Right guys we are going to get you up to speed with out oz trip as we only have 7 days then we're off to new zealand woohoo! so we will go from airlie beach where we took our 3 day sialing trip round the whitsunday islands.

our sailing trip round the whitsunday islands was absolutely amazing. the ship was beautiful and there were only 16 of us and 3 crew on board. luckily we had a great group and we all got on really well. one guy was from lewes, how crazy is that? the
snorkelling was actually on the fringing reefs of the old great barrier, but were still awesome and me and ed swam with green and hawksbill turtles, which made me nearly cry. we followed one for about 20 minutes. some of the fish were amazing so colourful and unique, unfortunately we didnt see 'nemo' but saw a 'dory' yay! the food on borad was really good and we did loads of stargazing in the evening as the skipper told us loads about the southern stars - i really dont know if i've ever seen so many. also we didnt get to sail until the 3rd day as the weather was just so great - but it was
fabulous to see the ships sails up and we got up to abut 7.5 knotts and she
was zipping along. we walked to some beautiful look outs across the different islands and swimming in the water was great because it was crystal clear. it really was an experience we will cherish as we met some great people and had a brilliant time, but also got to learn about australian heritage and different bits and bobs too. now back in airlie beach we made the most of the sunshine as we explained how rubbish the weather was on fraser island. theres was a lovely bicentennial coastal walk, that takes you round the marina and some of the boats are amazing and there isn't a beach but a nice lagoon area where you can sunbathe and swim.

after airlie we went to magnetic island where we worked for 3 hours a day in order to get free accommodation. we decided that we wanted to do another barrier reef trip a bit further up so would save for a week. the island was beautiful but the weather left a lot to be desired. we went on a lot of bush walks though and saw wombats, possums, snakes, huge spiders and all sorts - scary at times but was good fun to explore the forests etc. we also went to as koala village and fed wallabys held large birds, baby croc, blue tongued lizards and a huge carpet python. the bays were beautiful here. we actually met the manager of our hostel on our boat so on the last night we went to a real house, a real house everyone and sat on a real homely sofa and were treated pizza, was bliss!

next stop cairns. here we went on another trip to the reef the water was very choppy this day but swam with more turtles saw a species of the nemo family but not the real deal - very dissapointed, but saw these amazing huge giant clams, if you waved a hand over them they opened and closed - cool! we also took a trip over the rainforest in a cable car and literally were skimming the amazing scenery. at the top we explored an aboriginal town called kuranda then took a scenic train down past some amazing water falls and the like. it was a really beautiful day the sheer size and expanse of the rainforest made us feel so small and insignificant!

now we have done the whole of the east coast and flew from cairns right down to melbourne, we will let you know how it goes here but the city is really cool, very arty and sporty which suits us both well and is just a great place to hang out. hope all is well at home, love to all...

until next time on the adventures of hayley and ed

bye x x x x x x