Okay this is gonna be a long update...haven't written anything in 12 days so here goes!!

05-09-2010

So today I went to be hostie on board of Reef Encounters. Woke up at 6:00 to get ready and pack everything for three days working and diving. Went to the marina and got onboard of the transfer boat. Got talking to 2 German and a Canadian guy who were going to be guests for 1 day and be hosties for another couple of days. They had been travelling in a van for 11 months already. They told me they wanted to sell their van so we got into talking about that. I am really interested in buying it so we'll see what happens. We talked allot about all the things they had seen. It was a great transfer as we were talking the whole time! Once we got on board I had to work straight away! Luckily I knew 2 of the hosties on board, Kat and Phil form the UK, a really nice couple, so we had a great laugh straight away!! We had to turn a few beds and clean out some rooms. After that we had to prepare everything for lunch so that meant, setting the tables, getting out all the plates and helping out in the kitchen. After lunch it was clean up time and there are so many dishes to do when 40/50 people have been eating and drinking! After cleaning up we had a great dive. After the dive it was time to start getting everything ready for dinner and the same routine was done once again. Had great fun joking around in the kitchen! At one point I got in an mascarpone food fight with the chef and we ended up covered…face, clothes and even the kitchen itself :D After dinner we had a great night dive. It was a pitty that on both dives an elder German guy buddiedup with me who had over 200 dives but on the first dive he shot up during the safety stop and nearly hit his head on the boat! And on the second dive he got stuck on the mooring line and nearly got hit by a big canister…if I wasn't there to push him away he would have been hit!!! After the dive it was dessert time and back in the kitchen! After that day I was so tired I went straight to bed.

06-09-2010

Today it was an early wake up…05:00 am :O We had to be ready to work at 5:30, so straight into the kitchen it was.After a bit of preparation work it was time for our morning dive which was absolutely amazing!! After the morning dive it was back to work as normal with lots of fun and joking around about squeaky bed complaints! Yes…we did test the bed in each and every way and did not get it to squeak once! As lunchtime arrived, so did the new guests and of course Ben! He was going to stay on till Friday. We had a great laugh with him and the 2 German and Canadian guy. 7 hosties was allot of people and it made the work allot easier. The whole ritual was done again and after we finished everyone watched a movie but I needed some alone time so I decided to go up to the deck with some musicand sit and watch the stars. After a tiresome day it was off to bed again.

07-09-2010

Same ritual as always, get up at 05:00 and start the day. Because we had so many people as hosties we got to do extra jobs like cleaning out the whole dry storage and vacuuming all the hallways!! Oh well…it kept me busy! After lunch it was time to head back to dry land. Kat and Phil joined and so did the chef, Steve. We had a nice snorkel on the way back and made fun of Steve having to be watchman. After we got back on dry land the four of us decided to get some drinks, after a quick stop at the hostel! WhenKat, Phil and I were walking back to town I got a phone call from Steve rambling on about his account having been emptied out and that he couldn't come out!So we decided to go get some booze and drink at the hostel. Just as we got to Cairns Central (big shopping mall) Steve called again that he had arranged some money so we decided to go out! We got some pints at P.J.O'Briens (irish pub). I fell in love with VB beer topped off with shandy.After that we decided to go somewhere else and ended up at a toga party. We felt right out of place! One drink and we were off again. We decided to get some beers at the bottle shop and drink them at the hostel Steve was staying at! We had a really great night…

08-09-2010

This was a quite, lazy day, it was Kat and Phil's last day before they left to go down south. We arranged their train tickets and then went into town. I found my first ankle bracelet and later that night at around 9pm I found a cheap bikini which I had been looking for during the day. We got our free meal at the woolshed and went back to the hostel. At night we drank some beers at the hostel and I was really happy to be asked to take over the duties of caring for stunt double Bob!! Bob is a finger puppet who has been with Kat and Phil around the world…he's been to loads of places like the Manu Picchu, Easter Island, Diving at the Great Barrier Reef and lots of festivals! He's got his own facebookpage where you can follow his experiences! I got the honor of taking over the duties of taking foto's of Bob on my trip. The only sad thing is that Bob actually decided to take a break and stunt double Bob wanted to have a go…so I have great responsibility to show him around!!!!

09-09-2010

Woke up early and said goodbye to Kat and Phil and relaxed. Today I spent the day with Andy, a Danish guy, Matt, a Pommie, Christine, German girl and Kate, again…a girl I had met earlier in the hostel and who Ben had also met. With her we had discussed about renting a car and going up to Cape Tribulation. The plans have changed a bit…Andy bought a 4wheel drive and Christine is going to buy a car so we're planning to all head up north.I bought a tent so I could spend nights at the hostel for much cheaper and arranged an Australian bank account.We played pool and had pizza and beer night at the hostel. Good easy going days…

10-09-2010

Today Ben is coming back from Reef Encounters and Kate and I are going to be his welcome home party. We went into town to greet him and we decided to go out that night. Dan and Matt and Gina, three Pommies joined Ben, Kate and me! We started at the woolshed having dinner and drinks and there Serje, a dutchy joined our gang and we ended up dancing all night at Gilligans. I did have to be up really early the next morning because in an spur of the moment decision that afternoon I booked a skydive for the next morning! That meant being ready to leave at 6:55…

