After a night celebrating Nicole’s arrival in Australia and our last night with our jersey friend Emily, this morning was a mad rush. We overslept, hadn’t packed our small bags for our tour and needed to check out. We were meant to be being picked up at 7.25 and we were very proud of ourselves that we were only five minutes late! We sat at the front of our hostel waiting for the bus and when it didn’t arrive for fifteen minutes, Juliet went to call the company. Unfortunately the bus had come and gone and we’d missed it (so typical) but luckily, it was coming back to get us, so all was not lost!
After a scenic drive along the coast up to the Cape Tribulation rainforest and a short coffee and toilet break, we arrived at our first stop: a crocodile boat tour. We all boarded the boat and set off down the most highly populated (by crocodiles) river in Cape Trib. Within five minutes we had seen our first crocodile, a huge, light grey female, lazing on the banks. Soon after that we saw another two and even a baby! Crocodiles really aren’t that exciting as they literally just lie there looking like logs, I actually didn’t even see any of them move. However I’m glad I’ve seen one in it’s natural habitat in the rainforest, even if it wasn’t lashing out, hunting for food. Our next stop after that was a board walk through the mangroves and some amazing species of plants. We learnt how the aboriginals used the different plants to help them in life, as obviously they didn’t have shops, doctors or electronics. We learnt about the long leaves of a tree which have tiny little spikes on them, and the aboriginals tied them round their heads if they had headaches and the needles worked like acupuncture. There was also a wide leaved tree which is very sensitive to change in the air when a storm is coming. This is because the cyclones in Australia would literally destroy it’s wide leaves so when the plant senses a storm, it rolls all of it’s wide leaves up and bunches them together – so amazing! Obviously this meant that the aboriginals could tell when a storm was approaching, simply by looking at the plant. We also saw medical sap, house making branches and many other natural things which are a part of the every day life of an aboriginal.
When we arrived at the hostel around lunchtime I was so exhausted and actually felt quite ill so I literally slept all afternoon. The hostel is in the middle of no where and as it was raining there wasn’t much for the others to do. I had a lovely snooze though!

After lots of games of cards and chit chat, dinner time finally came around and we set off to find our restaurant. We’d heard about one called Whet that does good food and so we set off in the dark and the rain down the rainforest road to try and find it. It did feel a bit like a horror movie walking down the road with no one around, no lights, no people, no nothing but about ten minutes later we saw the restaurant. Unfortunately, after our serious bravery trying to get to the restaurant, we discovered it was fully booked (how, I have no idea as there’s literally no one in the jungle…) and so we had to take the walk back to our hostel. We’d built up a good appetite and so just ate there.
It’s 8.30pm and we are all in bed! It’s the earliest night I’ve had since travelling but living by the natural jungle light makes it feel a lot later than it is, and despite the fact that I slept all afternoon, we were all struggling to stay awake at dinner. Jungle life is exhausting and the prospect of a 12 hour sleep ahead is a very very exciting.

