Jungle Surfing!

We have had... guess what... a fair bit of rain since we arrived in Port Douglas! But it is a pretty little town with a nice marina, cute little church and lovely seafood restaurants. And I can't remember if I said before but we were reunited with Wendy, our Canadian friend we met in Sydney, and she is doing Ayers Rock with us too. Not to mention lots of shops here for the girls to blow their budgets in!

The first full day we spent here (yesterday) was raining alot on and off and we just chilled around, popped to the shops, went out for a smoothie etc - as you do living the life of travelling, eh! The hostel is ok, a little quirky but fine, as long as you don't really want to cook in the kitchen along with the minute ants that lurk around... We did cook the first night when we got here but last night we went out for a nice chinese meal, yum yum.

So today we decided we should do something with our time since we are no longer on an organised tour, and because the weather was too windy for our Great Barrier Reef snorkelling trip, we decided to try Jungle Surfing!

This is me!!! Zip sliding.

This meant we had to hire a car for the day at the last minute (thanks to Deb and Kate for sharing the driving), and as Stace and Wendy (our Canadian friend who we met in Sydney) didn't fancy it, they stayed in Port Douglas for the day. So we took a little road trip up to Cape Tribulation...

It was great fun! Only not long enough if you ask me, though Julie begged to differ. We had five different zip slides to go between among the trees, and we did this up at Cape Tribulation.

(Kate and Debs here)

We donned some helmets and attractive harneses (spelt right?!?) and set off zipping among the slides. You had to sit down then slide yourself off of the edge which was the scariest part if you asked me, I loved sliding along the tree tops. Julie thinks I am mad though. (Next one is Julie)

The first one was preparation, the second and third we did as pairs, sliding along together, the fourth was alone and a fast one and then the final one was upside down! We had to wrap our legs around the top and hang, it was so cool. This one is me...As you can see I have finally worked out that you can change the quality of the videos on my camera to really low, that doesnt help with my surprise videos as they are too huge to upload but it does mean if I record future ones on low quality I can share them here. This might not look quite as high or scary as it was, but just think the video doesn't do it justice...

Further up the East Coast...

Leaving Airlie Beach where we sailed from, we moved onto Magnetic Island, which is what you can see in the distance here. It was really nice and we had a hostel directly on the beach front, we only wished we had more than just one night here as we didn't arrive until late and then left first thing in the morning to head up to Cairns.

We visited a crocodile farm on our way up to Cairns, our last day with our bus too which was very sad. They were huge!!! We got to hold the baby ones, but their mouths were secured closed haha, thankfully. There was also a snake which you could hold, I didn't bother going for that one but the stupid guide did decide to chase Katie with it, even though she has a real bad phobia of them, and chased her right onto our bus so that she was trapped, it was awful. Stupid, stupid man! She is ok now though.

Then it was off to finish our drive to Cairns and a last night out with our bus - we are really going to miss them, we had some great characters! We had a night out at Woolsheds for those that know it to say goodbye to everyone and it felt really strange. We got to wash dry and straighten our hair too - wahoo!
There was of course a bit of dancing on the tables from the girls, which was encouraged at this place I might add. We checked out the following morning and made our way up to Port Douglas on a shuttle bus yesterday as it is supposed to be much nicer up here for snorkelling and seeing the Great Barrier Reef than back at Cairns. It was very humid so we just had a little walk around and some lunch and then the rain came down and the floods went whoosh!!! Seriously, such a heavy downpour that I would have video'd it if the thing would load on here! This is where we are now staying for four days to do our Great Barrier Reef trip etc...

Parrot Fish Lodge

It has rained on and off so badly since we got here, I am not joking when I say it rained. There is apparently a two-headed or two-eyed cyclone out at sea which is causing the bad weather. Hmmm. We don't like. We are hoping it will clear up but it is because we are not sure if we will get to do our snorkelling trip to the Great Barrier Reef yet - fingers crossed!

Are you missing us all? Paige, Tia, Callum and Anya - I hope school is going well and you are looking after everyone for me! Lots of love.

Ahoy there, matey!

So sailing around the Whitsunday islands... quite possibly our favourite part of the Australia trip so far. We had a brilliant time, it was so much fun!

