Hello from Cairns and my last day in Australia...

Since being in Airlie Beach I have travelled to several other places including by far my favourite palce in Australia, Magnetic Island. I left Airlie Beach with Kate and Philippa and after the bus ride got the ferry across to the island. We had heard that there was not much to do there but I instantly fell in love with the place, it was stunning. So after staying our agreed 2 nights I decided to stay longer by myself and moved to a different hostel at the north of the island. The dorms were set next to an animal conservation park which often meant that all you could hear were the sound of birds. The hostel was by far the most peaceful place i have been since travelling which is exactly what I needed after quite a bit of time spent partying.

While on Magnectic Island I decided to take some of the walks through the national park to find the many different bays and beaches. The walk turned out to be almost an hour climb over rocks each way but Balding and Radical bay were beautiful. On the first day I went there I didn't see another person on the beach for 4 hours which was insane and I was in paradise! I could have stayed there for a lot longer than i did but spent an amazing 4 days lying on pristene beaches in the blistering sunshine... what more could you want?

When I finally left Magnetic Island I headed back on the ferry across to the mainland and to Townsville. I had heard that there was not much to do there but I happened to turn up on the day the towns fair was on and spent an entire day looking around that. Someone had also told me that it was worth climbing Castle Hill to watch the sunset. From the town the rock does look huge but I figured the walk couldn't be that bad. It really was. The walking track was so steep I couldn't quite believe that the massive ridges were supposed to be steps. I thought I was going to die, and have realised that spending this long without doing exercise is not good! So after the 10,000 steps to the top I watched the sunset whilst trying to remember how to breathe!

After spending one more day in Townsville the next stop was Mission Beach. Unfortunatly the weather was terrible and unless you were paying to go on a trip somewhere there was little else to do. I decided to take a walk down the beach to the lookout which actually took 2 hours each way. Because of the cloud the view wasn't great but at least I can say I've done some exercise! On our second night in Mission Beach we did have a bonfire on the beach which was pretty cool even if I did fall over a log and graze all of my leg!

After Mission Beach it was time to take the last Oz Experience bus journey up the coast and head to Cairns. On the way our bus stopped at a crocodile farm which was cool. The keepers were insane though and got in the pens with huge crocs and were poking them with bamboo sticks before dangling a chicken right into their mouths. At one point they fed them a whole pigs head which was frankly disgusting and made the most horrendous noise. Whilst there we also got to hold a very doppy dingo and feed some kangaroos which are the last one I was to see in Australia.

We got back on the bus and made it up to Cairns by the evening. The first thing I tried to do was track down Allison who I had planned to meet up with, but in a hostel of 700 rooms with a receptionist who wouldn't tell me which one she was in, I had a bit of trouble. When I finally caught up with her she told me that she was planning on leaving Cairns the following morning to head further north to Port Douglas and I decided to go with her. So my very brief stop in Cairns consisted of one nights crazy partying which resulted in me getting to bed at 5am and having to get up at 9 to get a bus north.

For such an impromptu trip we were lucky to find that we had arrived in Port Douglas at the start of the towns' carnival. That night we went to see the street parade, went to the fair, ate cotton floss and watched the fireworks and I had so much fun. Unfortunatly at the hostel our room mate didn't make the evening quite as fun and came home drunk and started smoking in the room which was not cool. Our second night was even worse as we came home to find beer had been spilt all over the floor of our room, a guy had thrown up all over the floor outside our door and our roomate was passed out with a guy butt-naked in the room. Oh how I love living in hostels!

So apart from our crazy roomate, me and Allison spent a very chilled 4 days in Port Douglas. Thanks to the carnival there was entertainment on every evening and during the day we spent our time either on the beach or by the pool. On out 4th day we decided it was time to see something else so we rented a car and decided we would head further north across the Daintree river and up to Cape Tribulation.

On the first day of our road trip we drove to Mossman gorge before stopping at several beaches on the drive up. At one point we pulled into a residental area and got out to have a walk around which is where we foud Rocky Point. We hadn't planned to stop there but seeing that beach alone was worth the money we payed to rent the car; it was spectacular. The beach strecthed on for miles and had big whirl pools in the sand with crystal clear water in the distance. We were the only people down there and it was incredible.

By the end of our first day we had crossed the Daintree river, stopped in the village, stopped at an ice-cream factory and went to Alexander lookout from which you can see the part of the reef where Steve Urwin died. We finally made it up to Cape Tribulation just in time to check in to our hostel before reception closed. Staying in Cape Trib was certainly a good experience but it was very remote and surrounded by rainforest so unfortunatly the mosquito's got me again!

On our second morning we got back in the car and headed straight to Coconut beach where we spent most of the morning lying in the sun. It was a really hot day, so although we stopped to see a few more sights we ended back at Mossman Gorge where we swam for a good few hours. In the evening I drove us back to Port Douglas and we decided to check into a different hostel where we threw our bags done and went straight to sleep. The road trip was awsome but so tiring.

We decided to spend another 2 days in Port Douglas ,just because we loved it so much, before we took a bus back down to Cairns for our final 4 nights in Australia. When we got back to Cairns it was a Saturday and so decided to go on the ultimate party bus which turned out to be epic! the double-deck bus took us on a bar crawl all around the city with over 150 people on it. During the night they played loads of games. Allison played the first one and won so got to chose a prize. We figured it would be a free drink but they told her all the things she could do like bungy jumps, rafting, diving etc which were all worth nearly $200! She chose river rafting for her last day here. After that, and after some pushing from Allison I ended up on stage and in a contest which I won! I got a trip to the Great Barrier Reef for a full days sailing and snorkling which was worth $130!!!

So after our crazy nights bar crawl, we spent most of the following day chilling and wondering around the city. Unfortunatly the lagoon is closed in Cairns for renovation but there is plenty of shops to be looked around! I decided to book my trip for Monday and got to the harbour at 7am that day. It was one of the best days I have had in Australia! We sailed out to Michalmas Cay which was basically a beach in the middle of the reef and it was beautiful. There was the option to dive but I decided to stick to snorkling. Swimming on the Great Barrier reef is indescribable! The coral was bright purple and blue in parts and I saw fish of every colour. I saw nemo's and fish that were bright turquoise. Unfortunatly I didn't see a turtle and other people on my boat did so I w as a bit gutted about that but I did see a small shark swim past!!! The day was absoltuly incredible and made even better by the platters of seafood which we were given for lunch!

Today is my last day in Australia and tomorrow I am leaving to fly out to New Zealand! I have had the best time here and am going to miss all the beautiful beaches and sunny weather. I've had some great adventures and let's hope there's more to come!

Lots of love xxx