Hi!! Over to Claire…..
Hi all, so so so sorry it’s been a while, bet you’ve all been waiting in for our next update with mass anticipation (yeh right!!!!).
Anyway, we have literally been so so busy with jam packed adventures once again that we haven’t had time to sit down and write. So i think the last time we did write, it was after Fraser Island, then we moved on from Hervey Bay. So next morning we were picked up at 7am by the Oz Experience bus once again and joined the Bruce Highway further up the east coast. Stopped in Bundaberg the home of the famous rum, and then Mackay, filled with sugar canes, then drove inland more into the outback. Early afternoon we arrived at Kroombit Cattle Station, our stop for the night. Really outback cowboy type place, only buildings in miles of land! Had a big bbq lunch, then George and I braved the horseback riding activity! Each got our own horses and trotted off in to the fields, up and down the hills! My horse was called Bob, he was pretty easy going, liked to eat lots of things along the way. George had Rusty (the horse they give all the kids cos he never runs or does anything bad, and she had been too scared and panicky about the horseriding – just like zorbing, so they gave her the easy one to calm her and shut her up!). Anyway, off we go, one by one in line following the instructors and George is suddenly shouting ‘Claire Claire’, good old Rusty had run (his first time in about 10 years) off in another direction!!! So funny, but what the hell did she expect me to do eh?!! Anyway, al lwas fine, back on track and our next task was to muster the goats in the field (on our horses) in to a gate / pen. So we all, on our horses, got behind these tens of goats and shouted a tune to make them all move through the fields, it was amazing, we were mustering!!! A couple of the baby kids kept falling behind but we trotted round behind them and got them in to line!! After eventually grouping them all together in this pen and shutting the gate, we rode back to our base. (George had conquered her fear!) Then we were taught how to throw a rope cowboy style to catch a goat by its head (we only practised on a goats skull though, dont worry!!!) After a rest, the next game was on – branding the goat.
So we’re all outside this round pen, looking in like it was a boxing ring, and we had to get in to teams of 3. The man would release a goat in to the pen. One of us had to chase after the goat, grab its horns and drag it in to the middle, the second person would have to pick it up by two of its feet, turn it upside down andput it on the ground holding it down, and the third person would get the branding stamp and stamp it down on to its leg. Ok, so basically the team who did it in the quickest time would win – so so random i know! A boys team went first and they got the goat straight away, did really well, then the next team did the same, etc,etc, we went in, and the guy released a baby kid into the pen, so i was chasing round this fast little bugger who didnt even have any horns to grabm hence i fell over like an idiot, scraped all my leg and cut myself! everyone laughed of course. so i stopped and demanded to start the time again – with a new FULLY SIZED easier goat! After chasing it around like a lunactic (i couldnt catch it for ages), i finally dragged it over. yet we only came 5th out of 6 teams!!! all fun and games though, so so strange!!! Then for an ‘extreme’ challenge, the guy made us all stand in a big circle holding hands and then gave two people a proper high voltage elctric shock, which went through all of us, then people dropped out so the individual shocks got worse!! hilarious! It was an animal buzzer thing. Back to base, had few games of volleyball and some drinks before dinner – our first ROAST of the holiday, and very nice it was too!! played some more drinking games, and then we were taught how to ‘crack a whip’ loudly! was very difficult but we managed to produce a few sounds despite whipping our own arms painfully along the way!!! Then next was our goes on the mechanical bull! So so funny, no-one could stay on for longer than a few seconds, it was impossible, toughest bull ever. Ended the night quite chilled, some drinking games around a campfire, then off to bed.
Up early for our departure, on the road a few hours before stopping at this beautiful picnic type place where we were right at the start of, and looking out over the Great Barrier Reef, our guide made us a big bbq with fresh fish etc too. Carried on driving over the line we crossed the Tropics of Cancer, in to the proper heat now and stopped and a little town called Sarina where we all had a few games of bowling and a lawn bowls club (all included with our tour bus!!) v.random but good fun in the sun with our bottles of cider. The old men were sitting around laughing at how bad we were! Then eventually we arrived at our next destination – Airlie Beach. Checked in to our hostel ‘Koalas’ nice cabins with pool etc, and then walked in to the town, mainly a strip of food places, shops, clubs and bars!! Had a leisurely stroll and grabbed some dinner, then as usual, we’d all agreed for our tour group to meet later on at a pub in the centre for free drinks and get together etc. More and more drinks, on to another bar, then club and later night banter in the streets just as you’d find in any tacky resort such as Magaluf etc!! Even the police were messing around with us!Very good night though, bed extremely late though and up early next day to check out!!
