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Right, this is the second time ive had to write this blog today, as the first time I got logged out and lost it all.
Anywho, I am now currently in Kuta in Bali, in Indonesia. However where I left you last time was in Airlie Beach, where I was bored out of my mind, and had nothing better to do than play Time Crisis 3 in my hostel... A LOT!
The morning I left was Airlie was a bit of a stinker. I woke up and looked at my clock. It was showing 7:40, and my bus was leaving at 7:45. So I rushed out of bed, picked up my bags and sheets etc, and ran out the door. When I got to reception I found it was locked, but I thought it was better to lose a $20 key deposit than lose $50 and a days worth of traveling. As I was running down the street, not only was it very dark, but bars were still open and people from the previous night were still roaming the streets. But I thought this was Airlie after all, and all there was to do was go sailing and go drinking. I got to the pick up point at just after what I thought was 7:45am. No bus was there, so I asked someone sitting nearby if the Oz bus had left yet. They just laughed at me and told me the actual time. It was 4:45am… Somehow my clock got re-set or changed, and in my panic of missing my bus, it didn't occur to me to look at my watch or my phone… I managed somehow to get back in to my room and have a couple more hours sleep, before waking up well in time for my bus in the morning, leaving for Magnetic Island. Lesson Learned!
Where I stayed on Magnetic Island was very isolated, with the nearest town 30 minutes walk down the road. But this didn't matter much, as I would be spending most of my time in the hostel, doing my Open Water Scuba Dive Course. Some guys I met previously at Kroombit were also doing the course, so we buddied up together. The course was very intensive, with lots of reading, and videos to watch, pool diving to learn the basic skills, and also a test, all in the space of 2 days. We all passed the written test, and on the 3rd day we went in the sea to do our qualification dives. Again we did the skills and stuff we had done in the pool, the weirdest feeling one being removing the face mask completely, and then put it back on, and then empty the face mask of water. It got easier the more we did it though. On the 4th day, again we had 2 skills dives to get our qualification, and we had the choice of 2 extra dives afterwards just going around, no skills or anything practiced. Though I did have my mouthpiece kicked out by one of the guys in front of me, but this was one of the easiest skills to do. We saw all sorts of marine life. Sting rays, one of which was we estimate 1.2m wide, and we also saw a small lion fish which was cool.
The next day after finishing the course, we left Magnetic Island, and went to Mission Beach. Again my hostel was a bit out of the way, with not much to do except chill on the beach or by the pool… oh and hurl yourself out of a plane at 14,000ft and return to earth at 200kph. Mission Beach is one of the best places to do a skydive in Australia, as you have views of the rainforest, and the Great Barrier Reef, which on the way down you don't tend to notice due to the sheer speed you are falling at. Also at Mission Beach, you land on the beach, which was cool gliding in over the waves. I got a video and photos of my skydive, which are on my Facebook, but I have yet uploaded the video because it would take ages! After the skydive I just chilled in Mission Beach for a couple of days till it was time to move on to Cairns.
On the way to Cairns we visited a croc farm, where they keep trouble crocs, and also breed them for their skin, teeth and meat. There were also Kangaroos, and Dingos there, which were surprisingly tame after we were told "Dingos Are Dangerous!" on Fraser Island. I guess as they had been bred in captivity they had been 'humanized', and they acted much like a normal dog.
When I arrived in Cairns I got dropped off at my free accommodation, as I booked my Fraser and Whitsunday trips through a travel company in Byron Bay, and they gave me 2 nights free in Cairns, which was all I needed anyway! That night I met a lot of the Oz experience people in various bars, with familiar faces from Fraser Island, Whitsundays, Magnetic Island, and Mission Beach. I had to leave early however, as I was going scuba diving the next day, and you aren't allowed to drink for at least 8 hours before the dives. During the day we went on 2 dives at a couple of spots on the Great Barrier Reef. It was amazing the number of fish that were around, and the coral structures with trenches and tunnels and all. I got a disposable underwater camera, so will upload those photos when I get them developed back home, in a few days! :P
After the dive, I just chilled in my hostel, and packed my bags ready for the flight to Singapore, via Darwin the next day.
The flight to Darwin was slightly delayed, due to a radar failure I think. When I got back on the plane in Darwin, I realised I had 3 seats all to myself. I took full advantage of this, spreading out and watching my rented personal media player for the whole flight. When I arrived in Singapore, I was literally blown away by the humidity of the place, and it was about 8pm! I got to my hostel at 9pm, which actually felt like midnight due to time differences, so I went straight to bed.
I had one more night in Singapore, so I used this day just to explore the city and see some sights. There aren't really any spectacular tall buildings in Singapore, only office blocks, but the number of shopping malls is astounding! I also went and saw the Mer-Lion monument, which was cool. Due to the humidity, I decided to stay inside for the heat of the afternoon, so I went to the cinema and watched "Star Trek", which I actually enjoyed, considering I havn't ever watched it properly before.
The next day I was picked up from my hotel, and taken to the Bus Depo, for my trip to Kuala Lumpur. It was a 6 hour journey, with a bit of trouble at the customs office for not getting my passport stamped after being sent straight to the health office because I was British. (!?) But in the end it was sorted, and I arrived in KL. I got a taxi to my hostel, and after the taxi driver almost drove off with my bag, I had the afternoon to kill, so I just went around and looked at the main sights of the Twin Petronas Towers, and chilled in the botanical gardens.
The next day I got the plane to Bali. I met a couple of girls in the check in queue, who I ended up sitting next to on the plane, and we found out that we were on the exact same trip, going to Bali and Lombok. Also we found we didn't live too far from each other back home, with them living in Southsea in Portsmouth, which is only half an hour from where I live.
We arrived in Bali, and shared a taxi to our meeting point in Ubud.
And I will leave that there for now until I get free internet in Singapore airport on Thursday eve! My flight leaves Singapore at 23:59 (?) Thursday night, and arrives in Heathrow at 6:25am on Friday morning.
Till then!
xx
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