Airlie Beach & Whitsunday Islands

We drove into a sunny and very beautiful Airlie Beach and headed to our hostel, Base X. 

We were staying here as we had a voucher and there were no free rest sites nearby and we were able to park up and stay in the camper. After grabbing a quick lunch of chocolate spread toast we headed to Airlie Beach lagoon, which wasn't dissimilar to Cairns lagoon (this is not the picture, but the view from our lagoon spot). We were lucky with the weather and it was perfectly sunny and we even managed a quick dip and a suntan.

The following day we were booked onto an Ocean Rafting tour of the Whitsunday Islands. Now if you don't know what this is, I suggest you google it as it is pure heaven, literally and you'll want to book a trip to Australia on just seeing a picture. Unfortunately we weren't blessed with the weather that you will have seen on google but at least it wasn't raining. 

Ocean Rafting is this insanely fast speed boat and we quickly arrived on Whitehaven Beach (5th best beach in the world). The sand was pure white silica and the sea was clear as glass. 

We went on a short hike to a lookout point where we got spectacular views of the beach and surrounding areas and it was beautiful. After a packed lunch we headed to our next spot. 

We arrived at Mantaray Bay for snorkelling. Nathan and I had opted out of hiring a wetsuit on the hope we wouldn't get stung by some of the stingers in the sea. But it wasn't that we needed to be worried about, it was freezing and we were the select few just in our bikinis and swimming shorts. However we grinned and bared it. The water was perfect and clear an we managed to see loads of fish. 

After about 20 minutes I was freezing so had to get out and unlucky for me only I only had my thin, rubbish little travel towel so I remained freezing with blue lips for the rest of the journey. 

We then went to our final snorkel site which was located just off Hook Island. I then made the executive decision to not go again as I was beyond too cold however Nath went out and look at this absolutely incredible picture he took.

He managed to swim with 3 turtles, he was thrilled. 

After snorkelling at this site, it was time to head back and it was really choppy so we got splashed a fair bit and I was struggling to warm up. When we finally got on dry land away from the wind and sea I warmed up a bit.

We then headed to the supermarket to stock up on food and I very randomly bumped into a girl from my form at school. It really makes you realise how small this world is. We has originally planned to stay in Airlie Beach for another night as we had a free night but the weather the following day was overcast and drizzly so we headed further south on our journey.

Xoxo 

Townsville

We ended up staying in our next stop, Townsville for 2 nights for the simple reason of, a little bit of sunshine. Townsville has an average of 320 days of sunshine per year, which they could trade stats with the UK. So much sunshine thy undercover seating at Dairy Farmers stadium was considered unnecessary because of minimal rainfall during rugby-league season.

We spent both of our days there at a local outdoor Olympic sized swimming pool. It cost $5 per person for entry and we desperately needed showers and some exercise. We got sufficient showers and managed to do 40 lengths each, each day.

The sea looked beautiful but unfortunately unswimable unless we wanted to be attacked by stingers. There was a lovely esplanade that ran along the beach front overlooking Magnetic Island.

On our way out we visited Barracks Kissing Point and this had to be done. 

Xoxo

Cairns, Port Douglas & Mossman Gorge

Personally I thought Cairns was great, lots of ice cream places to pick from and a great fresh water lagoon. I know my priorities and ice cream is up there. Jokes  aside, Cairns is a great holiday destination. You've got warm weather all year round (don't quote me), there doesn't seem to be many mozzies (not including Port Douglas), Great Barrier Reef on your doorstep. What more could you want. 

There is a 2km long Esplanade that runs along the waterfront and which Nathan and I ran every other day and there is also multiple different FREE (we love free) exercise classes that run everyday. I did Thai chi at 6.30am one morning and loved it. Nathan didn't join me for this one. I did get ill during our stay in Cairns which wasn't great, so didn't do that much, spent most of our time by the lagoon. 

