Hey Everyone...me again! New update..hopefully smaller than the other one, but i cant promise anything! Right....Airlie beach....We had a great time there once the weather finally cleared up. Apparently they had gone through 28 days of rain there before we got there which is something that apparently never happens. We seem to be hearing this a lot from the ozzies recently altho there still constantly moaning about lack of rain! Anyways...It all cleared up for our Whitsundays trip which was fantastic.We were meant to be going on the tuesday, but there was no room (which was very lucky for us as the weather was rubbish)so we booked on to the thursday cruise. We left around 4pm on the first day with goon and beer ready for the trip. Once we had left the marina we cruised out to our stopping spot for the evening. It took a few hours to get there which gave us enough time to meet our new family for the next few days..have a couple of nice beers and watch the sun go down over the little islands, and clear blue sea. Once we arrived the crew started cooking the GIANT steak dinner (which was awesome!) before we indulged in a few friendly drinking games with our new friends. One thing led to another and after a very interesting night (some of the details of which cannot be spoken about to a family audience as some of the guys i am travelling with got themselves into some interesting situations!!) i rolled out the sleeping bag, and slept under the stars on the deck of the boat. We were all woken up at around 6am a little heavy headed for brekkie, then a full day of activities planned. The first stop of which was the notorious whitehaven beach. After a quick sail we anchored in a nice bay along with several other slightly more luxurious yachts some of which looked VERY expensive. we were all ferried onto the beach by the small speed boat before a short walk up the hill to the lookout over whitehaven. The view was amazing...crystal clear water and the whitest sand that you have ever seen (guess why its called whitehaven!). The sand is so fine that it can be used to shine up silver and restore it to a shiny new state. I have taken several pictures, but none of them do the view justice..it was paradise. Once we had stood around a while admiring the view we walked back down to actually sit on the beach for a bit. Armed with "Stinger suits" (slightly thinner than wetsuits to stop jellyfish stings) we went for a quick dip in the bathwater clear sea before lazing around on the soft sand for a few hours. Around 11pm we had to leave unfortunately to our next destination. Another small island where we would be snorkeling and diving. After another short sail we arrived and were again ferried ashore. The people who hadn't dived before were given a quick introductory course, and those of us who were certified went for a little explore in the deeper stuff. There was lots that i had forgotten, but with a quick refresher course before going out, and 2 experienced divers with us we had a little cruise around. The buoyancy was still causing me all kinds of bother, but i hopefully that will get better with time. We didn't actually see much when we were down, but it was just nice to be diving again after a while off. the water was quite a bit colder than the 31 degree heat of Thailand too which took a bit of getting used to. After this we sat around on the beach for a bit before loading up to be fed again and ferried to our next overnight spot. Everyone was pretty tired after the previous night, and busy day so it was fairly non eventful with just a few sociable beers and some chatting before we all headed to bed at around 11. I slept out on deck again but with the wind picking up i was rocked to sleep a bit more!! I woke up a few times throughout the night to shuffle back up the deck after sliding down in my sleep!! The next morning we were up early doors again to sit on another paradise island for a while and for some more snorkeling over colourful reef where we saw a turtle, and an eagle diving in to get himself some dinner.after a bit more lazing around we headed back to the boat for some food and to start the journey back to Airlie Marina. We tried to put the sails up, but unfortunately the wind had died down and only 30 degree heat was left which even with my knowledge of sailing is not the greatest conditions. We did however see a few whales in the distance jumping out of the water. It was too far away to get pictures of, but we could make them out, and the splash as they landed. It was pretty amazing, but annoying at the same time that we couldn't go over and check it out closer. The trip all in all was very enjoyable, with a really cool group including 3 Israeli guys that played the guitar and harmonica for us as we were cruising around and in the evenings which was really nice. We were the only representatives from England with Canada, US, Iceland, Germany and Israeli among the other nationalities aboard. The trip was a bit of a con advertised as 3days 2 nights when you dont leave until 4pm on the first day, and your back by 2pm on the 3rd, but we really had an amazing time. The next day we moved on to Magnetic island which involved a whole day of travelling. We left Airlie in the morning (almost missing our bus so tim and simon could get a MacDonald's!) and started the 4 hour trip on the coach which they showed titanic through..torture! After waiting around for transfers and ferries over to the island we arrived around 5pm. The hostel was pretty quiet, so we stayed in for the 3 days that we were there not really doing much but reading in the evenings. on the first day we sat on the beach, then rented a car to see the rest of the island on the second which was quite funny. It was a topless car that looked like it was one of those electric kiddy cars, but never the less the 4 of us looking very funny loaded into the little car to tour the island. In the afternoon we met some of the guys that we met on the whitsundays trip for a drink and some food then went for a walk to have a look at some of the WW2 ruins that were up on the hill that would record ships coming in and out of townsville (a fairly prominent base during the war) and defend itself from the Japanese if