Days 18 and 19 - Can you hear, can you hear the thunder!?

Day 18 begins with an early check out time in the hostel at 10am. My flight isn't until 19:55pm so I've got to store my bags in the rather unsecured luggage room all day, I've not left any valuables in the bags so this isn't a problem, all they'll find is smelly shoes... I go down to the pool bar area to sit around drinking water to nurse the slight hangover from the night before! Eventually Anthony the Italian guy came down to the pool, thank god he was here all day like I was, he definitely helped keep the boredom to a minimum, unlike many other Italians I've met in the past he speaks very good English, so we chat about sport all day! We go and get some lunch from the 'Coles' supermarket across the road with an Aussie guy, Matt I think his name was! This lad like the vast majority of the people in the hostel was very worse for wear in the morning, he had a job interview that day...not ideal!! We sit chatting all afternoon until I have to leave for the airport, Anthony has given me his email and we're going to meet for a beer in New Zealand! So I wave goodbye to melaleuca on mitchell and board the shuttle to the airport! This is the fastest I've ever been checked in and through security, it's amazing what a smile and a friendly reply when the staff ask you how you are will do!! I was given an exit row, got to love the legroom on these!!! As its a domestic flight, I only arrived at the airport just over an hour before takeoff so I didn't have to do much waiting at all, which is just as well because there's b***** all to do at Darwin airport! The flight is almost empty! For a plane with 115 seats there can't be more than 30 people on board! I've never seen anything quite like it, I've only ever seen a completely full plane! I get chatting to the Australian lady sitting next to me and she's a massive rugby league fan and we talk for the rest of the flight about it! The flight lands and as its a domestic flight we just walk into the terminal and my bag is the 2nd one off the carousel! Love when that happens, that coupled with the fact that the flight was 15 mins early meant that I was out of the airport and in a taxi before the flight was due to arrive! I arrive at gilligans (the hostel I'm staying in) which is the scene of the infamous swimming pool incident from the QES rugby tour to oz in 2007... Anyway I get into my room and get my head down which is easier said than done as the room overlooks the hostel's night club, but it's not as bad as on phi phi so I nod off pretty quickly!

Day 19

Day 19 begins with a monumental lie in, I sleep until past 11 having got to sleep at 12! Feel like I've caught up on all the sleep I've lost so far on this trip! There's a couple of lads and lasses up when I wake, I get chatting to a girl from Essex and a guy from Scotland and a guy from holland! They head out after this and so do I, I go to a travel agent down the street and book some trips and a greyhound bus ticket that'll eventually take me to Sydney! I book a skydive at mission beach which is just south from cairns... Slightly apprehensive about this but it should be amazing!! After this I head to get some lunch and have a bit of a walk around cairns, lots of memories from the previous visit on the rugby tour come flooding back to me, I'll keep these to myself as most of them aren't suitable for some of the people who read this...
I come back and sit by the pool at the bar for a couple of hours using the Internet, then I head back to the room to see if there's anyone about, everyone is in so we all get chatting a bit and it turns out, Ellie, the girl who's above me in the top bunk has been to harper and knows a few people there! Small small world indeed!! Her and I head down to to pool for a swim then come back to the room and chat to Jamie (Scottish guy) and find out its his last night and is out on't piss in his kilt, I think I'm not missing out on this! So we head out some time later for a few beers which turns into a lot of beers and some other alcoholic beverages and a bit of boogieing and then it's time for bed at 3am!

Thanks for reading!

Will