Yesterday Juliet and I were up early once again, but this time to go extreme white water rafting! We were picked up from our hostel and driven to the rafting base where we checked in, signed wavers and awaited the bus to the river. At the river we were given helmets, life jackets, thermal tops and paddles and put into our rafting teams. We had the funniest water rafting leader called Macca, he’s actually called Mark but your can’t spend your days touring the white water on the river and be called mark when everyone else has bizarre names, so Macca it is! As soon as we were on the boat and had started rafting we hit our first bit of white water, and we’re immediately thrown into paddling hard, ducking in the boat, smashing into rocks and soaring down the river and that’s pretty much how the day went on!
At one point the boat even flipped and we all fell out on top of each other and floated down the rapids! As we came up to the biggest rapid there is, called the Corkscrew our boat hit a rock and as the name suggests, we started spinning and crashing down into the rapids, so hard, the boat was tipping and being thrown around and before we knew it one of the girls had fallen out. I literally only saw her shoe fly off and then a pair of legs disappear into the river and as the river was really strong and we were still in the rapids it was very scary! She was being pushed by our boat down the river and she had no control, at one point she even hit a rock! Luckily she was such a great sport and wasn’t injured so everything was fine and as soon as we got to the deep pool at the bottom she was pulled back into the boat. At different points down the river there were times when we could get out of the boat and float down the river, to do this you simply lie on your back (you float because of the life jacket) and then lift your legs up, as there is shallow rocks and it’s better to scrape your bum than your shins! There were also small cliffs at different points that we could climb up and cliff jump off, it was so scary taking a leap of faith into the river but so fun, especially since the life jacket just makes you bob up again.
The morning rafting was by far the scariest as we were new to it but also the rapids were faster and steeper with a lot of massive drops and crevasses. For lunch we stopped at a bank on the side of the river and hot dogs and burgers were waiting for us, so yummy.
Lunch was short as we still had a lot of the river to cover and more rapids to conquer! Soon after we set off we came across a natural river slide, a flat piece of rock that’s called The Drowning Simulator! I was actually the only one in my boat to try it but basically I had to float up to the top of the drop, it honestly looked so scary, and then take a deep breath. As I slid down the water rushed in my face and soon I was at the bottom. The reason it’s called the drowning simulator is because at the bottom the water is so deep and the force of the water coming down the slide is so strong that it pushed you right under and you normally stay below water for 8 to 15 seconds. I was under for 10 and it was actually such a weird feeling because I had no idea where the top was, I was so deep, just waiting for my life jacket to do it’s job and float me up. After (no joke) ten seconds, I finally surfaced, my ears popping and my helmet crooked over my eye. It was an amazing thing to have done but I’d never do it again! At the next set of rapids and white water, Macca said as I was clearly crazy, I could sit on the front of the boat (with my legs dangling over the front) through the next set of rapids. It sounds a lot scarier than it actually was but it was so much fun crashing through the white water straight on and having the waves splashing up in my face while I just sat at the front watching it all from the best view in the house.
The last non rafting agenda was when we came across some flat rapids that actually looked quite small but there was a lot of them, here we were all made to get out of the rafts, and float down! It seemed like a relaxing exercise but when we arrived at the rapids they were actually huge and the current was so strong we were going so fast! The rapid water splashed in my face every time I surfaced and then pushed me under and every time I tried to take a breath my mouth filled with water! It just shows that our judgement on small or big rapids is very imparted.
After a few more sections of white water and another boat flip (that we all weren’t expecting) we finally made it to base after a great day on the water. Surprisingly the extreme rafting wasn’t as extreme as we thought but that’s probably because Juliet and I freaked ourselves out massively before! It was a lot of fun though and a great experience.

Then we boarded the bus for Cairns where Nicole was waiting for us!!

This morning Juliet and I woke up at 6am as today was the day of our SKY DIVE!!! When I woke up I wasn’t sure what to feel, we got dressed in the dark so as not to wake our roommates and then set off in the Australia Sky Dive minibus! On arriving at the sky dive base, we had to fill in some emergency forms.. A lot of emergency forms stating who to call if an accident does occur, asking if we want accident insurance, signing that they’re not liable, all of the fun stuff that definitely didn’t make us feel more nervous…
After weighing ourselves and watching a sky dive video showing us standard procedures, we met our tandem dive buddies and harnessed up!
I was lucky enough to get probably the coolest tandem diver – a real cool kiwi guy who obviously loves the rush of sky diving. He had also done over 2000 dives so far in his life and he wasn’t even that old, so I knew I was in safe hands.
With our harnesses on we boarded the bus and drove to the dive airport, all this time being filmed!
It all happened very quickly after that and was a bit of a blur but after a quite awkward interview for the film, some photos and more filming, followed by a quick chat with my tandem diver, we were soon on the plane! All except Juliet, she was still filming which meant she boarded the plane last, was sitting by the sliding exit door and so obviously would be the first to dive. (Slash fall out of the plane). It took us 20 minutes to reach our full height and the view from the plane was spectacular!! We were unbelievably high and when I thought it would soon be time to jump I looked at the height monitor at we were at five thousand feet, sounds so high yes, but not when we were jumping from FOURTEEN THOUSAND FEET. We weren’t even nearly there and we had a long way to ascend.
Finally the time came and while all the sky dive masters made sure our harnesses were sorted and then connected us to them in four different places, it was time to set off. The sliding plane door was slid open and Julie was hanging out of the plane, I saw her head tip back and she let out a small wimper then a scream and within seconds she was whooshed out of the plane!
Next up was a girl who had paid for another photography diver to sky dive along side her while filming and taking photos! This photography diver actually climber out of the plane and hung from the side of the door until the girl and her tandem were ready to fall and then they all fell together.
Next was me, within milliseconds of the girl before me jumping, we were already moving towards the door. I was trying to remember all the instructions from the safety video about tucking legs underneath the plane and tipping my head back but when I got to the door it was all swept from my memory! I remember getting an icy blast from the cold altitude chilled air and then suddenly becoming overcome with fear and screaming I can’t do this I don’t want to do this but my tandem diver simply said “too late”, tipped my head back and (honestly this all took max three seconds) then we were falling from a plane, at 14000ft. (4200m)
Sky diving was honestly the most incredible experience I have ever had in my life. We free fell for 9000ft and it felt like forever, it was amazing. Within a couple of seconds I felt a tap on my shoulder which was the signal to open my arms up like a bird and then… I WAS FLYING. I can’t even write down or stress how incredible the feeling was, I was literally falling through the sky and the clouds. It even took me a while to actually remember to look at the unbelievable view as I was so engrossed in falling! The whole way down I was screaming ohmygod, ohmygod and also a lot of swear words but you couldn’t even hear me a tiny bit! The noise of the air around us was so loud, the air was giving me a face lift, I was falling so fast but I felt like I was flying. It was A M A Z I N G.
At 5000ft the parachute was pulled and it happened to be just as we reached a really thin layer of cloud and so I floated through them, literally screaming about how good that experience had been. We floated gently downwards, spinning and looking out over the ocean. He also let me fly the parachute but I actually couldn’t even change it’s direction it was so heavy so soon the pilot job was swapped back. The landing was also so simple as I just kept my legs up as we span down to shore and before I even knew it we were on the ground, obviously I tripped (but that’s a given for me).
I envy the people whose job it is to sky dive. After we arrived back at base, they literally met their new divers and did the same thing again, I was SO jealous that they were off to jump out of the plane again! A girl and I even thought about pretending to be one of the new divers and saying yes when their names were called to get geared up! It was the most crazy, exhilarating, amazing experience I have ever had and the best thing I’ve ever done. I’ll honestly never forget my sky dive and it’s definitely not going to be my last!!!!

