Alex and I woke up bang on 7am, just because we wanted to get our free pancakes (which we both got 4!) and afterwards we went back to bed, but couldn't get back to sleep again. We got up properly at about 10am, and wandered around the hostel for a while, but we all wanted to go and visit Carlo Sand Blow, so we hired 3 free body-boards from the hostel and went on the long trek up the hill. We made it to the Sand Blow at about 2pm and had a wander around it, and then decided to start some body boarding! Martin and I went up to the highest point and tried to slide down, but our boards were too grippy. We found another steeper hill on the other side, but we couldn't manage to slide far at all (Alex tried to go on his front, but just winded himself as he landed!!). After about an hour, we made our way back down into the town, and went back to the hostel - lucky for us, as it had just started to rain really heavily!). During the afternoon/evening, we did nothing, again, but we did get the $5 BBQ for dinner, which was alright (cheap for $5). In the end, we played a few games of cards, and then went to bed.
We got up at about 6.30am as we all needed to pack, and then we went and got our free pancakes (I got 5!). We then went next door, as that was where the Oz Bus was going to pick us up from. We waited, and waited, until it finally came - apparently it had been waiting on the other side of the road (across the green), but none of us had seen it! We were all annoyed again, as it was another tiny bus, but we were just happy it turned up. We set off towards Noosa, and realised that Mike was going to be on the bus, and when we finally got there, we saw that loads of the other original group were there (Sunil, Priya, Michéle...). We also managed to have a quick look around Noosa, and were glad that we didn't choose to spend much time there, as it was really expensive, but the beach looked like one of the best! We got back onto the bus, and carried on going along the highway until we stopped at a petrol station with a big fruit stall, so we stocked up fruit and talked about the days we'd been apart. They all clarified what we'd thought about Noosa - that it was expensive, but had a really good beach. We got to Brisbane at about 1.30pm and checked into our hostel (Bunk) and then met up with Francesca, Becky and Stu and went to explore the town. We didn't get very far, as we were all pretty tired, but we did find a cheap cafe that was selling it's produce off at knockdown prices, as it was close to close. I got a chicken schnitzel (breaded chicken) and a chicken, mushroom and rice pot all for $5! We ate them outside and then went back to the hostel for a swim, then a relax in the hot tub (at a hostel!!!) After the swim, we went out to buy some "goon" and then started to have a few drinks around the hostel (in the park for instance) We stayed in the park (it was more of a glorified road island) for a while, and then went back to the club at our hostel. It wasn't very good, but we were all there, so it made it better.
We woke up quite late (about midday) as it was the first day for ages that we didn't have to wake up before 9am, and I had got a text in the morning, saying that JOE & EMMA were coming!! Yet again! I bet your all bored of reading about them! They had left Rainbow Beach, and were on their way down to Brissy and they were meant to arrive in the evening. Anyway, throughout the night, we had gained another person - Natalie Jones (Stuart's Girlfriend) and she was going to stay with us for a couple of weeks. We went looking for her, but she was 'apparently' asleep, as she was 'too tired' after the flight - lol. We went out and about into the town and went to the lagoon on the South Bank (it looked close on the map, but turned out to be about 40 minutes walk away!) We eventually made it there, but it was really busy (it was a hot day) so we left after about an hour (just in time to get food at our cheap cafe!). We met Sunil, Clare and Priya on the way back (some of who had hangovers!) and tried to organise what we were going to do in the evening. We got back at about 5.30pm and went up to see Nat & Stu (who were awake at that time). She gave us all a Creme Egg as we didn't get any for Easter :( but she seemed pretty ill and tired, because of the flight (the turbulence sounded quite bad). We then went downstairs and met up with Joe, Emma, Chris, Adam and the rest. As Stu had rented out the deluxe room, it meant we had somewhere to drink our own alcohol (the hostel was strict about having your own alcohol, as it was licensed). We played a few drinking games, and chatted for a while, and then we played "the Box Game" - you start with a box on the floor, and you have to pick it up with your mouth, and every time you do, you rip as much cardboard off as you want, which eventually leaves you with a tiny square. We did this for a while, until we were all bored, then decided to go out. We went to a student club, which was on the other side of the city. It was alright, but they only played R&B, which isn't my type of music. We got back to the hostel at about 4am, and then went straight to bed.
We got up late again on Thursday, and went to meet Janhavi (a friend from home) from the train station; she'd flown from Townsville down to Brisbane to see us and Nat. We showed her round the hostel, and then the close parts of Brisbane, before we went back to the hostel and went for a swim. We invented a game called "Hydro-Fun" (basically water volleyball) and played that for a while, and then went to the supermarket (Woolworths) to get some supplies. Sunil had said that he was going to cook a curry for us, and he'd chosen the Thursday to do it. We waited for what seemed like ages, but it eventually came (he was cooking for 13 of us!) and it was soo good. After the curry, we were all too full to do much, but we still went out into the town for a bit.
We got up relatively early (before 12pm!) and said goodbye to Martin, Sunil, Priya, Clare, Fracesca & Becky, as they were leaving on the Oz Bus to go to Surfer's Paradise. We then went on a walk towards the lagoon, but Alex and I got side tracked on the way there, as we'd heard about a rugby match that was on that evening. So we walked to the stadium (seemed like miles out of town) and found the ticket office, but it was shut, and it didn't open until 5pm. So we waited for a couple of hours, and finally got hold of 6 tickets. It was one of the biggest rugby matches this season (Brisbane Broncos vs. North Queensland Cowboys) and apparently it was close to selling out. The tickets only cost $19 for students, so we definitely got a fair deal. We went back to the hostel as quick as we could, and made it back just in time for the free BBQ. We ate our food really quickly and went and got the free bus to the stadium. We made it to our seats about 10 minutes before the game started (just in time for the cheerleaders!) and we were all amazed by the stadium - it was huge!! The were just over 50,000 people there, and the noise was deafening! The game started and it seemed like an even match, but after about 20 minutes, the Cowboys were getting thrashed! The final score turned out to be 36-2 to the Broncos, and on the way home in the taxi, the driver said they were undefeated this season!
We woke up on Saturday at about 10am, as Janhavi was checking out, and then we went to the market that was located in Chinatown. The girls spent ages there, but the rest of us went back to the hostel, and went in the pool and hot tub again. When the girls eventually came back, we went out into the town to go to our favourite cafe, but it was closed for some reason, so we went to the next best place -Subway, and we all got Subs (special sandwiches). We then took Janhavi back to the train station, and said goodbye to her. It was really cool that she came to visit us, but her trip went so quickly! We got back to the hostel, and played another game of Hydro-Fun, and then got ready for the evening's events. Alex and I made our dinner, which consisted of rice, pasta, a pie, 2 sausage rolls and other small bits. We had been taking all of the good food out of the 'Free Food Shelf', so we could have a big meal, but it was bigger than we first thought. We didn't manage to eat all of it, but we gave a good effort. We then went to join the rest of the group in Joe and Emma's room. We finished off most of our goon, and then went to some of the other bars around The Valley. We stayed out until about 3am, and then went back to our rooms to pack, as we were leaving in the morning.
We got up at about 9am, and packed the rest of our clothes and went to check-out. Alex and I were on time, but Stu, Mike and Nat were about half an hour late! We went and got some food from Woolworths and wasted the morning away. We then got the free minibus to our pickup point and got on the Oz Bus. It was a lot busier than we'd have hoped, but there were a few free seats, so we just sat in them.
Brisbane was a really pretty city, and one of the best I've been in, so I wasn't too happy about leaving, but we were going down to Surfer's Paradise, which was supposed to be even more relaxed!!!
Saturday, 29 March 2008
Monday, 24 March 2008
New Photos now up!
Alex and I have spent almost the whole day (and lots of money) to bring you all of our photos. Here's the link so go check 'em out!
http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/gapyear2008/
http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/gapyear2008/
Sunday, 23 March 2008
Fraser Island
Well, what can I say? Apart from Happy Easter, and that I spent it on the biggest sand island in the world, and went for a swim in one of the best lakes in the world. I can safely say that i'm not jealous that I missed the snow... sort of.
We missed the briefing on Thursday, but it didn't really matter, as they went through it all in Friday morning with us anyway. We got up at about 7am, went and got free pancakes for breakfast and then started to pack the 4x4. We were already given the food by Dingo's (our hostel) so it saved the chore of trying to decide on what to buy in the supermarket. We had to massive ice boxes (for beer and stuff!) and loads of food strapped to the top of the 4x4 (a Toyota Land Cruiser) and we were ready to go! They were quite strict on where we were allowed to go, and what we were allowed to do, but we stopped listening by the time they came onto the rules. We set off at about 9:00am and got to Inskip Point, in time for our ferry to Fraser Island. It only took about 10minutes to get across (as opposed to 40 if we went from Hervey Bay). We were all tired by this point, so the conversation was kept to a minimum, but when were driving along 75 Mile Beach, and had nothing behind or in front of us apart from sand and sea, we didn't need to find anything to do apart from soak up the surroundings! We went straight to the north of the island, and stopped off at a camp site for some lunch. This is when we started talking to each other properly. In our group we had an Irish couple, 2 Dutch guys and 4 Swedish girls. They were all cool, but the Irish couple seemed to take charge quite quickly, so they organised how much we ate, what we did and where we went, so that was annoying. We packed up everything again (we had to take everything, as the wardens are really strict about rubbish, due to the wild dingoes and generally keeping the National Park clean and tidy) We drove up to the Champagne Pools, which were the furthest we could go in our 4x4's and this is where we saw our first Fraser dingo. It was around some tourists that were letting it eat their food (idiots!). We walked over the hill to the pools, and went down to them. They were just big rock pools, but they were quite deep in places. We went for a swim in the for about 45 minutes, but the tide was coming in, so we were getting battered around by the waves a bit. We left there at about 3pm and went down to our campsite for the night. We set up our tents and then cooked our dinner (it was about 7pm by the time we'd sorted it all out! We had steak and potatoes, so the food was good! (not the ususal pasta!) We then sat around drinking "goon" (wine in a box) and wandered around the camp site, talking to some of the Aussies.