11-09-2010

With four hours of sleep I was absolutely ready for skydiving! We actually had a two hour drive in the bus so I could catch up on some sleep. After arriving at the skydive center I really started getting nervous. Why did I want to do this…I really don't even like flying but hey there was no way back now!We got weighed, watched an example video of what we were going to be doing and then got told that me and Andy were in the first group. I was so happy that we were the first ones, couldn't spend half the day getting even more nervous. We got introduced to our instructor. Mine was a Russian guy who had been skydiving for many years and had done it all around the world…we got a briefing about what was going to happen and what positions we should get into and got into our harness and that was it. A quick foto of us all and a short introvideo for the video that I had payed for. That was it…we got into the small plane and took off. After a while of flying me and Andy thought we were really high already and when I asked how high we were we were only at 2,500 feet, that ment we had another 11,500 to go…OMG!!!! The flying was not bad at all, actually it was really nice. Great views and me being who I am was sitting next to the pilot and I got to steer the plane for a bit and got offered a job straight away :P We got near to the drop off point so I got strapped really tightly to my instructor and I tied Bob onto my finger really tightly cause ofcourse this was something he would have to experience aswell.I was the last one out of the plane and as we got to the door with my feet out of the plane my stomach turned…what the HELL am I doing? But there was no time to think…I was already in free fall, turning and laughing, and shouting! This was really AMAZING. I loved every second of it. During the freefall it was hard to breath and swallow but that did not matter at all. After the parachute was deployed it was all allot more relaxed. I could talk to my instructor and could just enjoy the surroundings. The reef…the jungle and the beach. What a beautiful place this is! Then I got to steer which meant pulling the right or left strap really hard and that made us turn circles really quickly. My instructor took over again and after about 5 minutes he had us land safely on Mission Beach! I was fully charged with adrenaline and had really enjoyed that experience. IT WAS AMAZING…I would really like to do it again! The rest of the day was waiting on the tropical beach for the others to come down. I still can't believe that I jumped out of a plane at 14000 feet and thought it was the best experience ever! I had a great night's sleep, I'm now sharing a tent with Ben.

12-09-2010

Today was a really relaxed day with a great lunch at the Pier. A really nice restaurant/bar at the waterside. Went out for some drinks with Steve and a friend of his called Jane.

13-09-2010

Gina, Ben and I went to the lagoon today. The lagoon is a big shallow pool with sand at the sides just at the waterfront of Cairns. We laid around and got some sun! In the evening we had the bbq at the hostel. The whole gang was there: Gina, Ben, Kate, Matt, Matt, Dan, Chistine, Andy and I. It was a bbw organized by the hostel and we had Kangaroo, Crocodile, Emu, Australian sausages and Baramundi. After the great bbq there was a didgeridoo contest and Kate and Ben participated. Gina joined in to do the rhythm. They all had to try and get some noise out of the didg and in the end Ben won! He can do a huge swing fall in the jungle, really awesome! After the contest we went to the woolshed and had lots and lots of drinks. And yes I did laugh at drunk English girls dancing on tables. The night ended late and for some people with allot of booze in them. Off to bed it was…

14-09-2010

The morning started late due to the hangover some people had but we did anticipate that and had eggs and bread in the fridge to get rid of the hangover. In the afternoon we decided to have a bbq by the lagoon. There are free bbq's which everyone can use. With the whole gang we went out too get some food and head off into town. We had great fun making hamburgers and sausages and actually it was a great success. After the bbq Christine, Gina, Rachel (friend of Gina) and I got a massage at the night market. $15 for 40min and it was worth it! After that relaxing experience we went back to the hostel for an early night. Said goodbye to Matt and Dan, because they were leaving the next day and tomorrow would be an very very early morning.

15-09-2010

Got up at 5:30 because we had a pick up at 6:15…we, Gina, Ben, Andy and I are going extreme white water rafting today!!!! We got onto the bus and drove for 3 hours before we got to the Tully river. On the bus ride we had to introduce ourselves and tell some juicy details and what level we were: 1: Really scared and not sure why your doing this, 2: Really wanna go for it but just a bit scared, 3: don't give a s*** bout your life and if you live another day! And yes ofcourse we chose 3…When we got there we were fitted with a lifevest and a helmet. We got Ash as our instructor and I was actually really happy with that. Got onto the raft and had some quick, real quick instructions and of we were. What an amazing experience that was. The surrounding through the jungle were beautiful and the rafting was great. Because we chose the extreme rafting we got to jump off clifs, float in raging rapids (which was actually quite scary because you thought you were going to drown! You really get pulled under and that continuously. Gina and I did that 3 times!!!!!) Went through a waterfall, it took us a while to get the raft to flip over but it did happen a few times and we had a great BBQ. It was an intense and physically demanding day but really amazing and fun. I had a great time teasing the other instructors and got splashed quite a few times! After we got back we were totally worn out and dead but it was Matt's birthday so we had to go somewhere to eat. We were really late getting the bus and we had to wonder around for ages finding a place to eat…everything was closed :O We found a place in the end…had a great dinner and after Ben and I went straight to the tent cause we were SOOOOOO dead!

16-09-2010

Today is preparation day for our trip to the Tablelands, Cooktown, Port Douglas and Cape Tribulation. We all went into town together to get some stuff for our trip. The rest of the day was spent writing journals and preparing things. We made pancakes and went to bed.

17-09-2010

Today is the day we leave on our roadtrip. I got up to start packing and yes it is the most annoying thing to fit everything back into your bag!!! But I got it done and now I'm writing my journal waiting for Andy's car to come from the mechanic. We are heading up to the Tablelands today. Got a reservation for four tents "On the Wallaby" which is a really nice hostel/camp site. I'll update my journal again as soon as we get back from our roadtrip.

XXX Risje