PHOTO TIME
Juliet and I before we took off!

The ascent.

The sliding door that we leave from!

Just as I fall out of the plane…

MY SKY DIVE!!!

JULIET’S SKY DIVE!

Let’s just say, the rest of my gap year has very big shoes to fill…

After the most amazing lie in this morning (for most people… Obviously as usual I woke up at 7am) we enjoyed a late breakfast and headed down to the beach, after all we’re at mission beach so we needed to see the beach! It was (as usual) beautiful, with a long stretch of empty sand and blue sea.

After a long morning of lazing in the sun, listening to the sound of the waves combined with our music and being the only sunbathers on the beach, we came back to the hostel for lunch. We decided we were so exhausted by the mornings activities (or not activities) that we spent the afternoon watching a film and planning our awesome dinner. At 6pm we headed to the supermarket to shop and then came back and made the most delicious meal. Barbecued sausages with creamy, cheesy mash potato, onion gravy, peas and a glass of wine! (What classy travellers we are) All for the budget price of 6dollars each!

We then decided it would be a good idea to get into the pool – we all practically sunk as we had eaten basically a small child for dinner – clutching our newly massive bellies and forcing ourselves to get up out of our seats, we finally all jumped in! The pool was freezing but we quickly warmed up by playing some volley ball before having hot showers and spending the rest of the evening playing cards.

SKY DIVE TOMORRRRROW!!! (Stay tuned)

Today was moving on day and ofcourse (typical) at 9.40am we realised we needed to be packed and checked out at 10. Luckily we’re used to how disorganised and forgetful we are and so we’ve all become pro packers and can get all our stuff together very quickly. After the public bus, ferry and then a four hour (due to traffic) greyhound bus, we arrived at Mission Beach and were so happy to see our hostel shuttle waiting for us (a nice change after a few days on the public bus). Our hostel is very cute, it’s called Scotty’s Beach House and it’s small, quaint with free wifi, clean rooms, a massive pool and a tv room. It even has it’s own little shop. After a massive decision on whether we should make the most of the ten dollar pizza deal in the restaurant down the road, we decided that we are being way too luxurious with our meals, so decided on a home cooked one.
We went down to the beach first, to explore, and ended up in a children’s playground, climbing up the jungle gym and watching the sun set.

We then popped into the local shop to buy our ingredients for $12 (three dollars each, a lot better than the pizza deal) and headed back to the hostel to whip up a delicious meal of pasta with ham and tomato sauce, and cheesy toast on the side! We even went all out and set the table nicely so that the meal was that much better.

