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My travels in Oz!
Hiya!
Now, time for the second Contiki update! WOO I hear you say!
(Please bear in mind that what I'm writing about now was actually quite a while ago so I might miss some bits out that I'll have to add in later!)
Day 8:
Ferry over to the Whitsundays. We stayed at Long Island, it was gorrrrgeous there!! Unfortunately though, the day we were travelling there it started to rain like MAD, so the first time we saw the beach/resort it doesn't look that special!! We weren't there for long and then went and got ready for dinner....OMG this is the night that NOBODY wants to remember...lots of drinking games...LOTS of wine drunk...omg I think we did something REALLY embarrassing (well i know we did from the pictures some people have!) but I can't write it here so there. hahaaaaa it was a good night though!! Ah man Sophie & Kate are great to get drunk with...OMG OH YEAH it was THAT night!!! hahahaa I can't tell you about that either coz somebody could get fired, haha how funny would that be! Oh well, GT's by all definately. Sweet!
2 new people joined us tonight, Jordis (who was in our room) and Anthony.
Day 9:
Me & Kate decided to waste some time today by getting our eyelashes tinted (which was totally worth it, it was only $20 and they threw in a foot, hand & arm, and head massage in for free! it was only supposed to take 20 mins but we were an hour! Lovely. Anyway, we did that coz the weather was rather disappointing that day, although it did allow us to get over our hangovers by just sitting and not getting too hot in the sun. Then we went for a 'hike' to some 'points'of the look-out variety in the hills which was nice. Ooh yeah and I saw a cockatoo in the tree!! (I hadn't seen one in Oz before even though I heard them so this was quite exciting!) When we walked back to the resort, we decided on a picturesque photo point (which you'll be able to tell) when the sun was setting. 1, 2, 3, "awwwww........"
Tonight was another Kareoke night! woo! Me & Nicky did it for the Team again by singing Take That's Back For Good (HA HA) and I can't remember the other one...oh man how could I forget! Bum! Ah well we did two anyway, and we were fantastic obviously ^_^ Kind of an early night tonight, big day the next day, didn't want a hangover for the boat!
Day 10:
Of we trotted this morning after having breakfast of bread & peanut butter (which I really don't like but its all we had!) to the Ferry, which then lead us to our Catamaran for the day! WOO! Definite GT's ahead! It was purple though, which was first sign of ''OMG I'm guna get sea sick aren't I?! :O'' In the end it wasn't too bad, it was actually really good! We sat on the front bits (you know on Catamarans where they have the netting bit to sit on) and got splashed like LOADS by the blimming water! Sophie & Nicky got sick, then we all moved to the back eventually coz of the splashing-ness. At 11am the bar opened! Yay! It was free food & drink all day and we made the most of it! Although they said you can't snorkle if you drink too much so only had 1 XXXX of course!
We then headed over to Whitehaven beach (which is apparently one of the '1000 places to see before you die' places. I can tell why, it was beaaaaautiful...pure white sand, gorgeous bluey/clear sea...it was so cool, we had it to ourselves. We only had an hour on it though, so some quick sunbathing was done while some people played cricket, and we went in the sea and enjoyed it. Lush!
Next was the snorkling, which I couldn't do (coz I'm stupid!). The guy totally didn't explain it properly and as soon as I got into the water I panicked and swallowed a load of it which was disgusting (you know how much I hate salt water!) so they came back with the little boaty thing and got me, and Kate out. I was alright though, no worries! Me & Kate totally took advantage of there being no people on the Catamaran now and layed out on the netting with a few beers...sweet! Everybody then ventured back, and we headed back to Long Island.
Tonight it was...oh man what did they call it... ''Island Games'' or something???? Basically, they had some games like Musical Chairs (man I was good at that until I lost), that one where you wrap someone up like a mummy in toilet paper (go Kate & D-Fo woo!), one where you put an egg in between yours & someone else's back (sorry Anthony I was rubbish!) which Sophie had to eventually win by playing rock, paper, scissors, and then one where you have to go find something that starts with the letter...........'L' for example... lucky we had a Louis on tour!! haha. Early night tonight too (well, like midnight) coz the Long Island Ice Teas either make you druunkkkkk or just sooooo sleepy...good night though! (Have you ever seen somebody make one of them before?? Jeez it's a wonder we're still alive! Kate had 3! :O)
Day 11:
Onwards to Cairns, and the last proper bus ride on our coach......aaawwwwwwww......... *cry* :'( It was 7 hours though so we got enough of it really!
Did lots of pics of us dancing to our 'Day Song' today as we thought it would be the last time! (Although it wasn't!)
We arrived at our hotel in Cairns, and got ready to go to...don't have the foggiest what it was called!! It was good though, and we got free beer and wine which was nice! Afterwards we went to an Irish pub! Woo! I took a pic of a guinness drinking pelican for you Clare :) We boogied and drank a lot tonight, and they did a Coyote Ugly show which Jen & Curly Haired Heather (thats what we know her as!) took part in...we left though so dunno what happened next!
Day 12:
This day was the best day EVER!! I had been waiting for this day for sooo long!! It was Great Barrier Reef day WOOOOO!!
