Rainbow Beach and Fraser Island...

Rainbow Beach, quite a small place but I loved it. The beach was great and I spent most of my time there where I had some lessons in trying to swim in the surf. After a while I got the hang of it, or thought I did then I would get smacked in the face by a wave again getting dragged back to the shore with a mouth full of salt water. I only spent 3 nights here, somewhere to stay while I went off to visit Fraser Island. This was part of my trip I was really unsure about. Everyone had been telling me that the place is full of spiders, big, hairy spiders! Thankfully I have not yet seen a huntsman (touch wood) and Fraser Island was no exception. I saw quite a few big spiders but they were in webs in trees where I don't mind them, it is when they get into your bedroom or bathroom when I start to really freak out. After watching a really boring and kind of scary safety video about Fraser Island we set off. We had a convoy of 4 4x4 cars which I had my turn at driving. Luckily ours was an automatic so as we were bouncing about and trying to keep control of the wheel we didn't have to think about changing gears too. Driving on sand is hard, once you get stuck in the tracks of another vehicle it is very hard to get out. Our first stop on the island was Lake Mackenzie. I was in complete awe of this place, a beautiful fresh water lake high up in the hills, it is hard to believe it is not man made. We then headed to our campsite to pitch our tents before it got dark and discovered there was no toilet...uh oh! We were told that if we needed to go we would have to go in pairs with a flash light and squat around the corner away from the site. The reason we had to go in pairs, there ware dingos! The dingos were lingering around the campsite all night waiting for scraps of food, they were pretty harmless though and seemed to get scared away from simply shining your torch at them, this didn't stop them from stealing and eating someones flip flops in the night however. The next day, back in our cars we set off to a creek for a morning dip then off to a place called the Champagne Pools, so named because they are pools next to the sea and when a wave hit the rocks the water froths up just like champagne. This place was also beautiful but got kind of ruined by the rain, and it has rained pretty much everyday since! Our last night in the campsite was fun but I think everyone was ready to go back, sick of squatting, sleeping on the very uncomfortable ground and so sick of getting eaten alive by the marsh flies! And so back to Rainbow Beach where we all raced for a shower and spent our last night together with some good old goon!

1770, Agnes Waters...

After sadly leaving the Whitsundays behind me I headed to a place called Emu Park where I visited Great Keppel Island. Both of these places I'm sure at one point would have been a lovely place to stay but again due to the effects of the cyclone they were both pretty much dead so spent a few days relaxing by the beach with a book and was glad to leave and join people again when arriving into my next destination of 1770. Here I stayed at my favourite hostel so far, a place called Southern Cross run by some old hippies. None of the rooms locked and were given country names rather than numbers. I stayed in Sweden. I spent my first night here with a group of girls all travelling on their own too, we spent a good few hours sharing adventure stories and giving out tips. The next day was Scooteroo! What a great idea for a fun day out. I was in a group of about 50 people where we all got kitted out in leather jackets and helmets adorned with flames and covered ourselves with rub on tattoos, then to the bikes. The bikes were basically scooters all dressed up to look like Harley Davidsons. They came in all kinds of colours and designs so once each of us had picked our bike we were sent to do a few laps and get used to riding the thing. Unfortunately, just like I did on the bike in Thailand I kept trying to break with my feet and so eventually chickened out and hopped on the back of one of the guides bikes instead. My guide was a crazy Irish guy who informed me he had been riding bikes since he was 6 but this still provided me with no comfort when he was going ridiculously fast and performing tricks. At one point he put his feet over the handle bars, lay back against me and put his hands behind his head...terrifying but exciting! We rode for about 3 hours, seeing Kangaroos in the wild and watching the sun set. After a great but tiring day it was another early night for me back at the hostel...I am quite the party animal out here!

Whitsundays...

After leaving Magnetic Island the next stop with the Oz Experience bus was Airlie beach, this is the place for sailing and the part of my trip I was probably most excited for. Our boat was called the Boomerang which was once a racing boat and had won a fair few races. There was 26 of us in total plus 3 crew members who stayed on the boat for 2 days and 2 nights. Before getting on the boat we had to throw our shoes in a bag as we were to be barefoot the whole time which I loved. The bottom of the boat was were our beds were, it was open plan and hot meaning the majority of people chose to sleep outside on the deck at night time. We had to help out raising and lowering the sails which was fun and quite comical, especially for me and my weak arms! We sailed for a good few hours and all got talking, I got talking to 2 guys on the boat who as it turned out were also from Durham and knew quite a few people I also knew, small world. Our first stop, we all got stinger suited up and got into the water to do a bit of snorkeling in the Great Barrier Reef. Back to the boat we had some good food and spent the night drinking and chatting on deck until we tired ourselves out and went to sleep. The next morning we got back into the sea for some more snorkeling and found Nemo! We then set sail to Whitsunday Island where we spent the afternoon on Whitehaven beach. This place was unreal, I have seen pictures and postcards and none of them do justice to seeing it for real. This beach had the whitest sand and clearest sea I have ever seen, I think we were all in awe of the sheer beauty of the place, just a shame we could only go into the sea wearing our stinger suits...stupid jellyfish! Once back on the boat we had yet more good food, drinks and chats before we all went to sleep on our last night on the boat. Our last morning saw just a few people go out for one last snorkel before we set sail back to Airlie Beach. As I said this was one of the things I was most excited for on my trip and went above and beyond me expectations, I had the most amazing time and was sad to be back on land.

Magnetic Island...

