first i need to start by apologising to dad for the conversation in the last blog regarding my underwear, or lack of.........didn't mean to embarass you dad sorry!

OK so onto what we did next........well we had the start of an absolutely amazing day that turned out to be rubbish!lol! So, Wednesday 10th March Katie and i were up early and ready to get on the Oz Experience bus at 6.45am. We had already made a couple of friends by the time the bus and driver, Disco, turned up. The bus was to take us to our next destination Mission Beach, stopping for a couple of activities along the way. It was absolutely chucking it down outside but everyone seemed to be in good spirits, and after managing to get the front seats on the bus, i was too as was not worrying about travel sickness....result.

First stop along the way was Babinda Boulders which is a site just outside the town of Babinda. Babinda is the town that won the coveted gold wellington boot trophy for being the wettest town in Oz last year, something they are very proud of.........and true to form, it rained the whole time that we were there! On arrival, it was about a 10-15minute rainforest walk to the site of the Boulders.......and what a sight it was! Absolutely gorgeous, probably one of the nicest views so far. It is basically a gorge of fast flowing water, with massive boulders in it and sieves and troughs throughout making it very dangerous for swimming in. There is a very old and intriguing myth behind the site of Babinda's Boulders which has suprisingly scary statistics to back it up...............if you want to know the story then ask and i will explain when i get home but i won't bopre everyone with the details now.

After we left Babinda Boulders we all sat and had a chat with Disco about how the Oz Experience works and the processes to go through with it. Then we made the 40minute drive to Innisfail and a crocodile farm. We were greeted here on our bus by Jayne who had with her a baby crocodile called Fluffy! We were advised that for a reduced fee of $18 we could go on a tour of the crocodile farm and hold some of the critters that they have there. First off we all had something to eat and then held some of the animals. I held Fluffy and then had a snake called Monty put round my neck just long enough to have a photo....i could not have lasted any longer and had him taken away straight away.....not an experience i would like to relive, but hey at least i got photographic evidence!

After this despite the rain we all went out into the farm and we given talks and shown cassowaries (the australian bird that i spoke about in my last blog), dingoes and crocodiles all in enclosures, and also had emu's and wallabies (skippies) wandering around where we were also walking! We were allowed to feed the wallabies by hand which was really cool, they were very cute. Damien our tour guide then showed us some of the crocodiles feeding and how they can be aggressive, and why you never stand at the side of a crocodile (they can swing their head and tail round so fast it could kill you!)! We got some incredible photo's and a couple of video's of this, and were also given a demonsrtation of how quick and hard a croc's bite is, with the help of someone on our tours cap!lol!

I'm sad to say that this is as much as i saw of the tour as it was at this point that i decided to faint! Unfortunately, i remember everything that happened and felt like a prize idiot! The people at the crocodile farm were absolutely incredible..........you do not meet people like that everyday. I knew straight away that i had hurt my ankle badly and they got they're truck down to take me back up to the main entrance where they persuaded me that i needed to go to a & e. I did not want an ambulance and so Doug who worked there very kindly agreed to drive us to the hospital. The most worrying thing was that the bus needed to leave without us, but we were assured that our transport would be sorted and so not to worry. Once at a & e, Doung got us all registered and through triage and then gave us his number and said to call when we came out. A couple of hours later (yes soooooo much qquicker than the 4 hour wait just to be seen in the UK) and i had been seen by a nurse, a medical student, a doctor, been x-rayed and was on my way out with torn ligaments in my ankle and crutches for about 7 days! Rubbish but at least it was not broken!

Doug came back and picked us up from the hospital, taking us back to the crocodile farm with the news that Oz Experience had said the best they could do transport wise was get us on the bus the next day. This was not good enough for Doug and amazingly told us that he had a lift for us to Mission Beach all sorted for in a few hours. Well we waited at the crocodile farm with the manager Andrew, despite the fact that they had closed, and we witnessed the most torrential rain i have ever seen in my life, apparently quite normal for this area. Anyway, at about 6.30pm a car arrived for us, it was Doug's parents who lived about 15minutes from Mission Beach and had soooooo kindly agreed to give us a lift. They were incredibly nice people and would not accept any payment at all! So about 7.15pm we arrived very relieved and tired at Absolutely Backpackers Hostel in Mission Beach. Our bags were here ready and waiting and the people who run it were amazingly friendly and welcoming too, our bags were put in our rooms for us, i was helped up the stairs and we were pointed in the right direction for the closest distance to hobble for some much needed dinner!

One stir-fry burger, an emotional phonecall home and 2 german female room-mates (who were really nice) later and i was definately ready for bed! By far the most tiring day so far!