So we got up, moved our stuff in to our friends room as we had a couple of hours to wait around, in which we got food, packed, wandered around shops and generally just recovered in the sun! The around lunchtime we had to meet for a briefing, there’s where we met our group for the next few days. We grabbed our snorkels and gear and walked down to the beach marina, to board the “pride of airlie’ cattamaran! sounds all very posh and professional, but really its the biggest party boat you can imagine! we set sail out of the harbour and out on the the ocean, wind knocking us a bit, but sun making it al lthe worth while as we were bathing up on deck! We headed straight to our base for the two nights actually which is this tiny island called South Molle. we moved in to our mini beach huts right literally on the beach nearly in the sea, really lovely. We had a restful afternoon, before going to the little bar – part of our resort, on the corner of the island, for our included big dinner and plenty of drinks. We started off with a couple (as we usually do) which turned in to jugs each etc etc. Then the guides got us involved in drinking games. we were sat on bench tables and the main aim of each game was to be the loudest, shout the most and sing the loudest, no problemo there, we’re two girls from London with 3 years worth of uni experience, noise is natural to us, hence we won everytime!! A boy said we had the loudest voices he’d ever heard – we were so proud.Games involved screaming your national anthem at the top of your voice (there was a mixture of about 10 al lgoing at the same time) and stomping ont he tables jumping from one to the other, there after the night got messy, we took over the bar (the one rule about this tiny bar shack hut is – there are no rules!!, it stays open until we want to leave, we basically pay what we want, and there’s never any bouncers so do what you like whenever you like!!). Poor barman didn’t see what had hit him, we took over, helped ourselves and others to drinks, took over the dj set and ran riot generally, they loved it though! it was one of the best nights we’d all ever had!! Late night again, but up early to watch the lovely sunset over breakfast! Back on our big boat and sailed off around the Whitsunday islands, every one a different size and shape etc, saw plenty of turtles swimming by us, then we arrived at Whitehaven beach, absolute paradise. We jumped off the boat and swam over to this pure white silica sandy beach. Sat around for few hours sunbathing and swimming in the sea, and literally didnt want to leave. Probably one of the most beautiful places on earth and i just did not want to get back on that boat – leave me there forever!! After being dragged back however, we had lunch on the boat then sailed over to a spot called Caveman’s cove where we jumped in to the water and snorkelled around for a while, saw plenty of colourful fish and got some good pics too. Back to the island resort, went for a swim in the main pool, relaxed by the sunbeds with some cocktails preparing ourselves for another night of drama!! Dinner again and the same type of night, crazy loudness and running drinking games, running the bar, was insane but so much fun, made some really really good friends too, then the worst thing that could have happened, happened - GEORGE LOST HER CAMERA. OH MY GOD. was the worst feeling in the world, mixed with alcohol and emotions we cried, screamed, accused, scampered through bushes and everything you can imagine, but nothing. The hardest thing about it is there were over 2000 pictures on that camera, of every memory since the start of this holiday, ones that we can never get back to show you all, we don’t even care about the camera, but the pictures are absolutely priceless. George nearly got battered by Croydon girls who didnt like her accusations! Anyway, not to put a downer on things, after a few tears, we realised i’ve pretty much got double of them all anyway, only a few missing, so its not going to ruin our holiday. But.. that night was officially party over when George kicked off- never seen a tantrum like it.
Next morning woke up still a bit numb, but carried on as usual. Got back on the boat after breakfast, went to a spot to do some more snorkellling and swam over to this tiny cove beach thing, was so pretty. and finally sailed back to Airlie Beach. We had the rest of the day free so we went with our friends down to the lagoon on the front (as basically there’s not much of a beach. its known to locals as ‘Airlie no beach’). feeling really shattered we had an easy night, grab some pub food in our hostel bar, did some washing and went to bed early!!