We woke up at about 7:30am and had scrambled eggs and sand on toast for breakfast, and then packed our tents away. We weren't supposed to drive along the beach until after 11am (because of the high tide) but we did it anyway! We went to Eli Creek, which was about 10 minutes drive away and went for a paddle in the water. It was so cold, but it wasn't deep enough for us to swim, so Alex and I went in the sea to try a bit of body boarding. It went quite well, but we didn't have long because we had to go to our next place. We got to Rainbow Gorge and went along the path to it. I was getting bored with the walk, but when I saw the Gorge, I was stunned. It was amazing! There were so many colours of sand, I could understand why it had its name! We went to the highest dune, and had to run down it, but then we went back to the 4x4, as we spent too much time there! On the walk back, I was looking down on the ground, and spotted a python under a log! I got a few photos of it, but most of them were blurry. We told the rest of the group and they were annoyed that they raced ahead and missed it! We then went to Lake Wabby, and the board said it was only 2km away, so we started the walk, but it seemed so much further! It took us about 40 minutes, but when we arrived I thought that it was worth the wait! It was a green lake, surrounded by high sand dunes, with a small beach on the opposite side. So we went for a swim to the other side and then had races down the dunes (how childish!) We then went back to the beach (took another 30 mins at least!) and went to find somewhere to camp for the night. It was close to one of the main settlements (called Eurong) and close to a place called Lake McKenzie, which we were going to go to in the morning. We set up our tents and started cooking the chicken & rice stir-fry, before cracking open the goon again. It started raining not long after finishing the food, so we had an early night.
We woke up at about 8am and made some breakfast. As I ate my bread, I looked up and saw a dingo staring at me from about 10 metres away. Martin got into the 4x4, but being the safety conscious person I am, I got my camera and started taking some photos! It went not long after it realised there was no food for it. Luckily the girls were in their tent at this point, as otherwise they would have been so scared! I think it was the dingo I saw the previous night (I kept it quiet from everyone, as I didn't want to scare anyone!) We packed away our tents and then went to Lake McKenzie. It was about 20km inland, so on the bumpy roads, it took us about 45 minutes to get there! It was stunning! It looked better than Lake Wabby, but it was much more tourist orientated, so that seemed to spoil it somewhat. We swam for a while, and just as I was about to get my camera out of my bag, I noticed a lizard on my t-shirt! It was only about 10 inches long, but it was really cool to see! We then left Lake McKenzie and went to finish off our food for lunch. It comprised of bread, cornflakes and jam, but it was nice all the same. We got back to the barge at about 1:45pm and left the island. I think we were all glad to leave the sand behind, but I knew I'd miss the scenery and the wildlife! We went back to the 4x4 shop and they checked the vehicle over for damage, before we were allowed back to the hostel.
I had a really long shower and emptied out my bag just to get rid of the sand, but I know it will be back!!!! In the evening, Alex and I went to the beach with a beer, before crashing out at about 10pm.
I absolutely loved Fraser Island, and I recommend it to anyone in the area, regardless of money!!!!
We missed the briefing on Thursday, but it didn't really matter, as they went through it all in Friday morning with us anyway. We got up at about 7am, went and got free pancakes for breakfast and then started to pack the 4x4. We were already given the food by Dingo's (our hostel) so it saved the chore of trying to decide on what to buy in the supermarket. We had to massive ice boxes (for beer and stuff!) and loads of food strapped to the top of the 4x4 (a Toyota Land Cruiser) and we were ready to go! They were quite strict on where we were allowed to go, and what we were allowed to do, but we stopped listening by the time they came onto the rules. We set off at about 9:00am and got to Inskip Point, in time for our ferry to Fraser Island. It only took about 10minutes to get across (as opposed to 40 if we went from Hervey Bay). We were all tired by this point, so the conversation was kept to a minimum, but when were driving along 75 Mile Beach, and had nothing behind or in front of us apart from sand and sea, we didn't need to find anything to do apart from soak up the surroundings! We went straight to the north of the island, and stopped off at a camp site for some lunch. This is when we started talking to each other properly. In our group we had an Irish couple, 2 Dutch guys and 4 Swedish girls. They were all cool, but the Irish couple seemed to take charge quite quickly, so they organised how much we ate, what we did and where we went, so that was annoying. We packed up everything again (we had to take everything, as the wardens are really strict about rubbish, due to the wild dingoes and generally keeping the National Park clean and tidy) We drove up to the Champagne Pools, which were the furthest we could go in our 4x4's and this is where we saw our first Fraser dingo. It was around some tourists that were letting it eat their food (idiots!). We walked over the hill to the pools, and went down to them. They were just big rock pools, but they were quite deep in places. We went for a swim in the for about 45 minutes, but the tide was coming in, so we were getting battered around by the waves a bit. We left there at about 3pm and went down to our campsite for the night. We set up our tents and then cooked our dinner (it was about 7pm by the time we'd sorted it all out! We had steak and potatoes, so the food was good! (not the ususal pasta!) We then sat around drinking "goon" (wine in a box) and wandered around the camp site, talking to some of the Aussies.
We woke up at about 7:30am and had scrambled eggs and sand on toast for breakfast, and then packed our tents away. We weren't supposed to drive along the beach until after 11am (because of the high tide) but we did it anyway! We went to Eli Creek, which was about 10 minutes drive away and went for a paddle in the water. It was so cold, but it wasn't deep enough for us to swim, so Alex and I went in the sea to try a bit of body boarding. It went quite well, but we didn't have long because we had to go to our next place. We got to Rainbow Gorge and went along the path to it. I was getting bored with the walk, but when I saw the Gorge, I was stunned. It was amazing! There were so many colours of sand, I could understand why it had its name! We went to the highest dune, and had to run down it, but then we went back to the 4x4, as we spent too much time there! On the walk back, I was looking down on the ground, and spotted a python under a log! I got a few photos of it, but most of them were blurry. We told the rest of the group and they were annoyed that they raced ahead and missed it! We then went to Lake Wabby, and the board said it was only 2km away, so we started the walk, but it seemed so much further! It took us about 40 minutes, but when we arrived I thought that it was worth the wait! It was a green lake, surrounded by high sand dunes, with a small beach on the opposite side. So we went for a swim to the other side and then had races down the dunes (how childish!) We then went back to the beach (took another 30 mins at least!) and went to find somewhere to camp for the night. It was close to one of the main settlements (called Eurong) and close to a place called Lake McKenzie, which we were going to go to in the morning. We set up our tents and started cooking the chicken & rice stir-fry, before cracking open the goon again. It started raining not long after finishing the food, so we had an early night.
We woke up at about 8am and made some breakfast. As I ate my bread, I looked up and saw a dingo staring at me from about 10 metres away. Martin got into the 4x4, but being the safety conscious person I am, I got my camera and started taking some photos! It went not long after it realised there was no food for it. Luckily the girls were in their tent at this point, as otherwise they would have been so scared! I think it was the dingo I saw the previous night (I kept it quiet from everyone, as I didn't want to scare anyone!) We packed away our tents and then went to Lake McKenzie. It was about 20km inland, so on the bumpy roads, it took us about 45 minutes to get there! It was stunning! It looked better than Lake Wabby, but it was much more tourist orientated, so that seemed to spoil it somewhat. We swam for a while, and just as I was about to get my camera out of my bag, I noticed a lizard on my t-shirt! It was only about 10 inches long, but it was really cool to see! We then left Lake McKenzie and went to finish off our food for lunch. It comprised of bread, cornflakes and jam, but it was nice all the same. We got back to the barge at about 1:45pm and left the island. I think we were all glad to leave the sand behind, but I knew I'd miss the scenery and the wildlife! We went back to the 4x4 shop and they checked the vehicle over for damage, before we were allowed back to the hostel.
I had a really long shower and emptied out my bag just to get rid of the sand, but I know it will be back!!!! In the evening, Alex and I went to the beach with a beer, before crashing out at about 10pm.
I absolutely loved Fraser Island, and I recommend it to anyone in the area, regardless of money!!!!
Tuesday, 18 March 2008
The Whitsundays to Rainbow Beach
So, in the evening of the Friday (the day before we went on our trip), we met up with Joe and Emma again, and found out that they were staying in our room, which was cool. We sat together (along with Pria, Sunil, Michele and a few others) and sneakily had a few drinks, as its against the hostel's rules to drink your own alcohol. We went to our bar (called Beaches, as we were staying at Beaches hostel!) and had a couple more drinks, before going to Morocco's and then Muma Africa's for another round of free drinks. We stayed out until about 1am (I think!) and then went back. We all had a joke about Emma's bunk, as she'd covered all of the sides in her laundry. Then she covered mine, so Joe came up with the idea of "funking our bunks" and we did it to Alex's (who wasn't back by this time). Pretty funny, but we realised it was silly when we woke up in the morning!
