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Oz East Coast - 2nd Leg
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G'day all!
Only 2 days left before I leave Oz, where has the time gone?!?!?! OK, so the Whitsunday's sailing trip. We got on the boat and almost instantly, it started raining: this was not what I'd signed up for! The weather cleared up a bit, but the boat bobbed around a bit too much for my liking at night, so I found it quite difficult to sleep. We were up brighta dnearly next morning and went to Whitehaven Beach, which I believe has been voted the most beautiful beach in the world ever. Personally, I thought Lake MacKenzie was better, but it was still a really lovely beach.
Unfortunately, my camera broke as soon as we got there, so I haven't got any photos of it. I have made friends with a woman from Runcorn, who I've met a few times on the Oz bus and we're toget ther for the last week of my holiday so I'll be getting photos from her. Thye group were a nice bunch of people, but not as good as the group I was with on Fraser Island, so I didn't enjoy it quite so much as that, but it was still really good fun. I went snorkeling, which was pretty cool, but wimped out of the scuba diving; I'll save that for a future trip I think.
We all went out on the night we got back from the sailing trip, which was by far my best night out of the holiday so far. Airlie Beach is a good place to get drunk and dance until the samll hours. We started the night off with watching United vs West Ham, so that set me up quite well for the night. Then there was free beer and wine on the bar, nobody else was drinking the wine, so I helped myself. Then I had a couple of drinks vouchers for the club, and a couple of people bought me drinks there too, so I managed to get drunk and only spend $4.50!!! I got to bed at 4am and had to get up at 6:30am to catch the bus to Magnetic Island; I think I was still a bit drunk when I got on the bus!
Magentic Island is lovely! We were staying at Base Backpackers which is a bit like a resort rather than a hostel, apart from y the fact that you're sharing a room with other people. I stayed there for 2 nights which was enough for me. Most people do 3 nights, but it's very quiet and there's not a great deal going on at night so I really would have been ready to leave after 3 nights. Then we headed to Mission Beach, which is where I am currently. I've got white water rafting tomorrow before heading up to Cairns for my last night in Oz.
But this is the best bit; I've just got back from my tandem skydive!!! It was absolutely amazing, I recommend it to anyone. We got to the office with the paperwork and they show videos of other peoples' jumps which really freaked me out to be honest. Then I met the guy who I'd be jumping with called Brandon and he started putting my harness on me. At that point, my eyes were welling up and I was seriously considering backing out; I just couldn't figure out how I could actually go through with it. So I got him to talk through what would happen and what I needed to do and when etc. Then we walked to the plane and climbed in and I realised this was it. When we were pretty high up, I asked if we'd be going through any clouds. Brandon pointed to a cloud and said we may go through them on this level, we're now about 4,000 feet up. I couldn't believe we had another 10,000 feet to climb! I was still pretty scared, so I kept going over what we had to do with Brandon and that eased my nerves a little, but I was still far from relaxed or even happy about what I was doing. Then when they started opening the door, the adrenalin just kicked in; it was like I was possessed or something! I started shouting like a nutter "yeah, come on, we're gonna do this!", and I was clapping my hands. It was just surreal, completely bizarre! It's a bit embarressing really, but I couldn't help it. We were the second couple to jump. I didn't really pay attention to what the first couple did, I was just concentrating on what I had to do. I'm glad I did, because the girl who jumped straight after me watched the first 2 pairs jumping out and it made her more scared! I'd told Brandon I didn't want anything unneccessary, just get me to the edge and let's go, and he did exactly that. As soon as the first couple were on the edge of the doorway, we started shuffling forwards. I sat on the edge of the door with my legs hanging out the plane (even typing it sounds mental), crossed my arms over my chest, put my head back, closed my eyes and before I knew it I was falling. That whole sequence from sitting in the plane with the door shut, to us being outside of the plane must have taken about 30 seconds. I just didn't have time to be scared. I had my eyes shut for about 2 or 3 seconds, and then opened them and I was loving it very quickly; it's really strange how fast you get used to the sensation of falling through the sky. We did 60 seconds of freefall and I think I screamed and shouted for most of that time. Then Brandon pulled the parachute and we were just sat in the air, it was like being in a swing, but really really high up. The view was incredible; I've been told that Mission Beach is the best place to skydive in Australia and I can see why. We were over the ocean, looking at the islands off the coast, it was beautiful. Then we landed on the beach and it was all over. I've never experienced anything like it, completely amazing. I've not yet seen the DVD as I type this, my guess is I'll sound like a complete geek, but you can judge for yourselves.
And that brings me right up to date. I really don't want to leave, I've had such a great time so far. There are some places that I wish I'd been able to stay longer, and some places that I hope I get to go back to. But I've found that that attitude you have, and the people you are with are what make or break the experience for you. Yes, I'm looking forward to having a room to myself, and a bed with a proper mattress, but I could honestly carry on like this for a good few more weeks. I think there will be another adventure for me in the not too distant future, I just need to decide where!
OK, I'm off to top up the tan, this is my last day of sunbathing!
See you all next week,
Vicky
x
PS. I've just watched the DVD, but it's taken an age for me to fail to download it onto this site. I'll try again in Hong Kong...
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