But up early again, 6am pick for our next Oz experience bus ride, had a cool driver called Forrest (we’d met him in Sydney too so that was cool), drove back on to the Bruce Highway, through loads of towns again, stopping to learn about each of them (but i wont bore you) Got right up north to Townsville and caught a short ferry over to Magnetic Island, unfortuntely we’d missed the full moon party, but we were still up for a good night (as it was my birthday the next day). We got there early afternoon, so had beautiful weather, we lazed by the pool which was on the beach by the sea, and chileld with a few drinks!! Then after freshening up, our group had a big dinenr on the decking and started with the drinking games again!! We sat in big circle by the beach and must have played about 15 different drinking games, going on for hours!! Was hilarious, we were so loud as well, but pretty much everyone in the hostel joined in too so it was fun!! And the hostel resort was the only one for miles. As the clock approached midnight, Happy Birthday played on the dj set (George had requested earlier), and everyone sang to me, as i was gradually being picked up and carried by a few of the boys (led by our tour guide driver), on the way further down to the beach. After being given the bumps, with glee they all threw me in to the ocean, fully clothed!! Was actually pretty warm and fun so they all joined me afterwards! We had a big birthday party in the sea!! was amazing!!! more tequila shots, and feeling the night was due a finish, we stumbled back 10m to our beds!!!Really was such a wicked feeling under the moonlight.
I was woken only a few hours later with George and our friends singing happy birthday at the top of her voice in my ear, and shoving balloons and cards in my bed!!! awww, was lovely really!!! packed up our things and had a traditional ‘hangover cure’ breakfast in which they put in a singing happy birthday pink candle in to my toast!! what a treat!!!! Such a lucky girl ahahahah!!! Then we jumped back on the bus, ferry back over to mainland, happy birthday songs all day long on the bus too mixed with georges gob!! Around lunchtime we arrived at Mission Beach, where we were quickly told to drop our things and get on the next tour bus – for jump the beach!! yes i was doing a skydive on my birthday! how insane! it al lwent so quickly i’d hardly had time to be scared or even think about what i was doing!!Got to the place, shown videos which petrified us, harnessed up and briefed, got a cameraman with us individually at all times, and of course the all important diver. I had Des, the main man, was pretty with it. I kept getting freaked out but he’d hold my man and calm me down!! George had young joker Toby to scare her more.Went up in to a tiny plane, there were 5 of us, plus all a diver each and few camera men. Plane was going up so so high, ears were poppinh, you think you’re nearly there but you’ve only done 5000ft, still another 7000ft to go! was insane! kept screaming as i looked out the window!! was attached so so tightly to my man but still was worried something would go wrong, asking him stupid questions like ‘have you definitely got the parachute then?!’ ‘are you sure it works?’ ‘am i definitely strapped on to you properly?!’ god they must get annoyed – he was like ‘claire, i’ve done this jump over 17,000 times, i think i know what i’m doing!!!’ ok, i was reassured!!! but still, looking out the window oh my god, was just madness. i was first out as the door opened and we’d hit 14,000ft.no, hold on, i was having second thoughts!!! my cameraman just jumped out no worried infront of me and went down like into space. i couldn’t believe it, it was my turn. Des rocked us up to the edge of the plane, dangled our feet out, i didnt even have time to look back, ask him to wait or scream any type of fear as he just counted a quick 1 2 3 and threw us out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! After an almighty tumbled in to the air, somersaulting hundreds of times we flew out flat downwards, and then it was, he just said to me ‘look down’, and did and my god, it was out of this world, breathtaking truely. Right over the sea, with the coastline right by us. We were freefalling at 157mph for what seemed like forever, yet not long enough!! Was like i was flying! my cameraman was out infront of us holding our hands and taking lots of snaps!! it was honestly the best feeling in the world. After sometime the parachute automatically dropped and we were tugged back a bit, then going alot slower, practically sitting down in the air. We were heading further out to sea to spot dolphins and turtles!! then we passed george closely in the air waving frantically at each other as i know she’s jsut been through the same experience as me and it was just crazy!! after about 5 minutes we drew closer to the beach and embarked upon and very safe landing down on to Mission Beach, literally outside the door of our hostel pretty much! Absolutely gobsmacked and speechless (not often you get that from us), we caught our breath back and just hugged for ages on the beach!