We got up at about 12 and were having breakfast/lunch when I saw Stu and Mike walk past the window of the kitchen. We got them round into the kitchen and had a chat about the past few days (it felt like it had been ages since we'd last seen them) and found out that their trip had been really good, but the weather had been bad to them. We all walked to the marina (Me, Alex, Martin, Joe, Emma, Mike and Stu) and they saw us off on our boat ride. The boat was huge! We seemed to have chosen a good trip, and the people we were with were all nice (well, they seemed like it!) We sailed across the ocean for about 2 hours, and then dropped the anchor in a quiet bay of one of the Whitsundays. We chilled there for a bit, and just as I was talking to Ryan (member of staff), he spotted a hammerhead shark about 5-10 metres off the boat!! It was just below the surface, and then let it's dorsal fin break the surface, and then went back down! Only a few people saw it, and he says it was the first time he'd ever seen one! Pretty cool! We went down for dinner not long after that, and were all treated to a massive meal (it was good not to have pasta for once!) We had chicken, bread, mash potato and other bits & bobs. We chatted to some of the other people, and then went back up on deck to start the evening's drinking!!! We realised that some of the people (Ben, Harriet and Claire) were all at BASE on Magnetic Island, so we knew them a bit. We played a few drinking games (I had a box of cheap wine) so the evening went quite quickly! I think I went to bed at about 12, but I have no idea!!! The beds we were in were sooo small! I had to share a double (it was a bit bigger than a normal single) with Alex, while Martin had the bunk below.
We were woken up at 7am, and we all felt a little hungover. We had a huge breakfast - toast, muesli, fruit, tea & coffee, so we all ate loads! We set sail not longer after we'd finished and made our way to Whitsunday Island, so we could see the famous Whitehaven Beach. We went to the viewing point at first, so we could look down over the sea, and then we went down to the beach. My first impression of it was as if it was snow! It was soooo white, and there was so much of it. We were given stinger suits to stop the Box Jellyfish killing us, so we decided to brave it into the sea. It was quite rough, but it was really refreshing to get into the sea (the last time was in Koh Phangan!) We stayed on the beach for a couple of hours, before we had to go back to the boat. As we were walking over the walkway, we spotted a Goanna (a really big lizard) which was about 3-4 feet long. We got onto the boat and had lunch almost straight away. It was just pasta salad etc, but we were happy to have another meal made for us. We went to another bay in the afternoon and went for a snorkel (in our stinger suits again!), and I was amazed! The coral was stunning; i've never seen so much life under water, and the fish all seemed to be "friendly"!!! I didn't see many big fish, but I saw a Clown Fish, so I was happy in the end. We got back onboard about an hour later and had cookies, crisps, tea & coffee (luckily we got there first, so we had most of the food!) We then chilled on deck and waited for the divers to come back on. We then went to our final bay of the day, and dropped anchor, as the sun set in the distance (bet your all jealous!). We had spaghetti bolognaise for dinner, and then we started the evening's drinking again (I honestly didn't!) I decided to go for a shower and I prepared myself for the worst, but amazingly, it was one of the best showers I've had out here! I went up on deck about half an hour later, and found everyone playing a game where you have to bend down, pick up a cardboard box with your mouth, and you can't let your hands or knees touch the ground. Well, anyway, it ends up in the losers getting hit round the ass with a cricket bat! As this game went on, the captain put the side light on, and we saw a couple of dolphins swimming round our boat, catching squid that were in the area!!! They stayed for a few hours, and when I went back on deck later in the evening, I saw a sea snake swimup from the depths! One of the members of staff tried to catch it, but it swam too far away from him. He came back over to me and told me it was one of the deadliest snakes in the world!!! We went to bed about 11 after playing a few card games, and left a few drunk people on deck (we were all so tired!)
We got up at 7am again and had the same breakfast, and then went straight out for a snorkel. We got into the sea at about 8am, and spent an hour in the bay. This site was much better than the previous day's site, but my snorkel kept on leaking, so it ruined it for me. However, I did see a huge Mauri Wrasse (about 3feet!) and loads of other small fish. We got back on board and had lunch straight away (?!?) and then set sail for Airlie Beach. We arrived back at about 12pm and went back to Beaches (our hostel) and met up with Joe and Emma (AGAIN!!). We wandered around the town, while explaining our trip in fine detail, and went to get some food. Alex and I had decided that we were bored of pasta, so we bought steak and eggs so we could make an omlette (!!) It didn't turn out well, but it tasted nice anyway. As it was St. Patrick's day, 90% of the tourists were already bladdered! We stayed out in the town until the early hours, and were all pleased to get back into bed.
We woke up quite late and went to the lagoon to find Martin, Emma & Joe all suffering from the night before (lol). Alex and I went to the Laundrette as well (wow!) and did some washing, but mine was still dirty, so I had to do it again. We spent the day chilling in the lagoon; playing frisbee and just messing around. We were all really hungry, so we went to the shop and bought some BBQ food, as they have BBQs dotted around the lagoon. We had steak, burgers, sausages and corn, so we were all really full. We went to bed really early, as we had to be up at 6am, so we said our goodbyes to Joe and Emma (they'll follow us soon...)
We got up at about 12 and were having breakfast/lunch when I saw Stu and Mike walk past the window of the kitchen. We got them round into the kitchen and had a chat about the past few days (it felt like it had been ages since we'd last seen them) and found out that their trip had been really good, but the weather had been bad to them. We all walked to the marina (Me, Alex, Martin, Joe, Emma, Mike and Stu) and they saw us off on our boat ride. The boat was huge! We seemed to have chosen a good trip, and the people we were with were all nice (well, they seemed like it!) We sailed across the ocean for about 2 hours, and then dropped the anchor in a quiet bay of one of the Whitsundays. We chilled there for a bit, and just as I was talking to Ryan (member of staff), he spotted a hammerhead shark about 5-10 metres off the boat!! It was just below the surface, and then let it's dorsal fin break the surface, and then went back down! Only a few people saw it, and he says it was the first time he'd ever seen one! Pretty cool! We went down for dinner not long after that, and were all treated to a massive meal (it was good not to have pasta for once!) We had chicken, bread, mash potato and other bits & bobs. We chatted to some of the other people, and then went back up on deck to start the evening's drinking!!! We realised that some of the people (Ben, Harriet and Claire) were all at BASE on Magnetic Island, so we knew them a bit. We played a few drinking games (I had a box of cheap wine) so the evening went quite quickly! I think I went to bed at about 12, but I have no idea!!! The beds we were in were sooo small! I had to share a double (it was a bit bigger than a normal single) with Alex, while Martin had the bunk below.
We were woken up at 7am, and we all felt a little hungover. We had a huge breakfast - toast, muesli, fruit, tea & coffee, so we all ate loads! We set sail not longer after we'd finished and made our way to Whitsunday Island, so we could see the famous Whitehaven Beach. We went to the viewing point at first, so we could look down over the sea, and then we went down to the beach. My first impression of it was as if it was snow! It was soooo white, and there was so much of it. We were given stinger suits to stop the Box Jellyfish killing us, so we decided to brave it into the sea. It was quite rough, but it was really refreshing to get into the sea (the last time was in Koh Phangan!) We stayed on the beach for a couple of hours, before we had to go back to the boat. As we were walking over the walkway, we spotted a Goanna (a really big lizard) which was about 3-4 feet long. We got onto the boat and had lunch almost straight away. It was just pasta salad etc, but we were happy to have another meal made for us. We went to another bay in the afternoon and went for a snorkel (in our stinger suits again!), and I was amazed! The coral was stunning; i've never seen so much life under water, and the fish all seemed to be "friendly"!!! I didn't see many big fish, but I saw a Clown Fish, so I was happy in the end. We got back onboard about an hour later and had cookies, crisps, tea & coffee (luckily we got there first, so we had most of the food!) We then chilled on deck and waited for the divers to come back on. We then went to our final bay of the day, and dropped anchor, as the sun set in the distance (bet your all jealous!). We had spaghetti bolognaise for dinner, and then we started the evening's drinking again (I honestly didn't!) I decided to go for a shower and I prepared myself for the worst, but amazingly, it was one of the best showers I've had out here! I went up on deck about half an hour later, and found everyone playing a game where you have to bend down, pick up a cardboard box with your mouth, and you can't let your hands or knees touch the ground. Well, anyway, it ends up in the losers getting hit round the ass with a cricket bat! As this game went on, the captain put the side light on, and we saw a couple of dolphins swimming round our boat, catching squid that were in the area!!! They stayed for a few hours, and when I went back on deck later in the evening, I saw a sea snake swimup from the depths! One of the members of staff tried to catch it, but it swam too far away from him. He came back over to me and told me it was one of the deadliest snakes in the world!!! We went to bed about 11 after playing a few card games, and left a few drunk people on deck (we were all so tired!)
We got up at 7am again and had the same breakfast, and then went straight out for a snorkel. We got into the sea at about 8am, and spent an hour in the bay. This site was much better than the previous day's site, but my snorkel kept on leaking, so it ruined it for me. However, I did see a huge Mauri Wrasse (about 3feet!) and loads of other small fish. We got back on board and had lunch straight away (?!?) and then set sail for Airlie Beach. We arrived back at about 12pm and went back to Beaches (our hostel) and met up with Joe and Emma (AGAIN!!). We wandered around the town, while explaining our trip in fine detail, and went to get some food. Alex and I had decided that we were bored of pasta, so we bought steak and eggs so we could make an omlette (!!) It didn't turn out well, but it tasted nice anyway. As it was St. Patrick's day, 90% of the tourists were already bladdered! We stayed out in the town until the early hours, and were all pleased to get back into bed.