The night before we boarded, we had a ten hour drive to stay at Airlie Beach and our hostel was gross with a capital G. There was a frog in our shower and animal droppings in the bathroom, nice. Our clue should have been when she said 'The six bed studio you can all share is just along the road and it hasn't been used in a while...!'. We just decided to grin and bear it as was only for one night. The next day we headed to board Boomerang, our home for the next few days but we were slightly worried as it was pouring with rain. I swear, the rain is following us up the coast as apparently it is unsual to have this much right now.

This is Stacey and Michael, messing around as we always were!

We were introduced to our crazy crew - Kane, Max and Trevor, who were all pretty funny and all pretty crazy! Then it was onto where we were sleeping... all I can say is that I am glad I am small! The beds were really squashed in and we had double beds over the top of single beds which was slightly worrying as they were so claustrophic, you couldn't sit up in the night or you would bang your head, but it was fine once we slept there.

We had our first drenching of the day but after that it cleared up and the sun came out - hooray! Once we left the harbour some of us had to volunteer to put the sails up etc and off we went.

We all had to sit on one side of the boat as the other side tips right up almost to touch the waters edge - can you tell how much it slants as we sail along from this photo? It was such good fun, sailing along in the sun and breeze looking out onto the ocean!

Our first stop for snorkelling was Caves Cove on Hook Island, where we donned our ever-so-flattering sting suits to swim with some amazing fish. Wasn't too keen on all the things that could sting us!

That evening we moored around the other side of Hook Island and the sky was so beautiful, as we bobbed along on the water and had a delicious dinner. Considering the facilities on the boat, the freshly prepared food was always amazing.

We just sat around on deck all evening, having some drinks and lots of laughs. The next morning it was a 7am wake up call by the sound of the boat engine starting! We definitely didn't need any other alarm clock that was for sure. Life can't be bad when you get to sit eating your breakfast looking out at the ocean in the sun! We sailed onto Whitehaven beach which was supposed to be amazing and we weren't disappointed. It was truly stunning and I don't think this photo does it justice. We had an hour there and got some lovely sunshine in again before it started pouring!

We had another snorkelling session in the evening, more fantastic food and some long drinks again on deck. We really didn't want to leave, it was so nice! The girls entertained the rest of the boat with some dancing to YMCA and other cheese, very amusing. Katie also put our Italian friend Franchy's orange speedos on to run around the boat which was hilarious. There were some beautiful fish which illuminated through the water at night which were lovely and we took more lovely sunset photos, quite different to the night before.

More windy sailing followed the next day on our way back to the harbour with one final snorkel stop - this is us three clinging on for dear life as you all had to sit in the middle of the boat while they moved the sails - it was very difficult!

And our trip wouldn't have been complete without another complete downpour. I had my raincoat with me but do you like the delights the girls got to wear? They had to have a little dance in it, naturally, while helping to bring the sail down!

That was where our trip ended sadly as we had great fun despite the rain as we had alot of sunshine too. We want to become sailors now!!!

Carnarvon Gorge - National Park

We moved on from the cattle station onto Carnarvon Gorge National Park for a couple of nights, where we stayed in canvas cabins and experienced the camping atmosphere - including kookaburra's waking us up at unearthly hours with their noises! Kangeroos run around wild here so it is quite strange to come out of the shower block to find a kangeroo munching away on grass right in front of you.

Julie got quite taken by the wildlife, think this must be your influence James. We refrain from commenting on that haha. We arrived late in the evening and we joined another Oz experience bus, as it was our turn to cook for everyone tonight with the favour returned the next night. Well I say our turn to cook, but it was supposed to be Simo our bus driver but when some of the girls went to see if he needed help he hadn't even started! Stace and Julie ended up taking over and organising it all, goodness knows what time we would have eaten otherwise!

We had an absolutely hysterical moment when this blimmin' great big stick insect decided to join us for tea!!! First of all it landed on Heather on the back of her head, and it was huge so she started freaking out trying to get it off. She knocked it straight onto Stacey's hip but as she was so engrossed in sorting out dinner she had absolutely no idea so there I was whacking away at Stacey's hip and she just let me do it, taking no notice at all! Eventually she realised it was there and did a hop skip and a jump around the gas rings to get this thing off, only to flip it straight onto my bag!!! For some reason I didn't freak like I usually would so after we got the silly thing off someone else knocked it onto the bbq. oops a daisy. The next morning it was still on the floor alive, but I think it might have had slightly burnt feet!

