East Coast

Hi everyone, as usual this will prob turn out to be another one of our typically long blogs as we try to fill you in on the whole of the east coast.
Well we started at the top of the coast in Cairns and had already organised our trips for the coast before we left Sydney. Had a little mix up tho as on our first full day in Cairns we were told this would be a trip to the rainforest, so there we were at 7am at our meeting point (happened to be the marina which was kind of a give away) anyway turns out it wasn't actually our day for the rainforest, its was the day for our snorkelling around the great barrier reef!!! so with not many options, we had to by the most dodgiest swim wear from the only shop next door, and got completely ripped off with the price... and if im honest im quite scared of fish anyway :-) !! well if i thought it couldnt get any worse, it could... we then found out, the island we were going to was covered in birds!!! i done myself proud tho, craig thought i wasn't going to be able to get off the boat, but i managed it, by keeping my head looking at the ground!! it also helped with the snorkelling because it was either face the fish or sit with an island full of birds (and I wouldn't just say i don't like birds, its an actual phobia so i think when you see the pictures you'll understand it was quite an achievement :-) I also found out that fish aren't quite as scary as i thought and so the day actually turned out to be really good.
So the following day was actually our rainforest day, didn't turn out too successful either as the first part was a river ride to 'croc watch' but guess what... we didn't see one croc! although apparently the day before they had seen loads! again was still a cool day tho.
Next stop was Airlie Beach where we had a two night party boat trip arranged to go to Whitsunday's. So trying to be sensible and get an early night, we told ourselves that we would just have one drink to see what the town was like and then save ourselves for the boat the next day... didn't really work out like that tho as the first place we walked into, we heard 'craig' across the room and turns out that two of craigs mates, dan and matt from back home were in there!! really is a small world!! so one drink, turned into a few, but was a funny night and really cool to see some people from back home.
So then came our boat trip which was excellent, weather was lovely, met some cool people and had lots of drinking games to entertain ourselves with. We also visited the 'white haven beach' which is voted the 3rd best beach in the world!!!
Next stop was on to a place called 1770, which was really chilled out and cool. We only had 2days here but managed to fit in a scooteroo tour, which was basically about 30 of us driving around for 3hrs on these chopper motorbikes which was wicked, and even spotted a few kangaroos along the way. The next day we booked ourselves on to a surf lesson and i have to admit, craig was a bit of a pro and managed to stand up first time, the show off :-) i think i just made a record for the most number of flips in one go :-) altho i did manage to get up once!! whoo!!
Next we went on to a place called Rainbow Beach, which is where you do a trip to fraser island from. Everyone always says you have to do this trip and we was really looking forward it, its basically 11 of you in your own 4x4 as its a self drive tour and you go on to Fraser Island and camp there for two nights and drive the 4x4's on the beach. There was 33 of us and so we had 3 4x4's, lots of alcohol, food and obviously our tents!! Anyone's allowed to drive the 4x4's and so obliviously we couldn't wait to have a go but first we let the german guy in our group go first... and it was an experience!! oh i forgot to mention that the man who owns the 4x4's checks every little detail and even takes everyone's credit card number before you go, so if you damage the jeep, or anyone else does, you all have no choice in paying..... well, although we was eager to get on the beach and have it in our 4x4's, the tide was in when we got onto the island and so we had to drive down a gravel road for ages, with a million bumps and all our stuff attacthed to the roof rack. well the german guy didn't really understand that his driving was practically making our heads hit the roof and we had to keep looking back to see if our bags were lying in the road, then when someone plucked up the courage to say that we might be driving a tad to fast for the type of road we were on, he replied with 'its fun tho isn't it' :-) (it would have been if we hadn't had to pay for any damages to the jeep) Then we got onto the beach and he slowed down!!! (the beach is meant to be the fun fast part!!) oh and i forgot to mention we did lose a bag on the way and when we shouted stop, i don't think he could actually understand us :-)
So it was definitly time for a driver change and we managed to get to our first stop on the island, which was right at the top called 'indian head' but by then it was blowing a gale and to be honest it really wasn't worth the walk up the cliff to nearly get blown off of it!! The group then decided that as it was starting to rain and get dark because of the weather and so we had better drive to our camp site. So as we pull up to our so called camp site (actually just a bit of grass on the beach!!) its now hammering down with rain and the wind is even worse, which made putting up tents a bit of a nightmare and even worse when we realised we had to try and cook dinner!! so like many other times on our trip, the way forward was to get drunk! so very wet, very drunk and everyone tries to go to bed by mid-night, to then be woken up at 5am with about 3inches of rain in our tent and the cover blown off of it!!! seriously we cant explain how much it rained, it was actually just forming a swimming pool on the ground!! by 6.30am everyone decided we had seen enough of fraser island, oh except for the french girl who wanted to try and cook breakfast even tho we were told to be away from the camp site by 8am at the latest because the tide would come in and you cant drive on a beach with the tide in!! she wasn't really getting this tho!!
So we didn't actually see anything else on fraser island, as we all decided that one night in that weather was definitly enough! although it did get worse before it got better, we then got a flat tyre on the way back from the island to the ferry!! craig, the german and dan came to the rescue tho and we finally made it back onto the ferry and to the mainland!! Although none of us thought it was possible, the weather actually got worse that night and a local told us that a cyclone was on its way!!!
Luckily even tho most places were flooded we got on our bus the next day to head to a place called Noosa, which is where we visited Steve Irwin's zoo. Was really cool and the kangaroos that we're feeding in the pictures, are just hopping around the zoo and you can just go up to them and feed them on your own!!
Nearly there..... next stop was surfers paradise, which people always seem to have mixed views about but personally we really liked it, it does remind you of spain, with all the little sovienor shops, cafes and bars but its even better because your actually in OZ!! only thing is tho, we wanted to go to the water park which is meant to be really good but the bus wasn't on and so we couldn't get there, so we didn't end up doing too much in surfers, except for watching 'the bill' on tv in our dirty room :-)
So then we went on to Byron Bay which is a cool, chilled out place, well until we tried surfing again but on our own this time!! after walking what seemed like miles when your carrying a surf board, to the beach, we picked our spot!! maybe a too adventurous spot for us beginers tho, the waves were MASSIVE!!! and even then we thought that would be better for surfing and didn't take any notice that not one other surfer was in the same part of the sea we us!!! so craig now thinking his a pro, tried first and done about 3 flips whilst falling off, so i decided id swim out a little further on my board and take the next wave... yep not only did i fall straight off but another wave came, pushed me under and scared the life out of me!! that was definitly enough surfing for that day :-)
The next day we went on to a day trip to a place called 'Nimbin' which is full of hippies, young and old, and well, lets just say they like a chilled out lifestyle. The place is tiny and so weird but funny at the same time!! well even more funny if you dare to buy some of there home made cakes :-)
We spent the next few days chilling out around the pool at our hostel and are now finally in Brisbane which is where we catch our flight to singapore on saturday.
Australia has been absolutly brilliant and you cant believe how big it is. It would have been nice to have had longer at certain places but we're really looking forward to SE Asia and hopefully have lots more to tell you about!!
Only 4weeks until we're home now, can't believe how quick it was gone :-( but we're looking forward to seeing you all!!

Lots of love aim and craig xx