We woke up quite late and went to the lagoon to find Martin, Emma & Joe all suffering from the night before (lol). Alex and I went to the Laundrette as well (wow!) and did some washing, but mine was still dirty, so I had to do it again. We spent the day chilling in the lagoon; playing frisbee and just messing around. We were all really hungry, so we went to the shop and bought some BBQ food, as they have BBQs dotted around the lagoon. We had steak, burgers, sausages and corn, so we were all really full. We went to bed really early, as we had to be up at 6am, so we said our goodbyes to Joe and Emma (they'll follow us soon...)
We got up and went to the bus stop a bit early, and were all horrified to see a small minubus again (the journey was 11 hours!!) It was pretty quiet, and we stopped off at a few places along the way, but made it to the cattle ranch at about 6pm. On the way, we managed to see kangaroos, emus, and also, a dingo eating a bustard's chicks (Australia's largest flying bird)! And the bustardd was there as well, but if it went closer to the dingo, it too, would have been killed. The driver had never seen a dingo on mainland either (they're usually confined to Fraser Island) The ranch was amazing!!! Its called Kroombit, and is actually a live goat ranch, but they have a small area for the Oz experience people. We got taught how to crack a whip, and also had a go on the mechanical bull! (I only managed about 10 seconds, but was better than quite a few people) We had dinner, which comprised of a meat that we didn't know what it was and pumpkin soup :S but it was really good anyway. We went to bed at about 10:30pm (its sooo early!!)
We got up at 6am, and had breakfast, and then went for a walk up the nearest hill. It was amazing, but I think there was one thing on every sane person's mind at 7am (BED!) We stayed up the top of the hill for a while and all had a go at playing the Digeridoo. Just as we were leaving, the driver spotted a dried up carpet snake, so we all took a few photos (to follow). We got down to the main part of the ranch, and then went up to the rodeo area. We all had to get into groups of 3, and then drag a goat to the special area, get it on the floor, and then "brand" it (not really, but just pretending) We managed to do it in 24 seconds (Alex, Martin and I), but sadly came second, so we didn't get a prize. We left the ranch at about 10:30am, and as we were leaving we spotted a pair of witch-tailed eagles (Australia's largest eagle) and then went on our way again. We stopped loads of times, but I was asleep most of the way, so I didn't really realise it. We arrived in Rainbow Beach at about 7pm, and checked into Dingo's. Its quite nice but the staff seem likes arses!
Tomorrow we're going on the 4x4 tour of Fraser Island for 3 days, so don't expect an update soon!
Thursday, 13 March 2008
Mission Beach to Townsville and Magnetic Island and the to Airlie Beach
On Monday, we checked out on time (almost!) and finished off the remainder of our Muesli and Nutella, then sat around waiting for the bus to come. We had a chat with some other people and then when the Oz Bus finally turned up, we got on it. It was already quite full, but the back row was empty so we filled up from there. The journey down to Townsville was painless, but lasted about 4-5 hours, so we were all bored. We went through a town called Tully, which is the wettest place in the whole of Australia! It has something like 6-7 metres of rain a year, and sometimes even more! Some of the scenery as we got further south was really nice - the rainforest turned steadily drier and there were wide open fields. We spent most of the time on the long straight roads, that never seem to end, but when it did, we'd arrived in Townsville! We still weren't sure if we were going to stay in Townsville or not, but when the driver said it was a sh*thole, I think that made up our minds! We had a few minutes before our ferry to get some food from the supermarket, and then we got on. It was a big catarmaran and was pretty fast and it was good to see the city getting further away, and the tropical island getting closer. It seemed so much hotter when we got to Magnetic Island (and it was about 6pm!), but we'd only really experienced rain. We got the local bus the main backpacker's hostel (called BASE) and were suprised to see how good it was. It had a big pool, and a large open bar area, with a cafe and loads of huts, which followed the coast. Alex and I did the special deal, but Stu and Mike decided to book only 1 night, so they could change their mind later in the day, if they wanted. We got given our keys and we went to our rooms. I was with Alex, and a few other Oz people, so we all knew each other (sort of). We met up with Stu and Mike and went to cook our tea - beans & bacon on toast! It turned out quite well and was really tasty, but we did use about half a kg of bacon! We finished all of our washing up and then went to the bar for a few drinks. It was Happy Hour when we got there so we got a couple of jugs of Tooheys (the main beer they drink out here) and got to know the people in our rooms even more. They're all quality people, so we spent the rest of the night with them. We also saw the Irish couple that were on the same night walk as us in Cape Tribulation, so we had a chat with them. There was such an annoying man trying to organise games as well, but he didn't really know when the best time to do it was, so they didn't turn out to be too successful! The bar shut at 12, so we all stayed there for a bit longer, then we went to bed.
We were woken up at about 09:30 by Stu and Mike who had decided to head down to Airlie Beach earlier than us, so we made our last breakfast together (Stu didn't want to wait, so he spent $14 on a fry-up from the cafe!!) and then said our goodbyes :'( They almost missed the bus, but luckily it was a bit late, so they made it, just. Alex and I spent the rest of the day doing nothing, apart from walking to the shop and the post office. The lady in the PO told us about the Forts Walk, which was a 4km walk, on which you had the chance to see koalas and other wildlife. We thought we night as well, so we went there at about 17:00 and started the walk. It was amazing! We couldn't believe we were still in Australia, as it had changed so much. We spent about an hour walking up to the forts (they were used in WW2 by the Aussies who were defending the area from the Japanese) and then about half an hour walking down. We didn't manage to see any koalas, but we saw a few parakeets and other birds, so we weren't too disappointed. We waited for the bus at the bus stop, but the driver obviously didn't see us, so he drove straight past! It was another hour for the next bus, so we made sure we stood in the road to flag it down. It saw us, just in time and we got on. We got back to the hostel about 20 minutes later and we made our tea as soon as we had time. It consisted of pasta shells in a carbonara sauce, which was nice, but we're getting bored of pasta!!!! I had a long shower and then went out to meet up with Martin, Clare, Alex, Pria & Sunil, and the others (loads more!) The annoying man from the night before was doing his best to organise stupid games, but yet again, he failed! He managed to get a few people in to play musical chairs (if you lose, and want to stay in the game, you have to take off one item of clothing) He was really biased and let a girl win, so she got a free drink from the bar. Oh and we found out the night before, that you save a massive 50 cents on beer in happy hour!!! It doesn't really seem worth having it! We all went to bed after a stop off at the kitchen for some midnight toast, which went down well! I woke up at about 11am and went for some breakfast and then a shower. As I came out, I saw Alex talking to... JOE & EMMA!!! We seem to see them everywhere! They had been staying at the Koala Sanctuary Hostel, but wanted to move closer to the action, so they came to BASE! And they knew they had to see us again! We chilled out (well, not really - it was about 32 degrees!) by the pool and then went to the shop for some lunch. I bought half a watermelon for about 1 pound, so I was happy. Everything is really expensive in Oz. We were shopping the other day, and all the things that are cheap in England, are double the price! Like cans of soup - $2-3 here, which is about £1.30! Loads of other things are like that as well, so they tend to eat up the budget. When we got back from the shops, I realised I was quite burnt, and on the places that see the sun the most! My face, legs and arms had been hit the most, so I started covering myself in aftersun. We spent the rest of the day doing nothing, until it was time for dinner. We wanted to have something different, so we had rice and carbonara sauce. There was sooo much of it, so we didn't go hungry. In the evening there was a quiz on in the bar, so we got a couple of teams together. I was with Joe, Emma, Becky and Franchesca and we did well. We came 2nd after the 1st round, and then stayed in that position until the end. The last round was where 4 members of the team had to make a line using their clothes, and whoever made the longest one won. We came 2nd in that as well, and meant we all stripped down to our boxers, but it secured us 2nd place. We won a free breakfast each, so we were all happy. We went to bed not long after that and woke up at about 9am.
I had a quick shower and then went to claim my prize. We were allowed the Mega Breakfast ($16!!) and it was huge! It took ages to eat it, but when we finally did, we knew we wouldn't have to eat anything for the rest of the day. We got the bus to the ferry port and then made our way back to Townsville. The Oz bus wasn't there when we arrived, but turned up about 10 minutes after. It was good to get on a big coach for once! There were 11 of us on a bus that could fit about 30-40 people! We made our way south and went through a town called Bowen, which was in the middle of nowhere, and then finally got to Airlie Beach. It seems that their idea of a city is nothing like ours - Airlie Beach is a small town along the seafront, but they say it is one of the main "cities"! Weird! We checked into our hostel, which is called Beaches, and it looked really nice. There were big dorm rooms, with en-suite and a fridge, but it was quite expensive. We went for a wander around the "city" and went to Peter Pans (a travel booking office) to look at Whitsunday trips. We came out about 30 minutes later, after spending $500 on a 2day/2night boat trip and a 3day/2night 4x4 safari on Fraser Island. They threw in a couple of extra nights as well, so it seemed like a good deal. On our way back to the hostel, we bumped into Robbie (a guy we met in Mission Beach) and he said that Mike and Stu had left on a boat trip that day, but he didn't know when they'd be back (great!) We had some dinner and then went out for a few drinks. We were given a couple of drinks vouchers with our bookings, so we used them and it turned out to be a cheap night.
We got up at about 11am again, but it took us about an hour to actually get out and do something. We checked into the boat office and paid the final price and then went for a wander around the marina. There were some massive yachts there! We went back to the hostel, and saw... JOE AND EMMA! again! This is becoming a drag just writing about how many times we've seen them! They're in our room as well, but we're checking out tomorrow, so we won't see them for long. We booked the boat tour for tomorrow, and get 2 nights onboard, which should be good.