The day then got made better when we discovered that Friends with Benefits would be playing in the tv room at 7.30 and so we had a movie marathon evening of that and Brigit Jones.
This evenings bed time was utterly hilarious as we haven’t met our two other room mates but when we came to bed (at 10.30pm… Not late) they were asleep with the lights off. Like the friendly roommates we are, we didn’t turn on the lights but set about creeping round the room in the dark, whispering and occasionally shining a torch so we could actually see what we were doing (we have to make our beds after all). Soon the French guy on the bottom bunk started rolling around and groaning and moaning so loudly before thrashing his hands around and putting the sheet over his head. Obviously we all cracked up and couldn’t hold in the laughter, it was so funny! We were all trying to snigger and laugh silently and it ends up sounding like a hiss. I can still picture the moment now, absolutely hilarious! Whether the noises were sleep noises or an effort to try and make us be quieter we can’t quite decide, but perhaps we’ll find out in the morning…

Today I bizarrely woke up at 6am and went outside the room and happened to whiteness the most AMAZING sun rise ever. It was so beautiful with the different colours spreading and filtering accross the sky!

After going back to sleep for a couple more hours, or even more than that, it was 10 when we all woke up, we got the second public bus (as we missed the first) and headed into town.
On arriving at Horseshoe Bay we went into the general store to try and buy some food in order to make us a light, cheap lunch, however it was all SO expensive. It was actually cheaper for us to get the beach pack fish and chips… So that’s what we did – so yummy!
After a couple of hours sunbathing and swimming in the sea pool, we decided to be adventurous and went tubing! This is where you sit in rubber rings attached to a speed boat by a rope and then it pulls you along out at sea.

Juliet didn’t want to do it, but this meant that we had our own private photographer! Tubing was so much fun, the boat went so fast and as we were in separate tubes we all bumped into each other as we whizzed along the waves, our tubes jumping over them. At one point, Katie and I were both miles out to sea on either side with Emily in the middle and as the boat turned, we both whizzed into the middle, hitting Emily and forcing her tube to slide upwards and she fell off!!!

She was such a great sport and we could see her laughing hysterically while bobbing around in the water! (I would have not been as calm about flipping off as her!) Once she was back on the tube, we carried on our adventure through the waves, laughing the whole way!
After our tubing fun, Juliet and Emily then went Jetskiing around the harbour. It was hilarious as the man must have given them a safety talk for about two hours! But finally they were whizzing away from the bay, taking selfies as they went!
With a quick stop at the super market on the way home, we bought our ingredients and then Juliet and Emily made us delicious spaghetti bolognaise for dinner! Also a weird Australian looking ferret joined us, I know it’s a possum and I think these are Australia’s versions of squirrels… So basically they’re everywhere.

Emily also bought a cheesecake and when we went back to get it, the kitchen was locked! We basically all cried however reception was kind and saw our dismay over lost cheesecake and opened up the doors for us! (Unfortunately the cheesecake was very disgusting… But it was hilarious nevertheless) After a calm evening in the hostel bar listening to old school music and then star gazing on the beach, we finally called it a night and passed out in bed from the exhaustion of today!

Today we boarded the Greyhound bus after a delicious breakfast of scrambled eggs on toast and travelled for five hours to Townsville.
On arrival we all took our time going to the bathroom and buying food, so much so that we actually missed the ferry and so had a 2 hour wait for the next one. Great start.
Finally once we arrived at Magnetic Island we were so happy, we’d flicked through the Maggie travel guide and discovered that tonight there was a famous market in town and tomorrow there is lots all around the market for us to explore! We felt like we were on a mini holiday break!
Once we’d finally arrived off the public bus at our hostel (with a very rude bus driver, who we actually ended up apologising to about having to put our bags in the boot) checking in, and doing a load of washing, we boarded the public bus again and off we went to the market.
Before I explain about the market I just need to comment on how fab our hostel is! It’s huge and clean, right on the beach with a massive pool and we’re just over the river staying in little huts! So cool.

When we arrived at the market (after a very long bus journey with another grumpy bus driver) we actually burst out laughing at the sight. Unfortunately, apparently Easter weekend took a lot out of the market sellers so only three were actually there today. The worlds worst / smallest market!

Let’s just say it didn’t take us long to get round the market and even though the jewellery on sale was beautiful, obviously there wasn’t much of it! So our high hopes we’re swiftly ruined. We then had dinner and when we arrived back at our beautifully clean hostel, there were possums in the kitchen area eating rubbish and our room is filled with ants.

After a lot of jumping and screaming I think we’ve managed to kill them all (thank god)!