After thanking and hugging the guys who took us through the whole adventure, we walked back to the hostel and just talked over and over it again and again!!! Later that evening, we treated ourselves to a huge buffet style resort hotel meal and ate and ate until we couldn’t eat anymore!!!
BEST BIRTHDAY EVER!!! only problem is, how am i going to top that!!!
OK – hi! its George now.. just to add in on the skydive I was in the plane and one second Claire was there and the next she wasnt. That feeling of having her there then knowing she was falling from the plane was heart renching, I stopped panicing for me and started screaming her name in the plane which was still crammed with divers. Thank god it was loud they would have thought what a nutcase. Toby was shouting move onto the edge George – I had been cocky the whole time and for once not being wimpy but at that moment I froze so he scooched me along the seat to the edge of the plane – the next few minutes were as Claire described and probably some of the best in my entire life. Cant wait to show you the DVD – well emotional!
When we woke up in Scotty’s Hostel it was our first day when we had absolutely nothing planned.. and we needed it! We lazed around by the pool, drank vodka, ate sweets and sunbaked with a group of our friends. We did go to the shops and the highlight of the day was seeing a wallaby at the side of the path just sitting there being cute. We’re definitley going to miss seeing the kangaroo’s once we’re back in Pompey!
The next day again we had a ‘holiday morning’ around the poolside and our Oz Experience bus picked us up for the very last time. It was cram packed full which was new to us as we were used to spreading out across 3 seats. We recognised every face on the bus and plenty of memories from further down the coast were being shouted around the party bus!
First stop was a Crocodile Farm! Yes, that’s right – a farm of crocs being bred for their meat and skins! As we walked in a baby croc was being thrown around having photos with everyone. Claire did her usual thing of bullying me into holding it so I am now proud to say we’ve both cuddled a croc! The tour guide led our gobby bus group around the farm which was small areas of concrete with a pond in each one. Every croc had a name, one was even called Andrew! Hi Dad! The guide went in and there was literally just thin chicken wire separating us from the beasts.. the guide would loudly growl their names and smash them on the head with sticks to get their attention so they’d come out of the water. When they did he would dangle a dead chicken in front of them and grrrrrowl to make the agitated and snap about for us! They left the gate open so as you can imagine our whole group was silenced! It was wicked and the crocs were loads bigger than in the Steve Irwin’s zoo. They really were huge! And just to set the seen there were emus and kangaroos wandering around next to us, again we took too many photos and one of the boys even tried to pick up a wallaby which was funny! Our guide said that the crocs often smash out their areas which doesnt surprise us seeing as they let ‘food’ wander around the farm too! Next we came to the dingoes who had puppy litters mixed in with the pack. We had to stroke mum so that she’d let us hold the puppys! By far the cutest animals yet! One even pooed all down Claire but she still clung on and was sad to put the pup back down. Definitley not as scary as the dingoes on Fraser Island!!
We carried in our journey and soon reached the city of Cairns – our final stop on our Oz Experience party bus and the end of our coastal adventure. The bus was all cheering congratulations that we’d survived and made it to Northern Queensland. We were staying in 149 Caravellas which was right on the esplanade overlooking the beach with a pool outside our room. We then got ready to paint the town red – and we certainly did that. After a free dinner in the Woolshed it was another wild night of partying with all 24 of our bus mates – if only London bars let us dance on tables and throw drinks everywhere! We got to sleep at 3am knowing full well that we had to be up and ready for 7.30am, which we did and it was like hell.
We dragged ourselves up and out to get picked up for our adventure to the rainforest! We headed North to Cape Tribulation and stopped on the River Daintree. The boat took us doen the swamp where we hunted for snakes and more crocodiles which we did see but they were babies compared to the beasts we’d seen on the farm. It started raining and by the next minute we were caught in a tropical rainstorm! 30 minutes later the sun was burning and we found ourselves on a walk throught the stunning breathtaking Daintree Rainforest. It was amazing learning about the trees, swamps, mangroes, vines and root systems – sounds silly but you all have to experience being deep in the forest! By lunch time we got dropped off at our Cape Tribulation Beach Resort where we were staying in lovely wooden cabins in the rainforest but 2 mins from the beach. Out came our bikinis and we sunbaked for the rest of the day. The sea was really warm but I was wimping out because of the stingers (jellyfish) and crocs which were only a river away!