Look out for the next update when we get back! Should be on Monday or Tuesday!
We were woken up at about 09:30 by Stu and Mike who had decided to head down to Airlie Beach earlier than us, so we made our last breakfast together (Stu didn't want to wait, so he spent $14 on a fry-up from the cafe!!) and then said our goodbyes :'( They almost missed the bus, but luckily it was a bit late, so they made it, just. Alex and I spent the rest of the day doing nothing, apart from walking to the shop and the post office. The lady in the PO told us about the Forts Walk, which was a 4km walk, on which you had the chance to see koalas and other wildlife. We thought we night as well, so we went there at about 17:00 and started the walk. It was amazing! We couldn't believe we were still in Australia, as it had changed so much. We spent about an hour walking up to the forts (they were used in WW2 by the Aussies who were defending the area from the Japanese) and then about half an hour walking down. We didn't manage to see any koalas, but we saw a few parakeets and other birds, so we weren't too disappointed. We waited for the bus at the bus stop, but the driver obviously didn't see us, so he drove straight past! It was another hour for the next bus, so we made sure we stood in the road to flag it down. It saw us, just in time and we got on. We got back to the hostel about 20 minutes later and we made our tea as soon as we had time. It consisted of pasta shells in a carbonara sauce, which was nice, but we're getting bored of pasta!!!! I had a long shower and then went out to meet up with Martin, Clare, Alex, Pria & Sunil, and the others (loads more!) The annoying man from the night before was doing his best to organise stupid games, but yet again, he failed! He managed to get a few people in to play musical chairs (if you lose, and want to stay in the game, you have to take off one item of clothing) He was really biased and let a girl win, so she got a free drink from the bar. Oh and we found out the night before, that you save a massive 50 cents on beer in happy hour!!! It doesn't really seem worth having it! We all went to bed after a stop off at the kitchen for some midnight toast, which went down well! I woke up at about 11am and went for some breakfast and then a shower. As I came out, I saw Alex talking to... JOE & EMMA!!! We seem to see them everywhere! They had been staying at the Koala Sanctuary Hostel, but wanted to move closer to the action, so they came to BASE! And they knew they had to see us again! We chilled out (well, not really - it was about 32 degrees!) by the pool and then went to the shop for some lunch. I bought half a watermelon for about 1 pound, so I was happy. Everything is really expensive in Oz. We were shopping the other day, and all the things that are cheap in England, are double the price! Like cans of soup - $2-3 here, which is about £1.30! Loads of other things are like that as well, so they tend to eat up the budget. When we got back from the shops, I realised I was quite burnt, and on the places that see the sun the most! My face, legs and arms had been hit the most, so I started covering myself in aftersun. We spent the rest of the day doing nothing, until it was time for dinner. We wanted to have something different, so we had rice and carbonara sauce. There was sooo much of it, so we didn't go hungry. In the evening there was a quiz on in the bar, so we got a couple of teams together. I was with Joe, Emma, Becky and Franchesca and we did well. We came 2nd after the 1st round, and then stayed in that position until the end. The last round was where 4 members of the team had to make a line using their clothes, and whoever made the longest one won. We came 2nd in that as well, and meant we all stripped down to our boxers, but it secured us 2nd place. We won a free breakfast each, so we were all happy. We went to bed not long after that and woke up at about 9am.
I had a quick shower and then went to claim my prize. We were allowed the Mega Breakfast ($16!!) and it was huge! It took ages to eat it, but when we finally did, we knew we wouldn't have to eat anything for the rest of the day. We got the bus to the ferry port and then made our way back to Townsville. The Oz bus wasn't there when we arrived, but turned up about 10 minutes after. It was good to get on a big coach for once! There were 11 of us on a bus that could fit about 30-40 people! We made our way south and went through a town called Bowen, which was in the middle of nowhere, and then finally got to Airlie Beach. It seems that their idea of a city is nothing like ours - Airlie Beach is a small town along the seafront, but they say it is one of the main "cities"! Weird! We checked into our hostel, which is called Beaches, and it looked really nice. There were big dorm rooms, with en-suite and a fridge, but it was quite expensive. We went for a wander around the "city" and went to Peter Pans (a travel booking office) to look at Whitsunday trips. We came out about 30 minutes later, after spending $500 on a 2day/2night boat trip and a 3day/2night 4x4 safari on Fraser Island. They threw in a couple of extra nights as well, so it seemed like a good deal. On our way back to the hostel, we bumped into Robbie (a guy we met in Mission Beach) and he said that Mike and Stu had left on a boat trip that day, but he didn't know when they'd be back (great!) We had some dinner and then went out for a few drinks. We were given a couple of drinks vouchers with our bookings, so we used them and it turned out to be a cheap night.
We got up at about 11am again, but it took us about an hour to actually get out and do something. We checked into the boat office and paid the final price and then went for a wander around the marina. There were some massive yachts there! We went back to the hostel, and saw... JOE AND EMMA! again! This is becoming a drag just writing about how many times we've seen them! They're in our room as well, but we're checking out tomorrow, so we won't see them for long. We booked the boat tour for tomorrow, and get 2 nights onboard, which should be good.
Look out for the next update when we get back! Should be on Monday or Tuesday!
Saturday, 8 March 2008
Cairns,the Rainforest and Mission Beach
I've got lots to say, but not much time (due to the expensive Internet).
On Tuesday evening, after spending ages in the Internet cafe, we went back to the hostel and then went out to the local club, called "The Wool Shed". This place offered all people staying at Caravella's a free meal, so of course we made the most of it! I had Spag Bol. but we could have upgraded to a steak if we paid a bit more. After the food we went upstairs and had a few drinks. It picked up a bit, but we met a couple called Joe & Emma, who have been stalking us since Koh Phangan!! We saw them on the night boat, then in Kuala Lumpur, then on the plane from Singapore to Cairns!! Pretty scary! We went back to the hostel and cracked open the Jim Beam and played a couple of drinking games then went back to the Wool Shed. It was much more lively when we got there, so we stayed until about 2am then went back to sleep.
We woke up at about 12 (you guessed it - just Alex and I!) and went out for a wander. We went to the big supermarket (called Woolworths!) and stocked up on supplies (mainly Muesli and milk). When we made it back to the hostel Stu and Mike had woken up, so we all decided to go on the internet for a bit. The other 2 went out the side exit so we lost them before we even made it to the cafe! But luckily Alex and I got the cheaper price for the internet. We got back to the hostel at about 7pm (time goes really quickly out here!) and then went straight out to the Wool Shed for our free meal, but I'd already decided to upgrade for $7 to the rump steak and chips (bargain!). It was really good and even better as it was so cheap. We stayed at the Wool Shed and had a chat with a Canadian girl and a Spanish guy, who had been to NZ and Fiji, so they told us all of the good places to go to, which was helpful. We only stayed in the bar, as it was a Wet T-shirt comp, which turned out to be really good!
We made it back to the Kebab place for about 1am, but we met someone we'd seen the day before, so naturally invited them back for drinks. I think we made it to sleep at about 4am, eventhough we had a 7:25am bus journey!
We woke up after what seemed like 10 minutes sleep and packed up our stuff, to get ready for the rainforest. We checked out and were met by a man called Peter, who was our guide for the day. We went to the tour office, and for some reason they charged me $30 too little, so I was happy! We started out on the road to Cape Tribulation, but Peter had doubts about it, because of the vast amount of rain they'd had - i've never seen so much water! The rivers were 2-3 metres above the normal amount, and loads of rivers had burst their banks, but we eventually made it to Mossman Gorge (our 1st stop). Peter said it was usual for people to swim in it, but it would have been suicide to do it! I made a video of it, which i'll post at a later date! We went for a walk around there, before going to a wildlife sanctuary, which had a few big crocs, kangaroos and cassowaries (search it in Google!) It was quite a tame zoo, but it was good all the same. We left there at about 11:30 and there were still heavy rain showers in the area, which gave us more of a doubt about making it up to Cape Trib. We eventually made it to the Daintree (the protected rainforest area) and went on a boardwalk through the rainforest. Just before that though, we saw a Boyd's Forest Dragon, which is one the lizards that runs on it's back legs when scared. Peter spotted it in the road and made it run away, so Alex got some good photos. The boardwalk was really good - we saw fruit bats, archer fish, golden orb spiders, kookaburras and loads more! We got to our accommodation at about 2pm and were glad to be there after the flooded roads. We had to drive through water that was about a foot deep (through a river!) and we also went on the Daintree Ferry, which takes you from one side to the other. PK's was where we were staying and it was quite nice, but we wanted to sleep mainly, so we had about 4 hours there and then. We woke up at about 6pm and got some food, but it was quite expensive, so that put us off a bit. We'd also heard about night walks in the rainforest, which we were all keen to do, so we booked onto it for 19:30. We were picked up a bit late, but the tour guides were real jokers, so it made up for it. They kept on pretending we were going for tours to the sea, then to our hotels...
We made it to their office in the middle of nowhere and were all given torches. They took us out for about 2 hours and we saw more than I expected - loads of frogs, crickets, dragons (Boyd's) and other random bugs. The main man also kept of pranking people by putting fireflies on people's heads and poking them with sticks! We got back at about 10pm and went to bed not long after that (after a couple of games of poker though).
