The Tropical north!!
Trip Start
Aug 01, 2007
1
67
91
Trip End
Jan 11, 2009
Cairns,
Australia
Friday, June 6, 2008
The next day, up semi- early purely for the purposes of minimizing our luggage once again and to check out. We had the whole morning and part of the afternoon to kill. We did a little window shopping, and headed the the lagoon for some lazing in the sun. Soon it was time for our briefing. Our boat was the "Pride of Airlie", a catamaran. We would sleep on South Molle Island at night. We had actually heard a few bad things about this boat in particular, but decided to give it a chance anyways.
BIG MISTAKE.
Since it was a busy day, two boats actually went. I thank the heavens Gill and I were on the smaller one! it was still very crowded despite not even being at capacity. Our boat departed at 3pm, and we arrived at the island about an hour and a half later after a straight, choppy and wet ride. Dinner wasn't til 7! by that point we were all starved. We had dorms of 6 and ended up with some good girls. One, we had met in the queue to check in the koalas in Hervey Bay, and we glad to find was on the same trip ad boat as us. The other 3 girls were on the white boat, and we met them at the briefing.
"Top 10 beach"
Two Canadians, one of which had a Cosmo which I immediately borrowed! We actually had an early night after dinner, but were right next to the bar and could hear the dance music pumping away til the wee hours of the morning.We had to get up super early, for breakfast at 6:30am. They ran out of toast again (which was luckily never as issue for us since we were always the early birds). We were at the dock at 7:15 sharp, since "if you aren't there on time, the boat will leave without you". Well, then why id the staff 45 mins late?
We sailed for 2 hours in crappy weather again, to reach Whitehaven beach which is apparently one of the top 10 beaches in the World. I slept in the back on the way as a means to fight seasickness. Worked well enough. Anyways, we got to the beach and the weather was still crappy and overcast. Not exactly the best way to enjoy a "best" beach. We tried to sunbathe, but it was just a mediocre experience. We were supposed to snorkel afterwards, but the weather was too bad, we we sailed back to the island. luckily we got about an hour of sunbathing on the front of the boat weather. The only time the whole trip! Then it got rough again and I had to fight my stomach. We arrived back and were informed dinner would be at the same time. We napped and chilled out a bit. After dinner, we headed back to the room for the longest game of cheat ever, before figuring out it just wasn't possible with 2 decks and 6 people.
Up early again, but we were glad for an extra 1/2 hour of sleep.
Waiting on the dock
A flock of parrots, gorgeous yet noisy, decided to join us for breakfast. It was so cool! Some people were even feeding them and holding them on their arms etc. We sailed to some other island to do a bit of snorkeling. It was OK, the water was surprisingly warm. We all had stinger suits on, since stinger season was officially still on. Apparently a few people even saw some! I was a bit panicky though and not fully enjoying it, since the current was strong and kept pushing us towards the corals which were a bit shallow. Eventually I signaled the skipper, who was actually really responsible and floating around in th little boat, making sure people were ok and picking us up when we were sick of the snorkeling. The threw bread into the water to attract the fish, and we witnessed an Osprey swooping, and successfully catching, its prey! It was so wicked. We also saw a little turtle swimming around for a minute.Following the snorkeling, it was thankfully time to head back to the mainland. I was never so excited! I need to FINALLY learn that i do NOT like sailing, and thus most sailing trips are a waste of money.
Upon arrival in Airlie, we discovered the receptionist at the hostel had not in fact booked us in, so we had to wander to find some accommodation. We ended up in a twin room, and had a movie night with my laptop and Harry Potter (4).
Up early again the next day to catch the bus to Cairns. We were NOT pleased that it was an hour late, and the driver never made an attempt to explain or apologize. It was a long journey, but either way you waste your day, either on the bus or sleeping after an overnight journey. We arrived just past 8 into Cairns, and walked to our hostel, Cairns Girls Hostel. It is great, one of the best I've been so far in Oz. it is really clean, and the owner is so sweet. The girls are great and we have been having lots of DVD nights! Gill left on Wednesday, for 4 days in Hong Kong before heading back home, the end of her trip. There really isn't much to do in Cairns, aside from sunbathe, shop and chill out. i found the final piece to my wedding outfit (a bangle) so I am good to go.
Last night, went to see Sex and the City with another girl from the hostel. One word: AMAZING!!
I had been planning to go to a working hostel and do some fruitpicking before my North America visit, however when I finally got in contact with them, they are fully booked. I am now considering other options such as going to Alice Springs. Why save when you can spend?
So, there is my life updated. In 3 weeks I will be in Mexico, with Stephanie and Kristy! I am BEYOND excited!!
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