Howdie Peeps!

Hows tricks back home? Well, im officially a traveller again! Left the luxury of my city apartment and a wardrobe and am now living out of a bag again!

Leaving the apartment was somewhat stressful actually, after arguing with the eeeevil midget brazilian landlord 'Gustavo', who basically kicked me out a day early, I trundled off to Kangaroo point to live with my mates Jen and John for my final week in brizzy. Forgot what a luxury it is to have a wardrobe and shelves though, and when packing up my stuff i seem to have aquired an extra bag from somewhere.... god knows how!

Anyway - final week in Brizzy was good, caught up with my roomate Corinna who ill really miss! Germany has gone up in my estimations now! haha! And ill defo be popping over to Cologne for a visit! We went out for my 'BIG' farewell night out on Friday... wooo wooo!! Everyone was up for a party and me and Jen were definitely eager to bust some moves on the dancefloor. Ended up going to this really funky bar called Fridays on the waterfront which was really nice and full of trendy types! There we were supping $5 happy hour burnt orange cosmos...yum! ... Corinna came to meet us later on (prob into my 4th or 5th cosmo, intermixed with some wine!).... all got a bit emotional, and then a sofa seemed to come into the equation and the next thing you know theres me out for the count... and there is some rather unattractive photographic evidence which i think jen and john are keeping for bribery situations! I said to John the next day, 'why didnt you wake me!', and apparently he had, and i had told him to F*** off in no uncertain terms and promptly rolled back over and fell asleep for the next hour! Well that about sums up my last night out in brisbane! God im soooo hard core! Saturday, I packed up the rest of my things and Jen and i went for lunch before i headed off to the airport. Must admit when it came down to it was pretty sad to leave brisbane, had actually got quite settled there! Wont be the same when i go back there as Jen and John will have gone by then ... but hopefully Corinna will still be there!

So ... anyway - here I am now in Cairns, Its a cool place, very touristy and centred largely around backpackers... to be honest if you're not here to party, then theres not much else to do really! But am enjoying supping up the warmer weather and gradually re-aquanting myself with the backpacking lifestyle! Checked into a hostel called Gilligans, which is this all singing, all dancing hostel, come bar, come club, come restaurant... come waaaay too much if you ask me! My room was full of party party 18yr olds, but they all seemed nice. Pretty much just dumped my stuff and then went straight out on saturday night, met up with Nick and Claire (Nicks my mate from Melbourne and Claires his girlfriend). Was great to catch up with them again as hadnt seen them for a couple of weeks since they passed through brizzy. Had a couple of vino's whilst they updated me on their campervan drama's and then James, Joe and Rich came and met us. Was great to see the guys again... have really missed them since travelling in the camper with them. Joe's girlfriend from home has come out to stay with him for a few weeks, so not really seen him since that night - but have caught up with Richie Rich a few times which has been nice. Was strange seeing James again, bit awkward really - but then i dont actually know him really i guess, unlike the guys.

Spent the next couple of days chilling out by the lagoon - Cairns doesnt really have a beach, but it has a man made pool and beach area which is really nice and they often have live music down there so its really chilled. Decided to book onto the Uncle Brians tour for the Tuesday... didnt know too much about it, but everyone i've met has recommended it to me so i decided to trust their judgement and go for it. Was feeling a bit down, and then as soon as i got on this tour i felt sooo much better! The whole day was fantastic. Its hard to explain it without it sounding really lame, i guess you had to be there... but its like a theme day and we spent the day with Cousin Kye (our tour guide) and gus the bus.... and the whole day we sang songs and played games. It was absolutely freeeezing and i had shorts and a tshirt on, pretty much the entire day was centred around swimming! I thought sod it, lets just get in, so despite the fact that the water was more than a little 'refreshing' me and a couple of others braved it! whilst the rest of the tour group looked at us like we had gone completely insane! Was great fun though, sliding down the waterfalls, and visiting these gorgeous spots in the rainforest and surrounding atherton tablelands - all in all a good day! Met a couple of irish girls on the trip who were great fun, and arranged to meet them in the bar that night... was a bit of a night to be honest! .... You paid $10 and got 5 drinks, i had 3 bourbon and cokes and then decided it would be a fab idea to switch to red wine... well thats about all i remember! I do remember having a massive argument with James, although i cant remember what i said. Do remember he wasnt very happy though! Ooops! Oh well, 99.9% sure he deserved it!