We woke up early and checked out for 09:30, but they said we could stay in our room because of the wait between then and the bus (picking us up at 2pm) Mike, Alex and I went for a walk to the sea, but were joined by Stu not long after. The whole area was flooded and the tide was soooo high! The sea was so rough it was dangerous, but even more so because of the crocs and box jellyfish. We went for another boardwalk after that and saw the same sort of things again including cockatoos, but it ended up in Mike and Alex being in ankle deep water! We were picked up not long after the walk and were taken to an expensive ice cream shop, but it was made out of fruits from the area, so we were all obliged to buy some. It was over priced though, and not too tasty, but we learned from our mistakes! After that we went to the croc river cruise, which was really good! We had a small rain shower while on the boat, but other than that it was sunny. We managed to see a big female croc, and also a small baby (separate places on the river) and also a tree snake and a python! Oh and loads of fruit bats, but they were a bit boring after seeing so many. After the river cruise we went to Port Douglas, which we all wanted to go to. However, we sort of got dropped off at a bar, so... we ended up drinking Guinness in Australia (we seem to be trying it in every continent we've been in!) The bus driver encouraged us, so we had to oblige! We played Connect 4, before realising the chips could be used in poker, so we played a few games after the Connect 4 tournament. We went back to Cairns, and arrived at about 7pm. We checked back into our original room and then got ready to go out, but it took a while. We finally made it out for our free meal by about 9pm, and we had steak again (who could resist the cheap price!?!) and then stayed for a drink. We had all wanted to go to the casino, so we thought that we may as well make the most of the time in Cairns, so we went! It was better than expectec - it was full of gamblers spending so much money, but also winning loads as well. The lights and sounds were crazy! We spent $10 each (apart from me, as I didn't want to lose!) and Stu was the only winner, but he made and extra $20, so he was really happy. We got back to the hostel at about 2am and then went straight to sleep.
I woke up at 6am, but kept pushing the snooze button, but knew I had to be up soon. I got up just after AJ came out of the shower, and we all set off to the Oz Experience office; all tired and sad to be leaving Cairns. We had a few minutes to spare, but the bus was late, so it wasn't too bad. Oh, and we also spotted Leah, who was the winner of the Wet T-Shirt comp. a couple of nights earlier! Was funny to see her with her top on! We made it to the out of town office and sorted out the last bits of paper work and we were on our way! (or so we thought...) We ended up stopping on the way for a walk, and were shown all of the things we'd already seen on the other walks, but was interesting all the same. We went to a place called Devil's Pool, which has claimed about 20 lives in the past few years, and we were told the Aboriginal story to do with the deaths (the reason they say people have died there) We also saw a Stinging Tree, which is particularly nasty - they have thousands of needles which get stuck in you if you brush against it, and they also have toxins in. They stay in you for about 6 months (eve longer) and always cause you pain if you touch them at all, with anything! We'd heard rumours about them, but this was the first time we'd seen them. We got back on the bus and made it to Innesfail and got a Subway for Brunch, and then some supplies from the supermarket. It was getting really annoying, as all we wanted to do was sleep, but we kept on stopping!!! And the driver had the most annoying voice! We then went to a Croc. farm, but we'd already seen most of the things inside, so we just played poker for a while. There was croc just outside in the lake as well, and it was wild! We got to Mission Beach at about 1pm, and checked into our room straight away. They always seem to give us such nice rooms, for so cheap!?! We had a sleep, then went to the supermarket nearby. We got some more supplies, then decided to cook dinner. Mike and I had just made it to the kitchen, and guess who we saw?!? Joe and Emma! AGAIN!! We had a cook-off with them, but we blatently won. We had rice and chicken,. which turned out to be really good, then went out to the "club" in town/village; it was rubbish. There were about 10 people there and it was dead. We just came straight home and then played poker and went to bed.
Today was nice not to have to get up early, but we still made it to the shop by 12pm (apart from Stu!) We got some fruit and AJ got some mince for dinner, then walked back along the beach. It was really nice, but there are too many problems with Jellyfish to even think about going in. We watched a few parachuters come down onto the beach then went back for a swim. We played on the pole across the pool then all realised we were too burnt to carry on! After that we had a few drinks, ate soooo much food (Stu and Alex used 1kg og spaghetti for 4 people, so we had a bit too much!) We then played a couple of card games (involving the loser drinking) and then went to the pub next door. It was good there, as there was a man from Melbourne playing. He played some well know songs, so it was good to sing along.
We're checking out tomorrow and heading down to Townsville, so I don't know when the next update will come.
Chris
On Tuesday evening, after spending ages in the Internet cafe, we went back to the hostel and then went out to the local club, called "The Wool Shed". This place offered all people staying at Caravella's a free meal, so of course we made the most of it! I had Spag Bol. but we could have upgraded to a steak if we paid a bit more. After the food we went upstairs and had a few drinks. It picked up a bit, but we met a couple called Joe & Emma, who have been stalking us since Koh Phangan!! We saw them on the night boat, then in Kuala Lumpur, then on the plane from Singapore to Cairns!! Pretty scary! We went back to the hostel and cracked open the Jim Beam and played a couple of drinking games then went back to the Wool Shed. It was much more lively when we got there, so we stayed until about 2am then went back to sleep.
We woke up at about 12 (you guessed it - just Alex and I!) and went out for a wander. We went to the big supermarket (called Woolworths!) and stocked up on supplies (mainly Muesli and milk). When we made it back to the hostel Stu and Mike had woken up, so we all decided to go on the internet for a bit. The other 2 went out the side exit so we lost them before we even made it to the cafe! But luckily Alex and I got the cheaper price for the internet. We got back to the hostel at about 7pm (time goes really quickly out here!) and then went straight out to the Wool Shed for our free meal, but I'd already decided to upgrade for $7 to the rump steak and chips (bargain!). It was really good and even better as it was so cheap. We stayed at the Wool Shed and had a chat with a Canadian girl and a Spanish guy, who had been to NZ and Fiji, so they told us all of the good places to go to, which was helpful. We only stayed in the bar, as it was a Wet T-shirt comp, which turned out to be really good!
We made it back to the Kebab place for about 1am, but we met someone we'd seen the day before, so naturally invited them back for drinks. I think we made it to sleep at about 4am, eventhough we had a 7:25am bus journey!
We woke up after what seemed like 10 minutes sleep and packed up our stuff, to get ready for the rainforest. We checked out and were met by a man called Peter, who was our guide for the day. We went to the tour office, and for some reason they charged me $30 too little, so I was happy! We started out on the road to Cape Tribulation, but Peter had doubts about it, because of the vast amount of rain they'd had - i've never seen so much water! The rivers were 2-3 metres above the normal amount, and loads of rivers had burst their banks, but we eventually made it to Mossman Gorge (our 1st stop). Peter said it was usual for people to swim in it, but it would have been suicide to do it! I made a video of it, which i'll post at a later date! We went for a walk around there, before going to a wildlife sanctuary, which had a few big crocs, kangaroos and cassowaries (search it in Google!) It was quite a tame zoo, but it was good all the same. We left there at about 11:30 and there were still heavy rain showers in the area, which gave us more of a doubt about making it up to Cape Trib. We eventually made it to the Daintree (the protected rainforest area) and went on a boardwalk through the rainforest. Just before that though, we saw a Boyd's Forest Dragon, which is one the lizards that runs on it's back legs when scared. Peter spotted it in the road and made it run away, so Alex got some good photos. The boardwalk was really good - we saw fruit bats, archer fish, golden orb spiders, kookaburras and loads more! We got to our accommodation at about 2pm and were glad to be there after the flooded roads. We had to drive through water that was about a foot deep (through a river!) and we also went on the Daintree Ferry, which takes you from one side to the other. PK's was where we were staying and it was quite nice, but we wanted to sleep mainly, so we had about 4 hours there and then. We woke up at about 6pm and got some food, but it was quite expensive, so that put us off a bit. We'd also heard about night walks in the rainforest, which we were all keen to do, so we booked onto it for 19:30. We were picked up a bit late, but the tour guides were real jokers, so it made up for it. They kept on pretending we were going for tours to the sea, then to our hotels...
We made it to their office in the middle of nowhere and were all given torches. They took us out for about 2 hours and we saw more than I expected - loads of frogs, crickets, dragons (Boyd's) and other random bugs. The main man also kept of pranking people by putting fireflies on people's heads and poking them with sticks! We got back at about 10pm and went to bed not long after that (after a couple of games of poker though).
We woke up early and checked out for 09:30, but they said we could stay in our room because of the wait between then and the bus (picking us up at 2pm) Mike, Alex and I went for a walk to the sea, but were joined by Stu not long after. The whole area was flooded and the tide was soooo high! The sea was so rough it was dangerous, but even more so because of the crocs and box jellyfish. We went for another boardwalk after that and saw the same sort of things again including cockatoos, but it ended up in Mike and Alex being in ankle deep water! We were picked up not long after the walk and were taken to an expensive ice cream shop, but it was made out of fruits from the area, so we were all obliged to buy some. It was over priced though, and not too tasty, but we learned from our mistakes! After that we went to the croc river cruise, which was really good! We had a small rain shower while on the boat, but other than that it was sunny. We managed to see a big female croc, and also a small baby (separate places on the river) and also a tree snake and a python! Oh and loads of fruit bats, but they were a bit boring after seeing so many. After the river cruise we went to Port Douglas, which we all wanted to go to. However, we sort of got dropped off at a bar, so... we ended up drinking Guinness in Australia (we seem to be trying it in every continent we've been in!) The bus driver encouraged us, so we had to oblige! We played Connect 4, before realising the chips could be used in poker, so we played a few games after the Connect 4 tournament. We went back to Cairns, and arrived at about 7pm. We checked back into our original room and then got ready to go out, but it took a while. We finally made it out for our free meal by about 9pm, and we had steak again (who could resist the cheap price!?!) and then stayed for a drink. We had all wanted to go to the casino, so we thought that we may as well make the most of the time in Cairns, so we went! It was better than expectec - it was full of gamblers spending so much money, but also winning loads as well. The lights and sounds were crazy! We spent $10 each (apart from me, as I didn't want to lose!) and Stu was the only winner, but he made and extra $20, so he was really happy. We got back to the hostel at about 2am and then went straight to sleep.