The next morning we got picked up to do our Jungle Surfing! I’d never heard of it before but again it was absolutely brilliant. We got harnesesd up with helmets and climbed up the mountain side to a platform high up in the trees. The guide hooked me up first to the zip wire and he literally said walk off the edge – and there I was screaming my lungs out high up in the tree canopy dangling by a wire. He slipped Claire off the edge and released us so we went flying through the tree tops disturbing the peace. Looking downwards to the forest floor was so scary but it was so much fun. On the last wire they made us dangle by our feet and shot us whizzing through even faster – I screamed louder and hated it but still loved it at the same time! We even saved $80 dollars each because the guide ‘forgot’ to charge us! Result! When we got back to our resort we went in the pool for a while which was beautiful surrounded by trees and animals including a bush turkey walking around! When our tour started up again we stopped at Alexander Look Out to see the whole of Cape Tribulation and the islands on teh Great Barrier Reef. We were told that Steve Irwin was killed directly out to sea in front of us. We got to Mossman Gorge which was a gushing fresh water river with perfectly rounded boulders scattered through it. We jumped straight in and was swimming next to the waterfalls. Then we walked across and jumped all over the Rex Creek swingbridge which is just like the one in I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here! Next stop was Port Douglas where all teh famous stars have huge mansions. We rocked up like drowned rats and hunted out a chip shop while all the gorgeous people were having drinks in sophisticated bars – one day that will be us eating a $700 meal! When we arrived back in Cairns it was nice to be back in a city and not have to worry about giant lizards or snakes, so we got ready for another crazy night on the town! Again another free meal and dancing on the tables. There was even a goldfish racing for 30 mins in the bar which meant we got to scream louder than ever for ‘Lord Windsor’ and ‘Sushi’ to win. Again bed at 2.45am and….
up at 6.45 am. By the way everyone – we have not missed a single bus/trip/outing by sleeping in, we’ve gone along drunk instead! This day for me at least was the day of hell. We walked along the mariner and beach front and to my shock saw people jogging and working out at 7am – could you imagine the British people doing that?! There’s even a big lagoon on teh front in Cairns which was full of screaming kids at 7am too! Anyway, we arrived at our boat the Sea Quest and got set up with our snorkelling gear for a day on the Great Barrier Reef. I have never been so sea sick but it was all worth while when after 2 horrendous hours we could sea a break in the ocean and the marvellous reef. We looked fantastic in our wetsuits and gradually began talking again after a whole morning of moaning and grunting to each other. We jumped straight in the beautiful blue and faced down to a new world of stuning fish and coral. We desparately looked for turtles and white fin sharks and even tried to find Nemo but as everyone else splashed about pointing we were too mesmerised by the clown/parrot fish and coloured coral to spot them! I could go on and on about what we saw but one day just go for yourselves and experience swimming in a tropical fish tank! At one point I did freak a bit thinking there was a jellyfish but one of the crew assured me it wasnt stinger season and it was a parrot fish mucus bubble – yuck! Again once we got back to Cairns we had yet more free food in the pub and hunted around the Night Markets for cheap souviners to clutter the uni house with. On this night we had to say bye to some good friends we’ve made so it was a bit sad but there were plenty of promised meet ups in London or Portsmouth.. and the giant cockroaches flapping about in our room were distracting too!
Today we caught a cab to Cairns airport and had a Hungry Jacks at 10am (fatties) and had a 2 hour flight over the desert to Alice Springs. Now we are here in the real Aussie Outback awaiting to go on tour to Ayres Rock tomorrow… It turns out that yesterday there was a very rare storm here so all the scrawny desert trees are knocked down and its a bit chilly. One other funny thing is, some guys we’ve been on tours with a few times missed their flights out here today- so Mums and Dads – you really should be proud that we haven’t missed a single trip and have done every single thing imaginable out here that there is to do!! 6 days to go and sooooo much more to cram in.
All the dreams we’ve had are coming true and soon sadly we’re coming home to you!! No worries though.. our next big adventure is in the pipeline!!
Lots of Love
G & C xx