Oh and this was our 4 bed dorm room at Global Backpackers which we shared with 2 lovely German girls.

All in all, I loved our time in Cairns (minus being ill).

Our next stop was northwards to Port Douglas. This was after we picked up our  Spaceship Campervan. Bright orange, with a DVD player, a real fridge and an extendable back.

When we picked up the camper, the guy that worked there told us he was doing the Port Douglas Triathlon the following day. He was super tall and lean but definitely encouraged me to get training (ps a triathlon is my next challenge as soon as I'm home and I'm making Nathan do it with me and Mum and Dad). 

On route to Port Douglas we stopped by Palm Cove, which was 45minutes from Cairns and it was recommended by a friend who had visited the area. True to the name, Palm Cove was covered it Palm trees, it was lovely. 

Past Palm Cove was Ellis Beach, we didn't stop here but there was a great campsite (quite pricey for backpacker budgets) right on the beach, which I would love to have stayed at. 

There were some great look out points on the way to Port Douglas.

Port Douglas is mosquito heaven, unfortunately for me and now Nath. But it is beautiful and a lovely beach side resort. The beaches are very tropical looking with rainforest surrounding them. Our first night we stayed in Dougies Backpackers and Nathan stowed me in the boot so we only had to for pay one person, $15. Don't judge us, we are poor! I spent the night as a fugitive.

The following day we headed done to 4 Mile Beach to watch the triathlon. It was literally the perfect location and because the weather was overcast it made for cooler conditions. However I wouldn't have fancied swimming in the sea where all sorts of stinger creatures are present, not for me thank you very much. The run ended on the beach, which I would has thought would have been hard but the sand was very hard so it would have been nice to run on. I was super jealous watching everyone participate and I am now on a mission to do one. 

This photo doesn't really do the location justice, but I'm pretty sure it captures the 2nd and 3rd female winners.

After watching the top 100 finish then we visited the local Sunday market, which was full of local produce, coral and pearl jewellery and beautiful handmade crafts. We then got back on the road inland towards Mossman Gorge which is located within the oldest rainforest in the world, Daintree Rainforest. We did a 2.4km hike through the rainforest, stopping by the gorge at the end for a swim.

We then had the most horrific drive up a mountain towards our free rest stop. Very windy, so there was a lot of concentrating on my behalf. We had the most delicious meal of pasta, pumpkin (new obsession and very popular here, not seasonal), avocado, onion, garlic and sausage. 

The following day we headed back to Cairns for one last run along the Esplanade, a stock up on food at the market and fuel and a free shower by the lagoon. We also ate way too much pineapple, so much so that our tongues felt raw and we didn't want to eat anything else.

Next stop Mission Beach... 

Xoxo

The Great Barrier Reef

We caught an early plane from Melbourne to Cairns and arrived in hot, sticky Cairns before lunch time. We checked in at Global Backpackers where we managed to get a check double room rather than a dorm. We then booked onto the Great Barrier Reef tour for the following day. For dinner we got a voucher from our hostel, for $6 for a main meal and a drink and went here as we hadn't yet done a food shop. 

The next day we got up early for our Great Barrier Reef tour and walked out to the jetty. The day included a introductory scuba dive. I have never been scuba diving, so I was ridiculously excited if not a bit nervous. Also at this point I was also a bit gutted that Nathan and I had not done the PADI course in Koh Tao, Thailand last year. As apparently it's the cheapest and best place to do it in the world, may have to make a return trip. 

We had a perfect day, the sun was shining and not too much wind so we assumed sea sickness could be avoided. However you'll soon find out this wasn't this case. We both took ginger sea sickness tablets to be on the safe side (NB.. Does not always work). 

Our boat took us out to the outer reef and we stopped at Norman's reef, which according to the travel guy was meant to be one of the best. We were the third group to go on the intro scuba dive so we went snorkelling to start with. Obviously taking with us our favourite toy, the GoPro. 

All suited and booted in our wetsuits, just waiting for the all go to jump in. 

