Afternoon folks!!

So, enroute to Cairns from Magnetic Island we stopped at an awesome crocodile farm.The dudes that worked there were like mini Steve Irwins!! They went into each of the crocodile pens and wound them up something cronic but getting them out of the water and finally giving them a giant piece of meat!! Being so close to them was unreal and hearing their jaws snapping was quite scary!! Sometimes the guys would just leave the door open and the crocs were just feet away from us!!

They would use rakes to prod them about and back into the water and on a couple of occasions the crocs snapped the rake from them and ate the entire thing!!We also got to feed kangaroos, hold baby crocs and also see a Cassowary. These birds are immense, they are very large flightless birds native to the tropical forests of New Guinea and northeastern Australia and have three-toed feet have sharp claws. The dagger-like middle claw is 120 mm (5 inches) long. This claw is particularly dangerous since the Cassowary can use it to kill an enemy, disemboweling it with a single kick. People have died from being attacked by these birds and the guys at the farm seemed to have no fear in winding them up! I however was sure I was going to see one of them killed that afternoon!

I bought a crocodiles tooth which apparently brings you good luck and guess what my camera was broken when I arrived at the farm but fixed again all by itself a couple of days later (after I had bought the tooth!) A coincidence?? I think not!! I'm not letting that tooth out of my sight!!

Our hostel in Cairns was pretty cool, free breakie and cheap drinks. We had a reunion with Alex and Elliot over dinner and said our goodbyes as they were leaving to Singapore in the morning. The next dayus girls hit the shops and I enjoyed my first McDonalds in a month!! (I was on a McDonald's ban the whole of February!)

In the evening we went to watch Ryan and his rugby team(Cairns) play against the Sunshine Coast.Nadine met Ryan who is an Aussie when he was backpacking around England a few months ago and he invited us to stay with him a few dayswhich was cool.Us girls transferred our free cocktails from the hostel bar and goon into plastic bottles before we left and drank them whilst enjoying the game!!

Afterwards we met the rest of the team (well the ones we hung out with for the next couple of days; JB, Ferg, Josh, Steve, Blair) and watched the guys have their team talks!! Each manager selects his top three players from the game and they have to stand in a line and have a drink off again the top three from the other team !! This involves drinking your beer as soon as possible, and placing the empty can on your head, then the next player can down theirs and so on! I've never seen guys drink so fast it was scary and pretty much set the pace for the rest of the evening!!

9 of us piled into car and stocked up on booze from the 'drive through' bottle shop! (still can't get my head around that!) before going to Josh's sister's place.It was midnight before we left there and went to a local pub.The decision was then made to go to the Woolshed!A renowned bar in Cairns (also known as a meat market!!!) We had an awesome night there!! Lots of dancing and drinking!! I was using one of the wooden beams which holds the place up as a pole which was quite funny!! And check this out at 5am I was still going for it!! Poor Windsor left around 4am and was very sick back at the hostel. The rest of us munched out on pizza before heading back!

The next day we were awoken by an announcement over the hostel mega phone that we had half an hour til check out!! f***!!! We packed our stuff and checked out just on time, also claiming our free breakfast! This was not however enough to cure our hangovers and we began the hunt for greasy food!! It was the airport where we eventually got what we needed - a BK!! We had to go through security and everything before we could go through and we also bought some cheap flip flops (I refuse to call them thongs like the aussies even though I'm in their country!)

There was another reason for heading to the airport though and that was to jump on a shuttle bus to Port Douglas! As it happens however this wasn't necessary as the boys rocked on up with the car! Again, 7 passengers and all our packpacks, was a very tight squeeze but we all snuggled up on the back seat!! The scenery on the drive to Port was lovely and once we arrived at the boy's place we all caught up on some much needed sleep!!