After a night of sleep (and a little snoring!) we set out for a 15k walk. Thankfully the weather had cooled down and it was just right for our trek. We had lots of creek crossings, this photo here is of us English Roses with our little German Sausage, Michael. We saw a snake along the way, Katie was none too impressed but Julie just wanted to get closer and closer to get some good photos for James. I don't know if she had selective hearing when Simo said this WAS a deadly snake! We saw some Aboriginal Art, a Moss Garden and the amphitheatre cave which was all fun. That was about it and another night of 'Kookaburra six in the old gum tree...' sleep before we headed off on the next leg the following morning.

Day Two at Kroombit Cattle Station...

So day two on the cattle ranch... and with it brought many more happy memories and hysterical laughter! I know from home it is hard to imagine all of the things we are doing so I thought I would give you a little insight into our accomodation to start with. These are the lovely cabins we stayed in, cute don't you think?

The ever so slightly cramped rooms and squeaky bunk beds leave a lot to be desired but the effect is good and it was reasonably clean so that was ok. Bet it makes you wish you were sleeping with us eh!

Then this was where we ate our meals, al fresco.

And our chef... oh so many photos I want to share but they take so long to upload!

It was very traditional and I find it so hard to imagine living like this permanently. So, onto our first activity of the day and that was a "gentle hike" up to the top of a mountain to learn the didgeridoo. Easy, you might think, blowing into a tube but not quite so! But we had fun trying. The heat was pretty tough though.

We then strolled back down the hill to practice the art of chopping your fellow traveller's heads off! Well at least that is what Debs thought the idea was of using the boomerang - she was dangerous with that thing and although only about 10% of boomerangs are actually designed to come back, unfortunately hers did, with a vengeance! I didn't get a shot of her though as I was too busy ducking, so here is Julie instead.
After an early lunch it was out for a spot of horseriding to do a goat muster! That was really good fun. I had the cutest old horse, Freckles, and yes I did ask for an old horse so that it wasn't capable of galloping off with me into the sunset!!! That was brilliant, we had to shout 'eh, up! up! up!' at the goats as we rounded them all up into their pen.

This was for the purpose of our goat rodeo to follow which was just hilarious! I can't tell you how funny these things are to do, just shouting the above was funny enough. Anyway, the idea was to pair up (I went with Michelle as the others wouldn't go with me!) and one had to chase the goat and one has to brand it with an imitation hot iron. Well my goat was a fast little wotsit and also decided to take a running leap at the fence and pelt backwards so it took me about 50 seconds just to catch it!!! The others were laughing so much at me running around the ring. I eventually caught it and you had to drag it back to the centre by its horns, then your partner runs to grab the poker meanwhile I am grabbing two legs, crossing them over and heaving this goat onto it's back! I managed it and even said sorry to the goat afterwards as I felt really bad ;o(

So after our goat rodeo, feeling pretty exhausted from our muster, rodeo and horse riding we were thinking yea, we are ready to go back now and have a bit of a chill. But oh no! More was to come! We then went onto clay pigeon shooting. Now I've never done this before in my life, or imagined I would ever do it, but I managed to hit one on my fifth and final shot! It was great fun, I loved it. Stace also found a hidden talent for it too.

The last part of the action day was to hold hands and share the love. Apparently! But luckily some of us pulled out as we as started to realise all was not what it seemed. Julie was still game and took part in some crazy electrified sensation that was passed around the group! Fair play to her. Then Kate had a go too. Me, well my hair is frizzy enough so I stayed out of that one. How funny is this photo of Julie???

The evening only brought more entertainment with the bucking bronto! We were the only bus here this night so we were more inclined to make a fool of ourselves. Some of the girls managed a couple more than the night before and Katie didn't repeat her fall - but here are the photos as promised of the night before as they were just too funny to miss off. I even stayed on for 12 or 13 bucks this time - not sure what is happening to me out here, I'm finding hidden talents I didn't know I had!!!