So there was a video I wanted to post here, which was taken from the GoPro but it won't seem to let me, might only be possible on a computer. We had an awesome time snorkelling and saw lots of colourful fish and beautiful coral. 

After a half hour snorkelling session, it was our time to get into our scuba gear. Unfortunately the pictures of us in our gear was rubbish (taken by someone else) so I won't be putting it on here. And because it was our introductory dive, we weren't allowed to take any cameras underwater, as they wanted our full attention on the activity at hand. But luckily we had a professional following us around taking pictures, I have only 1 saved on my phone which I will share with you shortly. 

Scuba diving is a completely crazy experience and definitely nothing like I've ever experienced before. I was pretty nervous to be quite honest. The key point to remember was 'do not stop breathing', which they drilled into us. Sounds easy right? But I was then overthinking, what if I forget to breath! Obviously I didn't but it did make you panic. Every metre or so we went further underwater we had to pop our ears and the further we went down the more I felt in my comfort zone! 

It's a completely different world but I was fascinated, I felt like a mermaid. Because it was our introductory dive, the instructor took 4 of us down and we had to link arms with him the whole time, which gave us less freedom but it made sense, seeing as we weren't trained. He took us 10 metre below the surface and got us to sit on the sand and we held a starfish. Then out of no where this huge fish came over. I now know this is a humpback wrasse. It is pretty much a pet dog of the fish world, following all the divers around and we were allowed to stroke it's lips. This is my professional photo.

I mean talk about awesome!! We also saw lots of nemo fish! But before we knew it, it was time to come back to the real world. As soon as we reached the surface and had removed the breathing tube, Nathan felt really unwell. According to our instructor this is normal, as it is articifical air that we are taking it and people react differently to it. Stupid ginger tablets didn't work. 

Once we were back on the boat we were given the opportunity to go on a second dive, which would be longer as we didn't have to do any training but it would cost. I decided straight away I had to do it. And we were allowed to take our cameras down. Nathan opted out as he wasn't feeling great. 

The second dive was even better. We were allowed a lot more freedom and could swim by ourselves rather than linked arms with the instructor. 

This is my selfie with my scuba gear. 

This is my underwater selfie.

We saw a sea cucumber, a flat worm ( easily the most elegant thing I have seen which is actually a worm, wish I could upload a video), lots of colourful fish, some huge ones and lots of little ones. Don't ask me for names, because I have no idea. I was hoping to see a turtle but luck wasn't on my side. However I did see a reef shark, caught on video but not by picture. Luckily whilst I was scuba diving, Nathan went back in the water and did some more snorkelling. 

Just a quick tip, those of you that go underwater with your GoPro whether it is scuba diving or snorkelling or just playing in the sea or a pool. I'd really recommend buying a floatie device. It's bright orange and attaches as a back door onto your GoPro. That way if you drop it, it will still float and you've less chance of losing it. We also attached our extendable pole, which is perfect for getting up close and personal with the fish and for taking selfies without having to ask others for help. 

We had an incredible day on the reef and it's safe to say we were very tired on the trip back to Cairns.

Here's one last picture of Nathan feeling a lot better with his certificate.

Xoxo

Skydiving Mission Beach

It was a 2 hour (ish) drive south to Mission Beach from Cairns and we arrived early afternoon and headed straight to the Skydiving Centre to book in our skydive for the following day, turns out there were 2 slots available for 7am the next day. We booked them! Clearly we weren't thinking straight, this gave us less than 24 hours to mentally prepare.

We then headed to a camping spot we have driven past on the way in, Bingil Bay. It's tiny but relatively cheap for a beach front location at $19. I would a million times recommend it. Unfortunately the luck of the weather wasn't on our side, as as soon as we parked up the heavens opened. We didn't have much else to do so we popped on Bridget Jones which Nath hadn't actually seen yet and he loved (yay for future Bridget Marathon sessions). It rained throughout, so we couldn't even cook dinner as we have to put our cooker outside and there is no cover. So we settled for a dinner of a wickedly cheap bag of Coles (Tesco equivilent) own brand cookies. Healthy maybe not but perfect for a rained-in movie night. As we then proceeded to watch another film, Unstoppable which was action packed and had us on the edges of our seat, would recommend. 

