one of the 5th best beaches in the world! You could really see why! It was gorgeous. We walked round and lay on a beach for an hour or so, seeing some stingrays in the clear shallow water, before walking up to a lookout point with amazing views of the beach. 

More food now! We had a bit platter with olives, cheese, biscuits, sausage and sticks of pepper and carrot with a couple of dips. It was yum! Then we had a big spag bol for tea!
Our last and final day was just the long sail back to Airlie Beach. It was a lovely sunny day though, and I got to have a go at steering the boat! The sail was really fun, the boat tilted quite a lot so we all had to sit on the same side.

It was a really good trip, very hands on with the sailing, great food, fun snorkeling and an amazing beach! The only downside was that I expected to see more of the other islands. But it was still really fun!
We got back to Airlie Beach at about midday, so I went and checked back into Base to shower etc before meeting people from the boat for food and to watch the rugby final! Only 3 of us showed up though! Never mind. 

I had a couple more days in Airlie Beach just chilling out in the sun which was nice, I read a lot of my book which I hadn't had chance to do for ages! After a relaxing few days I was up bright at early for the 7am bus to Townsville on 26th October!

Kroombit Cattle Station!

Got on the bus at 7am the next morning (18th October) to go to Kroombit Cattle Station! We stopped at Rockhampton to pick up a few other people then had a trivia quiz on the bus as a way to get to know each other! My team won, even though the only questions I was able to answer were 2 disney related ones, a Harry Potter question and a Care Bears question!

We got to Kroombit at about 1pm where we were greeted with a tasty lunch! 
After checking in (which included being given a cowboy hat and bandana!) and putting our bags in our rooms it was time to sign up for the afternoons activities! There was a choice between horse riding or quad biking. Because I've recently done quad biking in Cairns I decided to go horse riding - something I hadn't done since I was about 12! I had one of the smallest horses called Flame. He was very well behaved though :)
We got to ride through the outback and muster the goats for the rodeo later in the afternoon which was fun! We had to ride up behind them and shout to make them move! 

I think we were probably horse riding for about 2 hours before getting back to the cattle station where it was time to learn how to lassoo the goats ready for the rodeo! Its not as easy as cowboys make it look!! The actual rodeo was really fun, we were in teams of three. I teamed up with 2 other girls, Eleni and Serena. The aim was to catch a goat with the lassoo and brand it with a metal thing (which was cold so didn't actually brand the goats!). The team who were the quickest won, which shockingly was us! We didn't win anything though.

Next we went back for our evening meal, a roast dinner - yum! We also got to try some goat meat which was quite nice, kind of tasted a bit like lamb. After tea we learned how to crack a whip and got to ride a mechanical bull which was fun!

Had a few drinks before having a relatively early night as we had to be up at 6am to check out, have breakfast and get the 7am bus for our 11 hour journey to Airlie Beach!