On our way out of this crazy town the next morning we got to play lawn bowls, what on earth was that about?!? Felt like we had reached retirement age slightly early but it was quite intriguing as I have never done it before. Won't bore you with photos of that though as I'm sure you get the idea. Then it was off for a long drive to Carnarvon Gorge National Park. We are loving the bus! Well the people anyway, we have such funny fellow travellers - German, Italian, English, Canadian, French and Finish - and all very amusing.

Sorry you'll have to wait for my sailing update but we had the best time! It was so much fun we are thinking of becoming sailors! Don't forget to check out the other two blogs for more versions of the funny stories, http://www.thegirlsareaway.blogspot.com/ and http://www.burnettisbackpacking.blogspot.com/.

Jenx

Kroombit Cattle Station - Day One

Well soooo much to tell about these couple of days that we spent at Kroombit Cattle Station, it was such an amusing couple of days I can't really explain it to do it justice! It is a working cattle farm so it was really good to be a part of something authentic rather than just put on for tourists, although there is of course an element of that still.

We arrived on Friday night to find out that Friday night is.... cross dressing party night! I'm not sure what we thought about that idea first of all but we were given a couple of big boxes of clothes to dig into, and everyone got into the spirit of it! We laughed so much, it was just hilarious.

We had dinner cooked on their camp fire of soup and then roasted meat with vegetables etc, that was nice. Then they have their little make-shift bar which was just funny to have drinks with.

This second one is Jen and Heather, two Canadian girls on our bus. And Michael, our German friend, who is just absolutely hilarious and great fun to have on the bus.

We were given the chance to learn how to 'crack the whip' which is alot harder than it looks. You can throw it up and down to hit the floor quite easily but to make it crack is not so easy to do! We all had a good go though and got ourselves on the arm a couple of times, and I managed to make it almost crack once haha. The goggles slightly ruin the look though, don' t you think?

You haven't heard the best though - the funniest part of the night was by far the mechanical bull!!! We could not stop laughing, so much til our stomachs hurt. We have video'd some of our attempts at getting on and riding this bull and you will have to see them when we are home as they are just hysterical. We keep watching them on the bus and laughing out loud!

Katie was by far the most entertaining of the night! Being used to riding horses, and seeing how everyone else was struggling even get on the bull, she lunged herself up onto it but was perhaps a little over ambitious in her judgement, flopped right over the other side, hung there for about five seconds trying to decide mid air whether she could claw her dignity back and oopps - no! There she goes, straight over the other side onto the landing mat! I was almost wetting myself with laughter and she couldn't get up for her giggling. (*photos will follow). I think we have a video of that, you must see it if you want a giggle. I think Deb managed to stay on til her second buck, the others all came off on the first buck and I somehow managed to stay on til my fifth buck! It was so funny as everyone just wets themselves laughing at you but it was so entertaining.

The rest of the stories will follow on... we are off sailing around the Whitsunday islands now for three days (though it is actually raining right now!)

xx

Sea Kayaking at Rainbow Beach

On the morning that we returned from Fraser Island we went sea kayaking - we were due to go before Fraser Island but had to split our group into two and as it was raining, we volunteered to wait! We were glad we did too as it was lovely and sunny on our morning, even if it did mean up at 6am for it!

We were supposed to be spotting dolphins too but as it is near the end of the right time of year we didn't see any, though kayaking was great fun so it didn't matter. We paddled right out and then drifted for a while looking, then got off at a little sand island for a bit. Paddling was fine - Stace and I shared a boat, but getting out wasn't quite so easy... as we went up onto the sand bank I started to get out and a big wave came along and knocked me sideways straight into the sea! Up to my waist anyway. Kate and Deb thought it was hilarious and so did I, but then as we were finishing kayaking their boat turned sideways and completely knocked them out into the sea and turned their boat upside down! We did laugh. As we are with most of the things we are doing - we are all having a great time!

After kayaking we set off on our long bus ride (they get so boring we just sleep and listen to our ipods!) and we stopped at a small little town for lunch. That's one of the great things about these tours is that they take you via places you wouldn't usually see - I mean, this town looks like it is something out of a time warp doesn't it?