Anyway me, Lydia and Lisa the 2 irish girls from the uncle brians tour headed to the woolshed a local backpacker haunt which no doubt Dawn and Donna remember from their travels!! Well dont remember any of that, except i danced a lot!! Ended up losing the girls, am gutted as they were great fun but dont have their email or phone numbers

Was feeling a little sheepish on the wednesday and decided needed some time by myself so booked a trip up to CapeTribulation (nr the top of oz). I left the next morning (thursday). Was one of the best parts of my trip! Got there on Thursday afternoon and pretty much straight away i was picked up for jungle surfing - were you went flying through the rainforest canopy on a zip wire! Was fantastic! A lot of screaming was involved on my part as im not the best with heights, but it was well worth it and something ill definitely remember!... the highly unflattering video footage that was taken - should give you all a good giggle, cant get it on my blog for some reason, but it is on facebook!! That night i went on a night safari, which was really cool. Went back into the rainforest looking for wildlife. Learnt loads about the plants, saw a python, huntsman spider, a type of dragon, tree frogs and more. Not many pics of this trip though as it was difficult to take pics in the dark.

Friday morning went out on a trip to the great barrier reef. We went on a boat called Rum Runner - the only boat to depart from Cape tribulation, wereas over 60 boats depart daily from Cairns. Cape trib is one of the best places to visit the reef as it is less frequented and better preserved. The trip didnt dissapoint! I did a scuba dive which was great, but actually saw more on the snorkelling. Unfortunately didnt see turtles or reef sharks.. .or even a Nemo! ... but did see lots of other fishies! I bought a cover for my camera which allows you to take it snorkelling so managed to get some snaps! Was difficult though as couldnt really see what i was taking pics of, was just kind of pointing and hoping for the best! Unfortunately the weather was a bit s***, which wasnt a major issue but it does affect the colours and visibility under water. The colour of the coral wasnt as vibrant as it sometimes is, and there was a lot of cloudiness due to sediments being unsettled by the rough seas. Had a great day though and definitely lived up to my expectations. Cape tribulation really is a truly beautiful place, with the rainforest literally coming right up to the sea. It is the only place in the world were 2 world heritage sites overlap - the rainforest and the reef. Come Saturday I didnt want to leave as i loved it soo much, and part of me wishes i hadnt, but there wasnt much else to do there really so im back in Cairns again now, staying in a different hostel though... the trauma of gilligans bed bugs (yeah im head to toe in bites...and once again people i'm on anti - histemenes as all my legs, arms and back have swollen up ...ouch! ) and the awful morning when i was woken at 5am but some suspect activity going on on the bottom bunkbed (i was on the top bunk bed) - which resulted in me spending the rest of night on sofa in lounge! ... traumatised me enough to try somewhere new to stay! Am now in a girls only hostel which is lovely, its like staying in someones home and the woman who owns it is really sweet and remembers everyones name! Have decided I really need to move on though. I Think this arvo im going to go and look at booking my bus ticket down the coast so i can move on with my trip. Really keen to see the Whitsundays and Fraser now - and hopefully get a couple more weeks of work in at the council when im passing back through Brisbane as money just burns in Oz, everythings sooo expensive!

Well guys - guess that'll do for now - once again ive written a novel! Apologies! But hopefully its distracted you from your work for a bit!

Miss you all - send me all your gossip!

Muchos love amigos!

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