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31st October 2008
We got on the greyhound from Airlie Beach to Cairns which took about 12 hours. Shelly and Matt (Cairns) were in Port Douglas just above and came to meet us the next day. We stayed in a gorgeous Hostel, which had two spare beds so Shelly and Matt stayed in our room aswell. We started drinking at 2.00pm and finished at about 12.00am. I had my Sky Dive the next morning so didnt want to go to bed too late. I never talked about the skydive at all just blocked it out of my mind and went into this weired zone to forget about it. Shell and Matt were saying I cant believe your doing a sky dive in the morning and you havent even mentioned it! I'd had it booked for 6 weeks and not told anyone! Mike and Matt finished a litre of Jim Bean between them and finally went to bed at 2.00pm completely smashed. Me and Shelly could finally get to sleep thank god! I did the sky Dive in Cairns and it was amazing. I still looked calm even on the DVD when my whole body is out of the plane and resting against the legs of the plane! It was AJ's birthday that day so I shouted happy Birthday AJ as I jumped out, will show him when I get back. It was all over very quickly and I wanted to keep remembering the feeling of weightlessness. I'm glad I bought the DVD as the feelings just come back watching it. We went to Peter Pans with Shelly and Matt and they joined on to our White Water Rafting Day the next day. It was really good full day with BBQ and everything. They let you get out of the boat sometimes and float down the river. It was the Tully River Grade 4. It wasnt as exciting or scary as I thought it would be, but well worth it. We didnt fall out either, just jumped out when we wanted to. Shelly and Matt saw a friend from Queenstown that was on our trip he had just shaved off his long dreadloches the week before so they barely recognised him! We just chilled that night and Shelly and Matt set off for Townsville then onto Airlie Beach to do the Whitsunday boat thing. We had two days to Chill in Cairns. We stayed at the Caravella which was sooooo hot in the room. It was also $5 dearer than the gorgous cabin we had been staying in but it was central and we needed to sort some stuff out in town. We booked a flight to Brisbane the next day in the morning, only an hours flight and cost us $130 each. We walked back to the Cairns Holiday Villiage which took us about 40 minutes in 30 degree heat with our backpack and other bags! We had to keep stopping and resting every 5 minutes on benches etc. Sweat was dripping everywhere it was disgusting.... but on a positive I just thought of the calories I would be burning and the gorgeous cabin when we got there! They charged us $10 more than the previous nights which I was outraged about. I complained and showed them my receipt from the other nights but they would not budge so I just had to accept it. Apparently it is a $10 cleaning fee ontop of the ADVERTISED rates on the door and what we paid last time. I was sooooo angry but there was pretty much nothing I could do about it as it was still good value for money I suppose. There is no beach in Cairns like Airlie Beach ,but a gorgeous Espenade and Lagoon which is for the public. Its well lit at night and there are bbq's and benches and toilets all around. Its really pretty, great holiday destination. We ate at the nightly food court same as when we were with Shell and Matt. Loving the Thai food at the moment! $9.00 for a buffet as much as you can fit on the small plate. If you wanted a bigger plate it was $12. The next day we flew to Brisbane as there was no relocation vans going down. We were hoping to rent a backpacker van, but as we were mulling it over with an icecream someone had booked it. Gutted! Realising that would have been the cheapest and most comfortable option for the next week! I searched for the cheapest car rentals in Brisbane which was East Coast Rentals. $22 a day but the excess was $3000! So I persuaded Mike to pay for the premium insurance to cover us for everything, it worked out to be $40 for a Toyota White Yaris. We decided the cheapest option would be to get a tent and camp for the week. We went into this camping place and I asked for any seconds and explained the situation, the guy offered us a free tent if we came back the next day! He had a few stuff at home as he gets all the seconds that come in! We went back the next day and he gave us a mint $400 tent, esky, gas thing, bowls, sleeping bags, blow up matresses! How kind for free! So thats what we are doing now, paying $20 - $27 a night to pitch our tent at camp sites. We still would have been better in the van as we could park it anywhere for free but we are super lucky this guy gave us all our stuff! We havent any cuttlery so we took a couple of bowls from a hostel and are using plastic knives and forks that we ate our thai with in the food court! We are drinking brews out of bowls but we are surviving! We met Shell and Matt again in Surfers Paradise for Shells bday, but she had burnt in the sun on the boat and had lots and lots of blisters on her bottom lip, also Matt had been up all night at the hospital as his wisdom teeth were infected again! It was shells bday and it was raining also! Not good, We bought her a DVD so she can watch it in the Van but the mood wasnt great. We decided to wait till the next day to go to Wet and Wild and just had a few drinks and walked round surfers that day. Mike showed Matt and Shell the watch he has been uming and ahing to get. The White Ceramic Nixon Play Watch. I think its about 2,000 pounds but we haggled it down to $1600 from $2000. Also we can get the tax back at the airport so he got a good deal. Mike does not like spending money though! It took him a while but he bought it in the end. It has something like 25 jewels holding it together and Rolex only have 22. It has the number of how many have been made / sold on it. Mikes is 1161 or summat like that. He takes it everywhere with him in his hand looking after it bless him! It is a really nice watch. That night we were drinking at the camp site and a Tree Kangeroo came right upto Shelly and took a sip of her Vodka and Coke! How crazy is that! Matt made us fish and veg that night as all of us are trying to be healthy over here. The next day we woke up and it was still raining, A woman came up to us and offered us a half price ticket to Wet and Wild as her husband was sick at home so we went in and the sun came out and the rain stopped! It was a great day going on all the slides very scary some of them! That night we had chocolate cake for shells bday and went to bed early tired. We all travelled to Bryron next but stayed in Lenox head the town 15mins next to it. Alot more chilled and quieter and better surf. We all hired surf boards and went surfing for the day. We got a subway and ate it on the beach and then drank again that night. Matt was a bit ill at the end as he was shivering complaining he was freezing but when you touched him he was on fire. The next day though he seemed ok and they set off to Sydney. We are still in Byron just chilling. I've booked the coach from Singapore to Malaysia which only cost $62 then I booked a flight to Phuket from Malaysia, I've also booked accommodation for two nights in Singapore which was really difficult to find. Its all so expensive! 60 pound a night for a hostel! I've found one for 20 pound a night so fingers crossed its okay. I've read the reviews and it seems alright. I've just found out my Mum has booked to go to Thailand! Soooo excited cant wait to see her! She will be buzzing off going on holiday and summat to look forward to. Okay I think I have crammed it all in whats gone on in the past 3 weeks! I've missed out the rainforest trek that we went on in Cairns but I have the leaflet so will do that in a separate blog next time. Speak soon Hayley x x x
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