I woke up at 6am, but kept pushing the snooze button, but knew I had to be up soon. I got up just after AJ came out of the shower, and we all set off to the Oz Experience office; all tired and sad to be leaving Cairns. We had a few minutes to spare, but the bus was late, so it wasn't too bad. Oh, and we also spotted Leah, who was the winner of the Wet T-Shirt comp. a couple of nights earlier! Was funny to see her with her top on! We made it to the out of town office and sorted out the last bits of paper work and we were on our way! (or so we thought...) We ended up stopping on the way for a walk, and were shown all of the things we'd already seen on the other walks, but was interesting all the same. We went to a place called Devil's Pool, which has claimed about 20 lives in the past few years, and we were told the Aboriginal story to do with the deaths (the reason they say people have died there) We also saw a Stinging Tree, which is particularly nasty - they have thousands of needles which get stuck in you if you brush against it, and they also have toxins in. They stay in you for about 6 months (eve longer) and always cause you pain if you touch them at all, with anything! We'd heard rumours about them, but this was the first time we'd seen them. We got back on the bus and made it to Innesfail and got a Subway for Brunch, and then some supplies from the supermarket. It was getting really annoying, as all we wanted to do was sleep, but we kept on stopping!!! And the driver had the most annoying voice! We then went to a Croc. farm, but we'd already seen most of the things inside, so we just played poker for a while. There was croc just outside in the lake as well, and it was wild! We got to Mission Beach at about 1pm, and checked into our room straight away. They always seem to give us such nice rooms, for so cheap!?! We had a sleep, then went to the supermarket nearby. We got some more supplies, then decided to cook dinner. Mike and I had just made it to the kitchen, and guess who we saw?!? Joe and Emma! AGAIN!! We had a cook-off with them, but we blatently won. We had rice and chicken,. which turned out to be really good, then went out to the "club" in town/village; it was rubbish. There were about 10 people there and it was dead. We just came straight home and then played poker and went to bed.
Today was nice not to have to get up early, but we still made it to the shop by 12pm (apart from Stu!) We got some fruit and AJ got some mince for dinner, then walked back along the beach. It was really nice, but there are too many problems with Jellyfish to even think about going in. We watched a few parachuters come down onto the beach then went back for a swim. We played on the pole across the pool then all realised we were too burnt to carry on! After that we had a few drinks, ate soooo much food (Stu and Alex used 1kg og spaghetti for 4 people, so we had a bit too much!) We then played a couple of card games (involving the loser drinking) and then went to the pub next door. It was good there, as there was a man from Melbourne playing. He played some well know songs, so it was good to sing along.
We're checking out tomorrow and heading down to Townsville, so I don't know when the next update will come.
Chris
Monday, 3 March 2008
Welcome to Oz!
We've finally made it to Cairns, Australia, and we are all really happy to be here (not that Asia was boring or anything, just that we wanted something more similar to life at home).
We got to the airport a bit late last night (at about 20:45 - the flight was at 22:20, but the gate opened at 21:20!) We made it anyway, and sadly we weren't given loads of compensation to miss the flight; we were told that we were flying on "Jet Star", which is a partner of Qantas (don't know why!!!) It wasn't anything like Qantas at all. We were expecting a 747 with TV's in each seat, a big choice of films, loads of free stuff, but it wasn't to be. It was a much smaller plane (A320) and there were no TV's :( Then we looked at the menu and it said we'd have to pay for food and drink, but luckily it wasn't for international flights. Oh and another thing, it was going via Darwin in North Australia!! It was nice of them to let us know before!
The flight was alright - it was just like the Aussie version of MyTravel or First Choice (short haul). Shame we didn't get the plane we expected! We had to get out at Darwin for about 45 mins while they cleaned the plane and let us have a break (it took about 4hours to get there). Alex and I went for a look in the Duty Free and found a good deal on Jim Beam. We managed to buy two 1.125 litre bottles (2.25 litres) for 25 pounds! We thought it would last us the first night, when we'd get more lol.
We got back on the plane and I went back to sleep again and only woke up when we'd started our descent. The first view of Cairns that we got was a sea of mud (literally!) They've had really heavy rain for the past few days and its washed all of the sediment down into the sea. It was cool to sea, but it made it look a bit like home, with all of the clouds etc.
We got out of the plane and had our passports checked alond with our boarding passes, then we walked to the baggage reclaim point, where there was a sniffer dog checking all of us. We then got to the baggage hall, where another dog was sniffing us. After that one we could finally get our bags, but then we had to put all of our things through an x-ray machine, and we all got bombarded with questions about where we've been, whether we have any wood, plants or fresh food. It was good they were being throrough about it, but they seemed to be taking the p***. It took ages for us to eventually get out, then I bumped into one of my brother's primary school friends! Its such a small world! We had as chat and I found out she was doing a similar thing to us, so we'll probably see her again, along the way. We waited for a taxi that never turned up, so Alex called the hostel, and they told us to get one and they'd reimburse us!! It turns out it was only about 10 minutes down the road, but at least they acknowledged their guests.
We paid about 9 pounds each and then went to our room. It was another dorm, but only for 4 people, so there was no one else in it. All of the staff were so friendly! They gave us loads of advice on things to do in the area and also gave us meal vouchers for a Pub in the area.
This afternoon, Alex and I left the usual people in bed and we went for a an explore. Cairns is really a beautiful city, but would be even better in the sun. Its not very big at all, and you can walk to most places in the area. Tonight we're meant to be going for an explore around the bars (after our Jim Beam!!)
Chris
P.S I've put some more photos up as well, but more will be coming! (the photo uploading almost made us miss the plane!!!)
http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/gapyear2008
We got to the airport a bit late last night (at about 20:45 - the flight was at 22:20, but the gate opened at 21:20!) We made it anyway, and sadly we weren't given loads of compensation to miss the flight; we were told that we were flying on "Jet Star", which is a partner of Qantas (don't know why!!!) It wasn't anything like Qantas at all. We were expecting a 747 with TV's in each seat, a big choice of films, loads of free stuff, but it wasn't to be. It was a much smaller plane (A320) and there were no TV's :( Then we looked at the menu and it said we'd have to pay for food and drink, but luckily it wasn't for international flights. Oh and another thing, it was going via Darwin in North Australia!! It was nice of them to let us know before!
The flight was alright - it was just like the Aussie version of MyTravel or First Choice (short haul). Shame we didn't get the plane we expected! We had to get out at Darwin for about 45 mins while they cleaned the plane and let us have a break (it took about 4hours to get there). Alex and I went for a look in the Duty Free and found a good deal on Jim Beam. We managed to buy two 1.125 litre bottles (2.25 litres) for 25 pounds! We thought it would last us the first night, when we'd get more lol.
We got back on the plane and I went back to sleep again and only woke up when we'd started our descent. The first view of Cairns that we got was a sea of mud (literally!) They've had really heavy rain for the past few days and its washed all of the sediment down into the sea. It was cool to sea, but it made it look a bit like home, with all of the clouds etc.
We got out of the plane and had our passports checked alond with our boarding passes, then we walked to the baggage reclaim point, where there was a sniffer dog checking all of us. We then got to the baggage hall, where another dog was sniffing us. After that one we could finally get our bags, but then we had to put all of our things through an x-ray machine, and we all got bombarded with questions about where we've been, whether we have any wood, plants or fresh food. It was good they were being throrough about it, but they seemed to be taking the p***. It took ages for us to eventually get out, then I bumped into one of my brother's primary school friends! Its such a small world! We had as chat and I found out she was doing a similar thing to us, so we'll probably see her again, along the way. We waited for a taxi that never turned up, so Alex called the hostel, and they told us to get one and they'd reimburse us!! It turns out it was only about 10 minutes down the road, but at least they acknowledged their guests.
We paid about 9 pounds each and then went to our room. It was another dorm, but only for 4 people, so there was no one else in it. All of the staff were so friendly! They gave us loads of advice on things to do in the area and also gave us meal vouchers for a Pub in the area.
This afternoon, Alex and I left the usual people in bed and we went for a an explore. Cairns is really a beautiful city, but would be even better in the sun. Its not very big at all, and you can walk to most places in the area. Tonight we're meant to be going for an explore around the bars (after our Jim Beam!!)
Chris
P.S I've put some more photos up as well, but more will be coming! (the photo uploading almost made us miss the plane!!!)
http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/gapyear2008
Singapore, again
Last night after using the internet for a while, we went to Orchard (the main road in Singapore) and decided to have a special oriental evening: we went to the cinema to watch "Jumper" , which was such a waste of time. It had no story line and was pretty boring, but other than that it was great. Afterwards we went and got some food from the food court near to our hostel. This was actually oriental; we had a mixture of curry and thai food, which was all really good and cheap as well. Then, as Liverpool were playing, all of us wanted to watch the match against Bolton! We went down to Boat Quay and managed to get a few glimpses into the bar windows, but they were all really expensive. Then we saw a riverside restaurant (you know, the type with plastic chairs and table cloths) with a big screen, and a jug of beer for only $16. We sat down and watched the rest of the game and had a couple of jugs. It was a good night to relax, but to soak up the atmosphere as well, in such an alive area. We went back to our hostel at about 23:30 and got in just after 00:00. Its quite annoying being in big dorms, as most of the people were already asleep, so we "tried" to make as little noise as possible.