In the evening we went to a local bar for dinner and drinks!! I ended up completely wasted and being very loud and crude!! (what's new!!) Poor Windsor couldn't handle drinking after the night before so stayed on the soft stuff!! We headed to another bar after that and I was just going up to the bar and saying 'surprise me!!' ended up drinking all sorts of brightly coloured concoctions!! With nowhere open for food we had to go and call on the bakery where Ryan is somewhat of a local and they let us have some yummy Hawaiian pizzas!! Hurray!!

The next day I had to be up early for my Cape Tribulation trip. Phil, Alex and Charlie(some guys we kept bumping into up the East Coast) were also on bus which was a nice surprise! After a much needed breakfast stop we went on a crocodile cruise at Daintree RiverWe didn't see any and got wet as it decided to pi** it down! Next stop a rainforest walk, it was torrential rain as we walked through but still pretty cool to see.

After lunch we went to the Alexandra Range lookout and Mossman George.However there was some doubt as to whether we would get to these places at all or even be able to leave Cape Trib due to the water levels. We had to cross a river to get to these places and back to Carins and unless the water level is at 0.4 you are unable to cross. When we arrived it was 0.6 and it rose to 0.8!! I've never seen anything like it in my life. The current was so strong, walking across you would have been swept away and there were loads of people stranded like us!!

We sat for an hour in the van and I was nearly in tears at the thought of having to spend the night there not only because 1) I had a lovely double bed, aussie guy and apartment to go back to 2) because there were some common ass girls on the bus who did not shut up!! I know I'm not exactly a classy bird but compared to these girls I'm like the queen!! They were so gobby and just kept saying 'that is sick!!'Since I've been away I've learnt that a lot of people (mainly Londoners!) use the term sick for meaning cool!I' not a massive fan of this dual meaning and after hearing nothing but 'that is so sick' for an hour and a half I'm even less fond of it!!!

When the water levels hit 0.5 our driver Cindy (who was so much fun) decided to go for it! We had to get the bags out the trailer and put them in the bus incase it got flooded, turn off the air con and dim the lights ! It was like sitting in an aeroplane waiting for take off!! For some reason, we all held our breath as we drove through the water and we made it!! I was soooo relived!!

Back in Port Douglas, I caught up with the girls whilst the boys were at rugby practice. We had pizza, bevies and a sing-along in the evening, was good fun!!

It rained all night and for the whole of the next day! I've never seen rain like it!! We watched lonely planet DVD's and baked JB and Ferg a birthday cake which was delicious, even if we do say so ourselves!! Lucy and I went back to Cairns leaving Nadine to stay an extra day and go diving the next day.

Back in Carins we stayed at Gilligan's! I bumped into one of my brother's mates who lives literally down the road, what a small world !! We were just going to have a few drinks at the bar but Windsor decided she wanted to get hammered and make a move on our Danish room mate from Airlie beach!! It didn't take much persuading for me to agree!! We went to the woolshed again but it just didn't compare to Saturday night and after a few drinks we went back to the hostel!!

We were due to go on a boat trip of the great barrier reef the next day but because of the bad weather the trip was cancelled. Bit gutted about that because I never got to see the Great Barrier Reef, a good excuse to go back to Australia I suppose but not sure if that will ever happen!Nadine returned from Port and the three of us went for our last supper together a the local curry house!! It was delicious and a really lovely evening.Back at the hostel bar we got chatted up by some annoying hammered Australian. Davies and myself left Windsor to do all the talking! But when he insisted on knowing our names we decided to make them up!! God knows why I came up with Lucinda but I did and Nadine was Marie!! I've never lied about my identity before, it was really weird but very funny!! We gave Windsor the look which meant 'hurry up and finish your drink' and then we got the hell out of there!

The next day we said our goodbyes and I went to the airport for my flight to New Zealand. I had such a good time with the girls over the past month, it was very sad saying goodbye but we shall definitely be meeting up in England! So there you have it, my time in Australia has come to an end.The weather hasn't been the best but I've met some amazing people the past few weeks and seen some amazing places, my favourites being the Great Ocean Road and Whitehaven Beach/Whitsunday Sailing.

New Zealand here I come!! Until next time, take care of yourself and each other xxxxxxxxxx