However we have just realised that the whole room shakes whenever someone walks past on the boardwalk. We’re unbelievably tired and are ready for an early night, how much sleep we’ll get after all this is another question!!

day 1
Today we set off on an adventure, we walked from the hostel to the pier in order to board The Hammer our sailing boat, home for a night and vessel to explore the Whitsundays. However today it should definitely be renamed WETsundays as it literally poured buckets all day.
As we left Airlie beach, we had a briefing in the downstairs cabin where everyone’s tiny bunks are, before sitting up on deck and meeting the captain of The Hammer. When it started to pour we were just arriving at the Whitsundays and obviously didn’t want to sit inside the cabin, so got some very sexy yellow rain jackets, put our hoods up and prepared to get very wet at sea!

Soon we arrived at our first snorkeling site and thankfully the rain had momentarily stopped. We all suited up in stinger suits to avoid pain if we got stung, picked our snorkels (and noodles to float on) and got into the sea.
There was an unbelievable amount of fish in the sea it was crazy! As we swam around it felt as if we were swimming through schools of fish and they were beautiful, an array of bright colours and designs. There were also massive massive fish hanging around the engine, and when I say massive I mean huge – 70-80cm long black fish which change sex! So crazy. When we got back on board, lunch was waiting for us and a very needed afternoon snooze on deck. The rain started up again a bit later on and while most people went snorkelling for the second time, we set about exploring the boat (which turns out to be a racing boat) and it’s different features. This also entailed taking millions of photos in different sailing positions around the boat!

After that as the boat is a racing boat we whizzed through the sea with both sails up, and with a snack of hot nachos, prepared for us by the crew, we arrived at our docking destination for the night. We were absolutely exhausted and so after lots of games of cards on deck with the captain (who won every game unfortunately…), star gazing, and a scrummy dinner of roast chicken (unbelievable how they cook it all in the tiny cabin kitchen!) we went to bed in our little boat beds.

day 2
After a surprisingly good sleep on the tiny little boat beds, we were woken up by the sound of the engine and the light streaming through the cabin window… At 6.30am! (Not that the time mattered after our very early night) Our first stop was Whitehaven beach, the most famous beach in the Whitsundays. We all boarded the boats dingy and sailed over to the beach. When we arrived we were SO disappointed, it was tiny and covered in grey coral and seaweed. THANKFULLY we were all mistaken and this wasn’t actually the beach.. Whoops. We took a fifteen minute hike up to the Whitsundays view point and looked over the amazing sand islands and mountains. (And I bumped into a friend from home!) After this we walked to the ACTUAL Whitehaven beach and it was amazing! Unbelievable white sand and clear waters and the sky was brilliantly blue! (We were so happy)

After a few hours here we went back to the boat for a lunch of homemade quiche! (Seriously it was incredible what they cooked on the boat!). After this, the crew of The Hammer hoisted it’s bright blue and yellow striped spinnaker (it’s the only boat in the Whitsundays to have one) and we sailed so fast around the islands.

After a quick swim in the sea and a very long sunbathe we arrived back at Airlie Beach. It’s said that at the Whitsundays you take only photos and leave only footprints, we definitely left footprints all over the beach but we also left a lot more red than when we went! It’s so amazing to have experience the beautiful islands of Australia, in all weather conditions and with my best travelling friends.

After a big night out last night, with a lot of partying we were not happy about our 7am alarm this morning. But we got up like the troopers we are, and are packed and ready to go and explore the WHITSUNDAYS! It rained obsessively last night so fingers crossed that means we’ll be blessed with a clear sky over these next two days (I’ve literally got all ten fingers and toes crossed). For those of you who don’t know, the Whitsundays are 74 island wonders located in the heart if the Great Barrier Reef. They’re meant to be the most beautiful thing that Australia has to offer, so I hope I see them in all their glory!!
More blogs will follow when I’m back in two days time.

Yesterday after a very windy day at the beach, wave jumping in the sea and a free glass of white wine with our lunch, we boarded the overnight bus to travel to Airlie beach… FOR TEN HOURS.
It was an awful journey, with the bus stopping twice at service stations and the lights coming on, a very loud interruption by the radio in the middle of the night, cramped seats, no space and temperatures switching between sweaty hot and shivering cold. HOWEVER at 7am we finally made it to Arilie beach, a cool town with a busy hostel street and lots of shops. We have a room just for the four of us with an en suit and a mini kitchen and a massive pool in the hostel, not that this matters because tomorrow morning we are off to THE WHITSUNDAYS! We will be sailing around in a sail boat for two days, sleeping on the boat and then we have one night in a hostel there as well. We’re all so excited and thankfully the sun is slowly making it’s way out of the clouds! ☀️☀️☀️

I also want to say a massive well done to my beautiful sister who has FINALLY finished her dissertation! Love you Charlie xxxx