We jumped into this little coach (crap compared to ours!) and drove to the harbour...and then yeah we got onto our boat. Now, I had signed up to go Scuba Diving but as soon as they found out I had asthma the guy just ripped my form away from me, so I went up to this woman who actually explained why people with asthma can't scuba dive. (Something to do with the air being able to go into your lungs but can't get out coz of the water pressure, then they could explode blah blah). Anyway, it convinced me she was right! At the time I wanted to get of the boat coz I thought there would be no point in going but she said I can still snorkle, so yay! Kate had the same problem too, so did some other people who couldn't equalise (where you pop your ears) coz they had colds.
Much better explaining of the whole snorkelling thing this time so was very confident! And had to be for today, yeah!
There were three stopping points for snorkelling. The first time was so cool coz The Verve's ''Bitter Sweet Symphony'' came on the CD player and I knew it was guna be good (Me & Nikki were like "OMG I love that song!"). You put on your wetsuit (SO flattering :S), get your goggles & snorkle, then sit on this little seat to get ready. Then you slide down a bit, and everyone was so good helping me. I dipped my head into the water and I was "OMG DID YOU SEE THAT IT'S A FISH!!!!!!!!!) and then I was totally hooked!! Straight in and I didnt wanna get out! Sadly it was cloudy at this time so stuff wasn't as lit up as it could have been but still, it was amazing!
The second snorkelling point was reeally choppy...Ã wasn't going to go in but then I knew that if i didnt I would have regretted it! This one was actually better, more underwater mountains to look at, man they are so cool. Covered in anemone and lots of coral I can't remember the names of and wow...you swim in towards this big mountain that nearly touches the water's surface. Then you swim over the top, and there's NOTHING. Just big, blue water. It was so incredible, absolutley amazing. You see a random fish every now and again (and a shark like I did!) but there's nothing, just space. I thought I'd be so scared by now (coz the ocean terrifies me) but I just wanted to go further to see what could be next! But then I remembered how choppy the water was and the film Open Water so I thought I better go back!
After that, the girl who taught us snorkelling did a 'Reef talk'', about all the fishies & coral and stuff that's down there. That was good, lots of Nemo pictures! haha.
The third and final snorkelling point was the BEST!! The sun was out now, so the sea was totaly lit up and you could see the underwater mountains from the top of the boat, even into the sea and the fishies! The girl did a 'guided snorkle' now which was interesting, we followed her around for half an hour and held a mushroom coral (which, she said, produces a slime that could be bottled up and used as 100% sunblock, but smells so it hasn't been done), and touched a sea cucumber!
After the little tour, we told Dan to go find us a turtle (like off of Nemo) but he didn't. (pssh!)
Then, we were swimming around and it was like OMG IT'S A TURTTTTTLEEEEE!!!!!!! :O Kate & Nicky managed to touch it but none of us had any pictures left on our cameras, noooooo! It was so beautiful though, wow though an actual TURTLE! haha how cool :D
I took loads of pictures that day which I've now got developed, them underwater cameras are amazing! It was just like being inside an aquarium...but real life...and it was all around you...little fishies everywhere! You can't imagine it unless you've seen it for yourself....must go there again, uh huh!!
Haha the harbour bit where the boat left from was called 'Marlin Wharf'' haha!! (Marlin is Nemo's Dad btw).
Tonight we headed off to The Woolshed (was that it's name??) for our last night of everybody together on Contiki :'(
We had everyone stand infront of the coach tonight so we could have our own group picture (the official one was in Sydney before anyone knew each other). This one rocks!!
This was actually the last time on the bus, with our Contiki song, so everyone got up and danced in the aisle of the bus haha (started by us of course - go team!)
Lots of free beer & wine again tonight! woo!
Lot's of GT's tonight, they did this boys versus girls game thing which Heather, Nicky and D-Fo played in and they had to do lap dances and stuff on Dan (haha) and drink this pink moose crap eww!
Oh god tonight was a very drunken one...don't remember too much but I think dancing on tables was involved and the heel of my shoe broke (ouch!). Brilliant night :D
Day 13:
Last day :(
Woke up hungover, as usual! Terrible day this was. So many goodbyes to so many great people...I think I cried ALL day. (except for when I was reading Bill Bryson by the pool coz that book's rather good).
We had our last 'Team' photo (which Im looking at now and about to cry!) and then went and had some brekky together.
First of us 8 to leave were Sophie, Nikki & Toby who were all going on the Aus Explorer trip which drove up to Darwin after flying to Alice Springs.
Then it was Kate, Nicky & Louis' turn who were all on the Reefs & Rainforest tour which went to Cape Tribulation for a few days.
So this left me & Maike...all by ourselves.... :( Maike went to the city to use the internet, and I went by the pool for a bit (with my Bill Bryson). Then Maike came back, we went in the pool (freezing!) and then it was her turn to leave!! :'(
The rest of the day I went to my new room which I was sharing with two of the Canadian girls, Jen & Karen, who were also staying an extra night. Then we went and had dinner and played cards with some of the others (about 10 people stayed that night!) and went sleepy-byes.
So, that's it! That's my Contiki done for this year!
It was awesome, completely different from the one I did last year.
To my fellow Contiki's - I miss all you guys so much and I hope we can have a reunion ASAP!!
GT's guys, "You're beautiful!!"
xxxxxx
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