Next stop in Queensland was the lovely Magnetic Island, I wanted to stop at Mission beach but due to the sad effects of the cyclone it would not have been a good idea. So our bus stopped at Townsville which looked like a town from an old western and we got onto a ferry to take us across to the island. The 3 girls I was now travelling with all stayed in the same hostel and didn't do much on the first day as we arrived quite late in the afternoon so just got some food and drinks played a few games at the bar. The next day we got up early and went to hire out a car for the day. This car was amazing, we loved it! It can only be described as a Barbie car, small, topless and pink, lots of pink. We spent the day driving around where we could going for walks and checking out the quiet beaches, one of which we were the only people there...lovely! That night it was a full moon so our hostel held a sort of mini full moon party with buckets and neon paint although was nothing compared to the real one I went to in Thailand but was still good fun. The next morning we felt we had done everything you could really do on this small island so spent the morning relaxing in hammocks by the beach, not a bad way to spend the day is it?!?

Cairns...

After leaving Asia behind I start my time in Australia in Cairns. I stayed here for four days and managed to squeeze a fair bit into that time. My first full day I went on a day trip to Cape Tribulation famous for being the worlds oldest rain forest. We first stopped off at a wildlife sanctuary where I saw my first koala, they are so cute but really lazy sleeping for 20 hours a day! Then we got to hand feed some wallabies and see some kangaroos hopping all over the place. Next stop was Mossman Gorge where we had a quick dip in the water took some pictures of the amazing views and got freaked out by a spider the size of my hand! After a cruise on the Daintree river we stopped at a beach at Cape Trib then headed back to Cairns. Whilst in Cairns I also went white water rafting on the Tully river. Tully is famed for being the wettest place in Australia and has a statue of wellington boot 8 metres tall to celebrate this fact, 8 metres being the record for the most rainfall they had in one year. Driving down to the Tully river the destruction caused by the recent cyclone was obvious, trees had been striped completely of leaves and bark with some being ripped straight from the ground, some of the house had some pretty bad damage too, it was sad to see. The river guides had previously been starting the rafting from a lower point down the river after the cyclone as the water level had been to high but we got to be the first group to go from the top as luckily the water had dropped. Once teamed up and fully equipped with life jacket, helmet and paddle we got into our raft and got on our way. This was one of the funnest things I have ever done, however I was more than a little scared as we tore through the rapids with some of them being category 4 rapids with category 5 being the most dangerous. Going through one of the rapids one of our team got thrown from the raft but managed to hang on whilst we pulled him in, he was fine but lost a shoe so in an attempt to get it back we went a different way down one of the rapids which ended up with us getting stuck having to climb out and subsequently leaving the 5 of us stranded on a small rock without our guide hugging each other to stay on and not fall in. We had to each take it in turns to jump from the rock straight into the rapids to make it back to the raft whilst the other rafts laughed at us, I was terrified but soon found the funny side as we were back safe in the raft, I only wish someone had managed to get a picture of the 5 of us hugging on that rock! That night I moved hostels and had a few drinks with some news friends and got an early night as I had to catch my first Oz Experience bus the next morning at 6.15am.

Singapore...

I left Kuala Lumpur by coach, which at such a cheap price for a journey that took 6 hours I wasn't expecting much, however the coach had huge reclining leather seats with a foot rest, your own small T.V. screen, a meal and free tea or coffee throughout the journey! My hostel in Singapore is really nice and was joined on my first night by a lovely Scottish girl also traveling on her own. Neither of us really had any plans and she was only here for the one day so we headed down to the marina and took a ride on the Singapore flyer, which is like the London eye but 30 metres higher. We were amazed by the view, the skyline has to be one of the best I have ever seen. When we reached the top of the wheel we realised that road going around the bottom was actually the F1 track and were then pretty excited to realise that we had just been walking on it (well I was anyway with my dad being such a huge F1 fan). That night we headed into little india for a curry which was all kinds of delicious! Day two in Singapore I headed out to the zoo. I had a brilliant time and fell in love with the elephants, you should expect a lot of pictures when I can finally upload some! I'm not a huge fan of zoos and personally find them a bit cruel but was very impressed by the amount of freedom the animals have there, they seem to be really well looked after. Day three, my two new dorm mates and I headed back down to the marina which I returned to again later that evening to check out the skyline at night and caught a little glimpse of a parade they were having in celebration of the chinese new year. Speaking of Chinese New Year I feel I have neglected to mention how brilliant it has been being in Asia during this time. The atmosphere has been great and the celebrations and decorations have been brilliant to see. So far Singapore has been my favourite place but am really excited to get to my next destination...Australia!

Kuala Lumpur...

After 5 weeks in Thailand I was quite happy to be leaving and so arrived happy into KL airport to be greated by a friend of mine from back in London's sister, who lives there with their dad. We went out to get some food straight away. They took me to get a curry from a place where it is served on a banana leaf and you eat with your hands. It will shock those of you who know me well enough to know that I opted out of the messy option of eating with my hands and chose to keep my hands clean and eat with a fork! The food was so good and once we were nice and full we dropped my bag off at their house, got ready and headed out to a club. The next morning, feeling slightly worse for wear, we drove slightly out of KL to the historic town of Malacca. This was a really pretty place where we spent the day wondering round the streets and the evening eating fresh seafood. And to those who were in shock before will be pleased to know that this night I tucked in with my hands...food everywhere! My last day in KL we spent being typical tourists and first went to visit the towers which were an amazing sight, we couldn't go up to the sky bridge that joins the two however as it is closed on a Monday...rubbish! We opted then insted to go to the top of KL tower where you could see for miles followed by a trip to the mini zoo located at the bottom of the tower. We ended my last night with chinese food and cocktails. I wish I could have spent longer here.