I have arrived in Singapore but thought I had better write about my last few days in Oz before I have too much to write about.

I arrived in Airlie at about nine thirty in the morning after a very tiring bus ride to find it raining. I went and checked into the hostel and was pretty lucky they let me check in that early. All of that day and mot of the next were pretty much a wash out due to the constant rain. There wasnt a lot to do without spending loads of money. I managed to walk around and explore Airlie beach during one gap in the rain but spent most of the other time around the hostel.

On my third day in Airlie beach it stopped raining. This was pretty good timing as it was the day I was due to start by boat trip aroud the Whitsundays. In the morning I went and sat down at Airlie beach lagoon and swam about when it became too hot. it was nice to be able to appreicate the lagoon in good weather. They have a lagoon there for people to swim in as you are not allowed to swim in the sea due to stingers as they call them out there. (Jelly fish to all normal brits, except they can kill you) In the afternoon I got my stuff together and walked down to the marina to get my boat, stopping along the way to pick up some goon and a bag of ice to keep it cool on my 3 day trip. Goon is basicly really cheap boxed wine. It costs about five pounds for a four litre box and is mostly all travellers drink as they cant afford much else. By this point in the day it was boiling hot and I was glad to get on the boat. I think half my bag of ice had melted by the time we actaully got it in the eskie.

Once we were sailing there was a lovely breeze which stopped us all from overheating. A lot of people still managed to burn though especially those that hadnt been in Oz that long. I was fine so I must have built up a bit of resistance to the sun since I left home. That afternoon we sailed out for a few hours and then anchored for the night next to some islands. Once there it was time for dinner and it was soo nice not to have to cook for myself and to eat something that wasnt pasta or noodles. We had fish on the first night. Everybody then sat about drinking there goon and getting to know one another. We had a group of 20 people on the boat which was ideal as you got to know everybody whilst you were there. The crew we had on the boat were brilliant and managed to keep us entertained with funny stories in the evenings. When it was time for bed everybody pulled mattresses out from inside and set up a bed on the deck. It was comfortable enough and they had put covers over us so we didnt get wet if it rained. I woke up very early the next morning though and wasnt able to get back to sleep as the wind was annoying me so I was the first one up. I didnt have to wait for long though before the crew came out and got everybody up so they could get sailing and it meant I didnt have to wait for the bathroom as I had already had my wash when the queue started up.

The second day we went to Whitehaven which I think is one of the most beautiful beaches I have seen and Ive seen a few during my travels. Unfortuneately I forgot to take my camera off the boat so dont have any pictures of it. We all had to wear stinger suits when we went swimming in the sea so the jellyfish didnt get us so everyone was looking really good on the beach. After a few hours on Whitehaven we got back on the boat and moved to another island that was meant to be really good for snorkelling. As we stopped the boat and people wandered to the back to jump in a few realy big fish appeared and just swam around right near the surface. Really cool to see and they were pretty fish but it did make some girls in the group freak out about jumping in. I think I might have been spoiled with the fact that I learnt to dive in the red sea. Nothing else has really measured up to it since. Although we did get to see quite a lot of fish the coral wasnt as impressive. As I swam back to the boat to get out the captain started throwing bits of bread in for the fish. This made them all swim around me which I liked and then a huge bluey coloured fish appeared. It came right up to the surface to eat the bread and you could reach out and touch it.

As we were cruising to where we were going to anchor for the night the crew spotted some sea eagles on the cliffs alongside us. They went inside and got some bread and wrapped meat around it and started whilstling to the birds. After a few minutes 2 sea eagles swooped down to the boat and when the food was thrown into the water they went staright down and picked it up. I was very impressed as these were obviously wild birds and we were still a fair distance from the cliffs but apparently they have brilliant eyesight so can see the food from a long way off. I think all the boats must do it quite a lot so the birds know what to expect.

That evening was spent pretty much the same way as the first except for the fact that at the end of it I decided to go sleep inside. I had no wind in there to annoy me but instead it was like sleeping in a sauna. It took me a while to get to sleep and I still woke up pretty early the next morning. We did more snorkeling that morning before making our way back to harbour. On the way back I had a go at steering the boat and putting the sails up. I think I might have forgotten most of what I learnt on boats when I was younger though.

I was pretty sad to get back to dry land as I loved my time on the boat. I had one of those comedy sea legs moments when I stepped back onto the jetty as well. My legs had forgotten how to work on a surface that doesnt move. I did have the afterparty to look forward to that evening though. All the people that have arrived back from boat trips that day go out and we got free pizza and some free drinks. I had a brilliant night although by this point I was pretty exhausted from the late nights and early mornings on the boat. it got to about one am and I couldnt keep my eyes open anymore so I took myself back to my dorm. Managed to get a good if somewhat short sleep before trotting off to the bus stop the next morning to get my bus to cairns. the bus was going to take all day so I wasnt overyly looking forward to it. I had also forgot to put my next pillow in my small bag so that had gone in the compartment underneath. It made my plan in catching up on some sleep pretty difficult. Finally we arrived in Cairns and I got picked up by the hostel where I was booked in to stay the night. After spending a bit of time on the internet to book a place to stay in Singapore and print off my flight tickets I fell into bed.

I was really excited about getting my flight to Singapore and starting the asia leg of my travels. I got picked up from just outside my hostel and taken to the ariport where I was told my flight was delayed by two hours. This took the waiting time for my flight with the 2 hour check in time up to four hours. At this point I wasnt overly bothered and just sat down with my free wifi to browse the internet. A few hours later they then made an announcement that the flight was going to be another 2 hours delayed due to a mechanical fault and then a few hours later they delayed it again whilst they sent for another airplane. By this point I had checked my travel insurance details so knew that if I was delayed for 12 hours I got 100 pounds compesation. I was quite happy for the to put us in a hotel for the night and to claim my money. It wasnt to be though so over 8 hours after I had checked in I finally got on my plane. I then was told I would have to pay to get a handheld tv for the flight and as we stopped in Darwin on the way if I wanted one for the whole flight I would have to pay twice. I wasnt very happy and just sat there in a huff as I refused to pay. Im lucky I was coming to Singapore though and not connecting on anyway as I think about half the plane missed there connecting flights. Eventually I arrived in Singapore though. IN the middle of the night as opposed to the evening but I found my hostel fine and soon got settled in.