20th - 24th november 

welcome to edition number 2 of the magical mystery tour!

SUNDAY... charlotte and i went with a friend to bondi to go to the markets. the beach was tiny and not at all what i had imagined, and was PACKed like southend beach is as soon as the sun comes out! the weather was hot but not that sunny. we just visited the markets which were sO cute and found some nice little bits and pieces there as well as the essential flip flops. we had to pack all of our things away ready for our trip on monday.

MONDAY... o dear, we had to get up early again as we had a 9.45 flight to Cairns. somehow we managed to wangle the emergency exit seats (unlike the flight to sydney where we were crammed) and so had hUGE amounts of legroom which we didnt even need with our little legs! it was sO beautiful to fly along the coast and see the barrier reef as we got further north. it was pretty windy in cairns as we arrived and very overcast but HOT. we caught a bus to our hostel (well infact we got the long straw of the group and had to go in the air conditioned taxi as there was not enough space on the bus!) poor us! right... so we checked into our cute little room and went to explore cairns. you can't actually swim in many places on this part of the east coast because there are lots of box jellyfish which when they sting you, can kill you.............................. so we didnt go near the sea!! at the hostel there is a lovely pool area with palm trees around it and another called the lagoon right by the coast so its not a problem to be near water.

TUESDAY... we set of on our trip to cape tribulation (named by captain cook) at 7.30am. it was a pretty long drive but it kept me awake knowing the driver was speeding round the windy mountain roads. we stopped off to look in the distance at low isles where steve irwin was killed and also croc island which is in the shape of a crocodile head. saw some beautiful scenery on the way, lots of vegetation as the northern east coast is all rainforest land. we stopped again maybe an hour or so later to do a rainforest walk. we saw these amazing trees with huge roots which sometimes come about a metre out of the ground, which the aborigines used to use to make shields, boomerangs etc. i was a bit nervous on being told about all the bugs that can bite and sting you but enjoyed walking through the rainforest very much (well i was drenched in insect spray). our next stop was at the daintree river where we took the crocodile express downstream in search of some crocs. somehow we managed to spot 'scarface', the 4.5metre dominant male of the river with scars on his face from fighting other crocs. they said he was about 70yrs old and had no teeth but we still stayed weLL away!! he was such an amazing creature with the most enORMous spiked on his tail. we travelled to the other side of the river where we met the bus and continued our journey. after stopping for lunch at a small resort where we also visited the beach, we travelled to port douglas. on the way we stopped at mossman gorge where we took a quick dip in one of the only places i have heard of so far that isn't infested with crocs! we swam over huge boulders that form the gorge which was pretty refreshing (cold actually) after our hot day. when we stopped in port douglas we headed straight for the coast in search of a white boat where they were apparently filming the new movie with kate hudson and matthew maconoughay! we didnt manage to spot them but almost got invited back today to be extras!! the journey back was probably scarier as we were on the side of the road that was closest to the edge of the mountain this time. i was gripping my seat as the driver tried to visit the people in the car infront on several occasions and decided to fiddle with the radio on sharp bends!! but we made it.

WEDNESDAY... today has been lovely. we moved into a new room with 2 other girls last night who are lovely and decided to spend most of the day by the pool with them. we had lots to sort out today including what we are doing at the end of the week! we booked a little trip to magnetic island which i am vERY much looking forward to. the sea still isn't safe to swim in but who cares when you're on a beautiful beach and your resort has a huge pool!

THURSDAY... was quite a day. we chilled out yesterday by the pool ready for our big scuba diving adventure at the barrier reef on thurs. we got to the check in desk for the boat early and discovered we had been upgraded to the 5-star boat because the cheaper one was full. it wasn't until later on that we were told there were 90 passengers on 'reef quest' and just 26 on 'sea quest' aND we had hot lunch and complimentary drinks and sick bags! we arrived at our 1st destination about 1.5hrs after departure (and after overtaking the heavily loaded boat miles before) and got ready for our snorkelling expedition. the sea was sOOOoooooo rough, like you would not believe but we had taken a good few sea sickness tablets before hand and rode the waves in style. ollie (the snorkelling expert) took a huge group of us out to the reef and pointed out a huMUNgous clam - maybe 1m or more in width!! we also saw lots of beautifully coloured fish and coral, although i was quite surprised that the coral was not brighter in coloured. as soon as we were done snorkelling, we got kitted up for our 1st dive... and jumped off the side of the boat. we explored the reef (called saxon reef) and saw sOOooo many things on the way! we saw nemo's cousins, a little town of fish living in some sort of plants, a few rainbow coloured fish and then suDDenly............................ a shark! it was minding its own business anyway, so we didn't disturb it and it didn't disturb us, luckily! it must have been just under 2m long and it was cute more than scary. after our lovely lunch we stopped at another spot on saxon reef called 'reef magic' and pretty much went straight down. there was a beautiful wall of coral where we saw sO many different species of fish and plants and even a sea turtle which we just could not stop looking at - it was so beautiful. i wondered what it was thinking as it gently swam along. the other side of the reef was endless blue... a bit scary when you don't know what could be there. we returned to the boat feeling so happy about our wonderful experiences and the boat headed back to cairns. and then, we had a bit of a party for our last night and charlotte won us free drinks in a dancing competition on stage!

hope everyone is staying well and the weather is not too hot for you out there.

emma x