When it was time to go to bed (9pm and this isn't even our earliest - the things you do when you can't afford to go to the pub) we popped out and braved the outside to go to the toilet. We didn't put two and two together and think what happens when there is rain and a rainforest. We got eaten alive, in Nathan's case, quite literally with 20 plus on each arm. We decided we would rather dehydrate than head back out again. 

The following day we got up at the crack of early, 5.30am to have a quick breakfast and head to the skydive centre and we were lucky enough to grab a good sunset on the way which I didn't manage to take a picture of. Probably too scared to open the window in fear of being chewed on again.  

The nerves started to set in as we watched movies of previous skydives whilst waiting to set off on our own. Unfortunately there was too much cloud cover for us to leave at 7am. We left the centre around 8.30am when they thought it would be ready, however as soon as we got in the bus the rain started again but still we drove all the way to the Tully (fact - rainiest town in Australia, this I could believe) skydive airport. The weather wasn't on our side so we headed back to the centre on the little bus and proceeded a long wait. Not necessarily good when your nerves have to wait too.

Finally we left the centre at 11.30am for real. This time there was a bit of rain but we drove right up to the world's smallest plane. Prior to this our instructor and tandem partner had shown us the correct positions for leaving the plane, free falling and landing and had attached our harnesses on as well as a life jacket (as there was a chance we could land in the sea, having a tiny landing strip on the beach). 

The plane had two long (not long enough) benches and we lined up, with all of us rookies sitting in front of our instructors. I sat in the far back corner right next to a very young looking pilot. Eek! I should let you know, since our holiday to France for skiing in February I had picked up a bit of flying nerves, so considering a part of the plane was open the entire journey I wasn't feeling entirely positive at this point. We flew until the pilot got to 14,000ft and to a big clear part of sky, where we had an awesome view of Mission Beach and the Great Barrier Reef ! 

And before I knew it, it was go time. I barely had time to think before they chucked the first person out the plane and it turned out that I was the last to go so I had to watch everyone go including Nath. 

(Not the most flattering angle, but Mum and Dad look, I now have long nails, clearly travelling is not stressful enough)

I could say I was bricking it at this point, but in all honesty you really didn't have time to think about it. Finally my time came and I was hanging out the plane, with my instructor safely inside and away we went. The sensation of the 60 second  freefall was pretty much insane, I felt not too dissimilar to Superman, although I'm pretty sure in the films his arms, legs (thighs) and face don't flap like crazy. It was truely exhilarating especially as you know you are flying at 120mph. 

Once the 60 seconds were up, the instructor released the parachute and we slowed down dramatically and we had the chance to really appreciate the incredible views. 

My instructor even gave me the chance to man the parachute and the turns we were doing made my stomach do flip flops. I also got to watch all the others on the plane land on what felt like the world's smallest beach. When my time came to land it felt we were going really too fast but we landed perfectly with both of us on our feet.

I can safely (now I'm alive) say that skydiving was one of the best experiences I have experienced and I now want to do it a thousand times over. Now, if you are going to use any of my recommendations from previous posts, please use this one and do it and you can't use the excuse you're too old (ahem Dad), because one of the instructor's 65 year old mum did it a few weeks ago! 

The instructor had a GoPro attached to his hand to film us through and take pictures, as you are not allowed to take a camera up unless you've done 100 dives. So hopefully at some point I can put up Nath and my films. There is the option to pay more and have another skydiver jump out of the plane as the same time as you and take pictures, this footage is amazing as we watched another persons but you do need to have the extra cash, which we do not.

Xoxo