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Hi everyone,
Rich last updated you on our travels up until Noosa, we are now in Cairns and have been to both Hervey Bay and Airlie beach inbetween.
Hervey Bay itself doesn't have much to offer travellers and is mainly used as a place to access Fraser Island. Fraser Island is the largest sand island in the world and travel companies sell a 3 day 2 night package where groups of 11 people are given a 4 by 4 jeep loaded with camping and cooking equipment to get by for the 3 days. The trip is definitely something not to miss on the east Coast so we booked ourselves on and met our group the night before we left. We had 5 really cool Irish guys in our group which was good news as they seemed like they'd be good fun (and they were!). We all sat down and decided on what food we wanted to bring and (more importantly) how much alcohol to take! The next morning we arose at the horrible hour of 5.00am, loaded up the jeep, got lots of maps of the island and headed off to the catch the ferry. The island was something really quite different to anything we've experienced so far, it contains many beautiful natural lakes and the sand roads were great to drive around on, if not a little bumpy. We spent the 3 days swimming in the lakes, walking around the island and driving along the tracks and beaches. I had a go a driving which was great fun especially along the beaches whilst Rich took a back seat (tut tut!). In the evenings we set up our camp (literally in the middle of nowhere with no facilities) cooked dinner and sat around playing drinking games and singing songs. It was such fun (until the dingoes decided to join our party and all the girls ran a mile!). The trip was a real highlight of the East coast as it was great to go camping with a bunch of other travellers and travel around the island independently.
When we returned from the island we spent one more night in Hervey Bay relaxing on the beach before heading off on a joyful night bus to Airlie Beach. Airlie Beach is a pretty little town with a lovely lagoon and a port full of swanky boats which people use to travel the Whitsunday islands. We booked ourselves on a trip to sail around the islands so 50 of us all set sail on The Pride Of Airlie for another 3 day 2 night trip. It was very different from Fraser as we didn't have to do any cooking or anything, our role was to sit on the deck, sunbathe, enjoy the views and enjoy getting to know everyone - hard life!. After our first day sailing we got off the boat at South Mole Island where we had dinner, played some drinking games, had a bit of a party and then off to bed before a 6.00AM start for our second day of sailing. Unfortunately day 2 wasn't so great as the sun didn't shine for us and the waves were really big so lots of people got very sea sick. We did get to go snorkeling though which was really cool and visited Whitehaven beach. We spent another night on the island and then headed back to Airlie beach on the 3rd day. We met some great people on the trip, exchanged emails and unfortunately had to miss the after sail party as we headed off on another night bus to Cairns.
We have been here 4 days and although there isn't much to do in Cairns we have kept ourselves busy by going on a couple of day trips. One day was spent in Kuranda which is a sweet little mountain village which mainly caters for tourists. We went for a walk in the rainforest, visited a bat sanctuary and walked around the markets. We ended our day by catching the Kuranda Scenic railway back to Cairn's (it claims to be the worlds most scenic railway and while the journey was very pretty it was VERY overpriced.)
The following day Rich and i split for the day and I went on a snorkelling and dive trip to the Great Barrier Reef and Rich chilled out at the hostel as snorkeling isn't really his thing. I had such a fantastic day, the reef is unbelievable, the scale of it is incredible and the Coral and fish are amazing (very annoyed i didn't buy an underwater camera). The trip came with a free dive so that was awesome and I met a lovely couple so i wasn't lonely without Rich for a day (huh, huh :)
Lat night we had a great night out in Cairn's with the couple i met, spending the beer vouchers Rich won from the pool competition in our hostel (what a champ!) In the morning we visited Port Douglas, a pretty little place with a nice beach so we caught the last of the lovely Australian Sun as tomorrow we are off to New Zealand!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We have a hideously long flight as we have to fly via Sydney and Auckland before we arrive in Queenstown but we are both really excited. We have really loved Australia and have had a great time but are ready to leave the beaches behind and see some great scenery doing some hikes around New Zealand.
We hope everyone is well and although we miss everyone from back home we can't believe we are half way through our trip already - we both don't want it to end.
Lots of love
Beth and Rich
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