necessary. It was quite interesting to look at the buildings, and the view from the top was pretty spectacular which was an added bonus. Magnetic island was quite nice, but i wasnt overly impressed with it..it was quiet and the beaches weren't as nice as i had hoped...think i am getting snobby after being so spoil,nevermind!! After magnetic we travelled up to Mission beach where we got to watch the classic films doctor doolittle and the start of Independence day! When we arrived we found out that the hostel had screwed up our booking so we couldn't stay there. After kicking up a fuss and showing several bits of evidence to prove that we had called they arranged for us to stay in another hostel 5k away from the town. It was a nice hostel called treehouse up in the hills. It was very relaxed and after a big bowl of pasta we sat down for a friendly game of monopoly..i won..there was much arguing as usual but they all knew that had been beaten by the superior player!!!next morning we gathered our stuff up and moved back the other hostel. We didn't really do much in mission..more sitting on the beach (which again i wasn't that impressed with), some beach cricket and some more monopoly and films. After 2 days we left to cairns for the final leg of our trip where we were greeted by top gun on the coach..class! We haven't really done much in Cairns, but the city is pretty big with everything that you could really need. The nightlife seems good altho we have only been out once (visiting the notorious woolshed). We have been out on a day trip on a boat to the reef where we did snorkeling, and i did another scuba dive (where i saw a 2 metre white tip shark, 2 turtles, nemo and many more fish) the buoyancy was a bit better this time and i am hoping to get some more diving in when we get back there. The sea was a little rough too which meant some of the guys were feeling a bit ill which was a shame. It was a good day tho, and the reef was pretty spectacular even to snorkel on. The reef stretches all the way from here to brisbane (i think) made up of thousands of individual reefs it is not one solid reef like many people think. This means if you dived on a different site for the rest of yoru life you would never be able to do them all! Other than this we have just been lazing in the sun by the man made lagoon enjoying the sunshine. We also went to watch the new transformers film (which i didn't realise wasn't out at home yet). ITS AWESOME...seriously, go and watch it..the effects are amazing, and its everything that everyone who watched the cartoon and played with the figures as a kid would have hoped for with megatrons voice being the original guy from the cartoon!!! Anways, we are now in Port douglas after a brief 3 day trip up to cape tribulation which is one of the few places in the world where the reforest meets the sea, and cora reef. Named after captain cook when he landed in the 1700's as in his diary he wrote that he had lots of trials and tribulations there. We stayed in the heart of the reforest in a little village where there was a hostel and a few shops and a beach a 2 min walk away (altho you cant swim there as there are crocodiles!!). It was very relaxed, with a pool and volley ball net. The next day myself and Simon went up mount sorrow a 7k round trip which they say is for people with above average fitness and should allow 7 hours to complete! It was probably the most difficult walk i have ever done. The last 1.5k up was practically vertical on a mud track with trees and rocks and alsorts blocking the way which meant we had to climb over, and duck under various different obstructions which just made matters worse! by the end we were both shattered but with only half the job done we rested and took in the good views across cape tribulation before starting the walk back down. We managed to complete the track in 4 hours which we were pretty pleased with, but the fitness definitely needs some work i think with the last 8 1/2 months doing nothing much seeming to have eroded it slightly...cant imagine why!! We are leaving Port douglass tomorrow after 2 days here. Its a nice town with a nice beach that you can actually swim in, but there is not much to do unless you want to spend money on tours etc. I think that we are all going to stay in cairns for a bit to top up the funds, and because there seems to be a lot of work about there which is nice. From there i am waiting to get my tax back from the work that i did in melbourne which should be quite a lot after being taxed at 30% on a good wage which will be very handy. I will use this money to tour new Zealand and fiji and pay for a flight back to australia. I have decided that i am not ready to go home in November as planned so will not be completing the America section of my trip. I will instead be flying back in to Perth before travelling round to melbourne for a second xmas and new year in australia. I cant wait. As my visa runs out in december i will have to work for a little while once i get back to earn as much money as possible to keep me afloat till they boot me out once my tourist visa runs out. (which will start once my working visa expires) I am planning on being home sometime in feb - march ready and refreshed for a full cricket season which i cant wait for, and hopefully some nicer weather than i would have got in freezing november! I am missing you all loads, but i really cant tear myself back for november..i am just having too much fun!! I think however after 18months on the road i will be ready to return to you all for the celebrations (or commiserations depending on who you are) to begin. It is going to be very weird to return to home and not having people around 24/7 and lots of new people to meet, but there is plenty more of the world to see, and with so many new friends, lots more of the UK to go to!! I am looking forward to seeing you all though and catching up. Has been a long time. Anyways, i think that is quite enough from me with the length creeping up to near the last one..sorry!! Keep the emails coming as usual, and i will try and reply.. I will post the photos of Whitsundays etc on the website and let you know when this is done. take care all, and much love to you all Matt xxxxx