We woke up (well, Alex and I woke up) in time for a shower before the stupidly early check-out time of 10:00, but Stu and Mike only had time to pack and then leave. But the lady on reception said they could have showers for a $ each. We went to the food court again for breakfast/lunch and then decided that the zoo was our best bet for today. We got on the MRT and arrived at the zoo (after a long bus journey as well) at about 13:00, and went in for a fun packed day. It was really good actually. It had loads of cool animals (not just the type you see at Chessington World of Adventures) including: lions, white tigers, rhinos, leopards, cheetas, jaguars, pygmy hippod etc. We spent most of the day there until we realised we have to be at the airport at about 19:30! I think we're all hoping they'll ask us to go on the next day's flight, so we get compensation and loads of other stuff, but I guess we'll find out a bit later!
By for now, and i'll tell you the next news when we're in sunny Cairns!!!
We woke up (well, Alex and I woke up) in time for a shower before the stupidly early check-out time of 10:00, but Stu and Mike only had time to pack and then leave. But the lady on reception said they could have showers for a $ each. We went to the food court again for breakfast/lunch and then decided that the zoo was our best bet for today. We got on the MRT and arrived at the zoo (after a long bus journey as well) at about 13:00, and went in for a fun packed day. It was really good actually. It had loads of cool animals (not just the type you see at Chessington World of Adventures) including: lions, white tigers, rhinos, leopards, cheetas, jaguars, pygmy hippod etc. We spent most of the day there until we realised we have to be at the airport at about 19:30! I think we're all hoping they'll ask us to go on the next day's flight, so we get compensation and loads of other stuff, but I guess we'll find out a bit later!
By for now, and i'll tell you the next news when we're in sunny Cairns!!!
Sunday, 2 March 2008
Singapore
Well, we're now in Singapore and have been for just over a day, and to be honest, its a lot like London, but a bit hotter, and heavier rain.
Its still really good though, but expensive. It seems like the numbers of things in shops are the same as in Malaysia, which makes them about the same price as things in England :(
Luckily we're only staying here for a couple of nights.
On Friday we went to the station to waste some more time, and managed to get something to eat there. It was horrible. We went for the Fish and Chips, obviously expecting something similar to England, but you guessed it, it wasn't. Alex was safe and went for a spicy noodle thing, which he seemed to like. Anyway, we got on the train at about 8:45 (leaving at 9:15) and went straight to our beds. It was really cool! There were loads of beds along the whole of our carriage, all with lights, windows and curtains (we're missing the basics from home!) We waited for the train to move before deciding what to do; we sat down chatting for a bit, but then decided it was best to get some sleep. We all went to our beds, and just as I was drifting off, the man behind me started playing some rubbishy Bollywood film on his laptop, at the loudest possible volume!?!?!? And then an Asian man started shouting at someone on his phone, but I did eventually get to sleep. I woke up a few times in the night, but other than thoses times, it was a pretty good nights sleep. We were supposed to get into the station at about 08:15, but the announcer said we all had to get off at about 06:55. We all wondered what it was, but then figured out that it must be customs. We were all getting worried by this point, thinking that some of us would have had drugs planted in our bags as we slept, but we all made it through easily. We got back on the train for about another half hour and then arrived into the main station.
We got out into the "fresh" Singapore air, and this city again, felt like Hong Kong. It was a grey day with a cloudy sky, which made us feel really "happy". I think we were all happy that we were going to Australia so soon. We changed up our last notes from Malaysia and Thailand and then went to look for a taxi. A man came up to us, asking if we'd booked anywhere to stay, so we said no. He gave us a big list of hostels (most of which we'd heard of before) and he tried calling some, but they were booked. Anyway, we got in his taxi and then went to Little India, as this is the most hostely area. We went to about 2 or 3 different hostels, but they were all full. We chose to get out anyway, as one hostel said the may have room after they know who was going to check out (it was still before 10am). We had some food for breakfast (a bowl of curry sauce and 3 bits of nan bread - really good!) and then went back to the hostel, but the owner said it was full. We went to an internet cafe after that and Alex found a good hostel a couple of miles away. We jumped in a taxi and luckily it had room. It was called The Sky Orchid I think, but the staff were friendly. The only bad thing was, was that we could only stay there 1 night. It wasn't too bad, as last night's sleep was the most important. Anyway, we dumped our bags and then went into the city centre by MRT (like the MRT in Hong Kong). We got off near the Raffles Hotel, and as Alex wanted to go in so much, we went into the Long Bar and ordered 2 Singapore Slings (at 10 pounds each!!!) I thought I was being clever when I ordered a bottle of water, but that cost just over 5 pounds. So we tried to eat as many peanuts as we could, and I think we succeeded! We left there feeling slightly ripped off, but it was "the top thing to do in Singapore", apparently.
We then went for a wander around the rest of the area, but by this time we were all really tired. We went into a mall to find some toilets, but ended up going through the department store, and seeing all of the cool gadgets they have over here. We saw a TV that was 103 inches! It was huge! Then one of the workers let us have a go in all of the massaging chairs (I think we slightly took the piss, as we stayed there for almost an hour, but it was fun nonetheless.
We then went to the 7-Eleven and had some food, and then decided we would go to the cinema, but there was nothing good on. We then spent the next hour thinking of things to do, none of which turned into anything. We got back to the hostel at about 8, and Stu and I fell straight asleep. Mike and Alex went clubbing and got back at about 3am, but Stuart and I slept for the whole night. It sounds as thought they had a good time, but they spent quite a bit.
Today, we managed to find somewhere else to stay, but we have wasted the day, really, as we've done nothing productive.
BRING ON AUSTRALIA!!!
Its still really good though, but expensive. It seems like the numbers of things in shops are the same as in Malaysia, which makes them about the same price as things in England :(
Luckily we're only staying here for a couple of nights.
On Friday we went to the station to waste some more time, and managed to get something to eat there. It was horrible. We went for the Fish and Chips, obviously expecting something similar to England, but you guessed it, it wasn't. Alex was safe and went for a spicy noodle thing, which he seemed to like. Anyway, we got on the train at about 8:45 (leaving at 9:15) and went straight to our beds. It was really cool! There were loads of beds along the whole of our carriage, all with lights, windows and curtains (we're missing the basics from home!) We waited for the train to move before deciding what to do; we sat down chatting for a bit, but then decided it was best to get some sleep. We all went to our beds, and just as I was drifting off, the man behind me started playing some rubbishy Bollywood film on his laptop, at the loudest possible volume!?!?!? And then an Asian man started shouting at someone on his phone, but I did eventually get to sleep. I woke up a few times in the night, but other than thoses times, it was a pretty good nights sleep. We were supposed to get into the station at about 08:15, but the announcer said we all had to get off at about 06:55. We all wondered what it was, but then figured out that it must be customs. We were all getting worried by this point, thinking that some of us would have had drugs planted in our bags as we slept, but we all made it through easily. We got back on the train for about another half hour and then arrived into the main station.
We got out into the "fresh" Singapore air, and this city again, felt like Hong Kong. It was a grey day with a cloudy sky, which made us feel really "happy". I think we were all happy that we were going to Australia so soon. We changed up our last notes from Malaysia and Thailand and then went to look for a taxi. A man came up to us, asking if we'd booked anywhere to stay, so we said no. He gave us a big list of hostels (most of which we'd heard of before) and he tried calling some, but they were booked. Anyway, we got in his taxi and then went to Little India, as this is the most hostely area. We went to about 2 or 3 different hostels, but they were all full. We chose to get out anyway, as one hostel said the may have room after they know who was going to check out (it was still before 10am). We had some food for breakfast (a bowl of curry sauce and 3 bits of nan bread - really good!) and then went back to the hostel, but the owner said it was full. We went to an internet cafe after that and Alex found a good hostel a couple of miles away. We jumped in a taxi and luckily it had room. It was called The Sky Orchid I think, but the staff were friendly. The only bad thing was, was that we could only stay there 1 night. It wasn't too bad, as last night's sleep was the most important. Anyway, we dumped our bags and then went into the city centre by MRT (like the MRT in Hong Kong). We got off near the Raffles Hotel, and as Alex wanted to go in so much, we went into the Long Bar and ordered 2 Singapore Slings (at 10 pounds each!!!) I thought I was being clever when I ordered a bottle of water, but that cost just over 5 pounds. So we tried to eat as many peanuts as we could, and I think we succeeded! We left there feeling slightly ripped off, but it was "the top thing to do in Singapore", apparently.
We then went for a wander around the rest of the area, but by this time we were all really tired. We went into a mall to find some toilets, but ended up going through the department store, and seeing all of the cool gadgets they have over here. We saw a TV that was 103 inches! It was huge! Then one of the workers let us have a go in all of the massaging chairs (I think we slightly took the piss, as we stayed there for almost an hour, but it was fun nonetheless.
We then went to the 7-Eleven and had some food, and then decided we would go to the cinema, but there was nothing good on. We then spent the next hour thinking of things to do, none of which turned into anything. We got back to the hostel at about 8, and Stu and I fell straight asleep. Mike and Alex went clubbing and got back at about 3am, but Stuart and I slept for the whole night. It sounds as thought they had a good time, but they spent quite a bit.
Today, we managed to find somewhere else to stay, but we have wasted the day, really, as we've done nothing productive.
BRING ON AUSTRALIA!!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)