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Day 63 We woke up feeling quite fresh considering the hostel we were staying at was notorious for parties and keeping people awake. After all the hostel was called Asylum and referred to all guests as inmates. Anyway it was clean and the staff were brilliant so being the cheapest hostel in town, it did the job! The entire day was spent traipsing around travel agencies getting prices for different tours down the coast. We booked them all at once as you get a discount for packages. After a few hours we decided on the tours we wanted; Great Barrier Reef, 2 day Cape Tribulation tour, 3 day Whitsundays Island tour and a 3 day Fraser Island tour. We went to the travel agency with the most branches down the coast as we could get free WIi-Fi and simply put what we wanted on the table with the price we wanted to pay. Simple as that. So, she reluctantly gave us the package and price we wanted so were over the moon, we also got a great deal on our bus pass so overall we were happy with the days outcome. The only downside was the dent in the budget it caused. Feeling triumphant we bought a bottle of wine and some beers to go with our $8 all you can eat BBQ which was lovely, we had sausages, beef steaks and lamb chops with loads of salad and rice. We got talking to loads of people and went to a bar in town to redeem our free drinks voucher with a French lad and a lad from Southampton. We then popped to a bar that had some live music on and had a couple drinks in there which was good and headed back around 2ish.
Day 64 We didn't do much today but made sure we were up for our free breakfast at 8 then just headed into town. We payed some more off our trips at the travel agent as our currency cards still hadn't arrived and then just walked down to the harbour. We walked right down the Esplanade to the lagoon which is pretty much a man made beach. The shore is rocky and mainly a harbour for boats so this was great, there was sand and a kids play area and the lagoon itself was huge. We had an ice-cream and sauntered around the centre and headed back to the hostel. Another great thing about the hostel is that it provides free meals. Alot of the hostels operate the same scheme where you get given a voucher and a bar in town will exchange it for a basic meal. This was great for us and other travellers alike, the choice was basically spag bol or chilli but it was nice and did the job.
Day 65 Up at 6 and down the harbour for 7. The Great Barrier Reef was awaiting us. We were really excited, especially for our scuba dive. We set sail at 8 and were greeted with Danish pastries and fresh fruit which went down a treat. It took over an hour to get to the first location but we were briefed for our dive so didn't feel like it took too long. We weren't due to dive for a while so jumped onto the glass bottom boat they also ran. It bobbed along and allowed us to see the reef and some fish but the engine was too noisy to see anything spectacular. This only lasted about 20 mins so had time to jump in for a bit of snorkelling, we hadn't really done it before so took us a while to get used to breathing with our heads under water, I'm not sure if Eve did get used to it, she just held her breath! Annoyingly just as we got to the reef we were called back to strap up for our dive. Back at the boat we got kitted up and were told in more detail what we would have to do, such as clearing our mask of water and clearing our breathing apparatus of water with the crazy one-two technique. (Whilst under water, you had to take a breath, take the breathing tube out your mouth, say the number one slowly- letting the air out your lungs and then put the tube back in and say 'two' fast which then cleared the tube of water. Not an easy task at all.) So with everything cleared of water and breathing- just about, we descended into the darkness. It got colder but none of that mattered as our minds were blown away. The colours were phenomenal and the amount of marine life unbelievable. We found Nemo at least 5 times- no idea what the fuss is about, seen all his mates as well along with starfish, sea cucumbers and god knows what. Words cant describe how good it was but if I had to, I'd say it was like actually been in an animated Disney film. It lasted around 20 minutes and after drying off we waited for lunch. We didn't think the day could get any better but it did. Lunch consisted of king prawns, smoked salmon, marinated chicken legs, Greek tomato salad, sweet potato salad, more salads and some crusty bread. We had seconds there was so much left and then chilled out on the sun deck as we digested and caught some rays. We then arrived at our second location and jumped on the glass bottom boat once more to be taken to this tiny sand island- known as a cay. It was miles from the coast and was just an accumulation of sand but was really gradual so we all walked into the sea and got our snorkelling gear on. It is called 'drift snorkelling' as you simply lie on the surface of the water looking down at the reef and the boat is positioned so the current takes you directly to it. We also dived down and seen a stingray amongst other fish and spent ages just snorkelling about. Once we were shrivelled like prunes we went back to the boat and nodded off as we headed back to shore. The return journey also threw up a few treats with some cheese and crackers and then some cake. The staff were fantastic, the boat comfortable and the scenery amazing. We had one of the best days of our lives and just to let yous know how perfect it was, the sun shone all day and the water was around 30 degrees! We were shattered and once back we got our free meal, this time opting for chilli and went straight to bed!
Day 66 Up early once again, this time for our Cape Tribulation trip. Our first stop was the Daintree river. This river runs right through the Daintree rainforest which is the oldest rainforest in the world with 11 of the 19 primitive tree species in the world and 5 of them only existent in this particular rainforest. Basically its the closest we can get to life before the continents split up, so pretty amazing. We were offered Daintree tea which was very nice and then we boarded our river cruise. We set off up the river in search of the estuarine crocodile (salt water croc) and after 20 minutes we spotted one, only small at 2 metres but fantastic to see either way. It was bathing on the river bank in between mangroves and managed to get some good photos. The cruise continued for another 30 minutes and the guide gave us more info on the crocs and the surrounding area such as the mangroves and the history of the rainforest. After this we drove further North and arrived at a boardwalk. Our guide walked us around the rainforest on a raised decking type trail. She gave us information on some of the older trees and interesting facts on the palm trees and newer breeds and hybrids. A particular one had adapted to grow on a large tree and was nicknamed 'the strangler' as it wrapped itself around the tree, grew up it and eventually constricted it to the point of killing it. The tree it strangled then decomposed and left the new 'strangler' tree standing by itself but completely hollow and with gaps in between its constricting vines, leaving an impressive structure. It started to rain so we finished off and headed to our hostel for the night. It was called the Beach House so we had high expectations, it did not disappoint. It was off the beaten track and set in the Daintree rainforest, we were in wooden huts on stilts in a dorm. One minutes walk had us right on the beach front so the rest of the day was spent strolling along to the south end of the beach and walking to the top of the Cape Trib lookout point giving us great views. What makes this area so special is that it is the only place in the entire world where you can be in two UNESCO world heritage sites at once. One foot in the sea and you have the Great Barrier Reef, the other foot on land and you are also in the Daintree. So pretty special. After walking back we made some tea and wandered down to the beach again, this wasn't easy since it was dark and there was no lights. It soon paid off though as once on the beach, we looked up and the stars were amazing, we couldn't see the sky for the stars! So we lay down and watched them for about an hour, we only got up to leave because a group of drunken Brits walked into us.
Day 67 After breakfast we went down to the beach to see there was no beach, it was high tide so instead we walked down the road to Myall beach. It was slightly bigger than Cape Trib beach but was really windy so walked the trail back round to the other beach which because of the headland wasn't windy at all. We lay on the beach a bit then walked back to check out and were picked up at 1pm. On the bus we learned that Cape Trib is called what it is because whilst Captain James cook was drawing maps and discovering the unknown Southern land his ship- HMS Endeavour, was damaged by the reefs and he was forced to anchor nearby for repairs. It also so happened to be rainy season and his diaries tell stories of the endless storms which hindered the repair process and he famously quoted 'here our trials and tribulations begin'. Our first stop was the Daintree Ice Cream Company, here they grow their own fruits- some of which are so exotic we had never heard of them, and make flavoured ice creams. They sell a pot with two unusual flavours and two normal flavours, so we got one to share and in it was banana, apricot, black sapote and wattle seed. Black sapote tasted a bit like coffee and wattle seed had a caramel taste to it. Next stop was the Aborigianl talk. We were looking forward to this as they are normally either very quiet and keep out of the way or can be quite resentful to the white people and may be confrontational. We turned up and were given a taste of traditional bread and then stood around a fire waiting for our speaker. He walked over and simply asked if we had any questions. This wasn't a talk but a chance for us to ask questions and when put on the spot, nobody could think of any. So after he told us some random facts about cassowaries and answered a few questions we were back on the bus. Our final stop was Mossman Gorge, we had the impression we were doing a short walk through the gorge finished with a swim. No, we were given 30 mins to walk to the swimming area and jump in which was a shame as it was beautiful and the water was really clear, so instead we had a look about and walked around. Back on the bus and our Cape Trib tour was nearly finished, our last attraction was a tour around the flashy Port Douglas. With a population of 4000 and 32 millionaires we expected some nice mansions. Yet again it was a bit of a let down as the tour consisted of us driving through the town and dropping people off at hostels. Looking back we were sold the tour on some false pretences but regardless of this we still had an amazing time and was well worth it. Before our free meals we discovered it was 'cheap Tuesday' which meant all pizza shops sell pizzas for $5 so naturally we couldn't bypass this opportunity and shared a pepperoni. We then had our free meal as well.
Day 68 The day the sun no longer shone. We got up at 5 and went down to the Esplanade with Keigo- a Japanese lad from our room. The partial eclipse was due to start at 5.27 but we wouldn't know that as a huge cloud covered the sky. We caught glimpses of the partial eclipse but as 6:39 drew near we couldn't really see any of the full eclipse at all. What was still amazing to witness was how the whole city was plunged into complete darkness and the colours in the sky were fantastic Most people disappeared shortly after but I wanted to hang around until the end and it paid off. At around 7am the clouds cleared and we got perfect views of the partial eclipse. We took turns with our special glasses and were really pleased we managed to see something. Happy we hadn't wasted our time getting up so early we headed back for our corn flakes and banana chips and packed for the bus. We walked down to the harbour to catch our first Greyhound bus and our first encounter with the company wasn't great. They had put us at different ends of the bus and we found out that unless we book our reservation at a store we wont be sat next to each other. It took around 3 hours to get to Mission beach where we found our hostel waiting to pick us up. We put our bags in the back and got in. 30 seconds later we arrived at the hostel-it was a 2 minute walk down the road. We already liked the service, we checked in and the hostel was more like a hotel. It had a pool and nice clean fresh rooms with a large communal balcony. However it was a little pricey, the other 4 hostels in the area were all the same price. The area Mission beach is huge, dominated by a massive stretch of beach and then dotted with four tiny villages. The most Southern is called South Mission beach, next up is Wongaling- which is where our hostel is, third inline is Mission Beach which is the main settlement and is the biggest but still tiny, finally there is Bingil Bay which is the smallest and consists of a small cafe and a hostel. Most hostels are in Wongaling as there is a supermarket and a skydive centre but its still pretty sparse. We went on a wildlife tour which entailed driving around the houses and seeing loads of wallabies bouncing about. We went to the supermarket and got some supplies and made our self an amazing meal of bangers and mash with broccoli, mushrooms and gravy. Proper food for once!
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annpurdy amazing xxxxxx