Hello all!

So, Mission Beach!

Well after the rather dramatic start to the day on Wednesday, we arrived in a very chilled out hostel (Absolute Backpackers) - beautiful! It was like a resort, so we were very grateful! We got tea across the road - a short hobble for Amber and a stroll over for me, and then pretty much bedtime - it had been a loooonnnnngggg day!

Next morning, I popped to the supermarket (a Woolworths would you believe?!), got some food and then was about to go on a walk (40mins!!) to the beach where the stinger nets are (they aim to keep out the jellyfish - you would be stupid to try and swim in the sea without going in them!) but the hostel manager caught me, said there was a high chance of skydiving being cancelled over the next few days because of the weather and there was only 2 spaces left for that afternoon...so after a quick/stupid decision I decided to just go for it!! I was soooo pleased I did because the rest of the time we were at Mission Beach no one else could jump, so it was lucky really. So within 2 hours of paying a large sum of money I was signing my life away (literally!) at Skydive Australia. The receptionist was ULTRA happy ALL the time...trying to dispel some nerves I think. It did work...a bit! I was still petrified - I think at the time I said I was tetrified - pretty nice new word there - shows how scared I was! So I made friends with the plane load of jumpers (humans not clothing) and met my instructor. He slightly gave the impression he had just found himself outside of the local mental institute, but talking to him, he actually calmed me down alot! He made me laugh a lot, which helped :) He was called Ryan or Speedy...! So before I knew it I was togged up, looking and feeling nervous, and then we went on the short drive to the plane, the whole time being filmed by what felt like the paparazzi (as I had chosen the handicam option which the instructor has and films me on the way down!). So that was fun. Then we were loading onto the plane, I was first on - so almost last to jump. Aaah! We got flying and there was a great view, higher and higher...all the time thinking there is only one way down!! We got to 14,000ft and kept hearing that it might be a 'no go', cue panic! But it turned out ok, we went to a different landing site. We slid along the seat thing, and before I knew it I was on the edge of the plane, only attached to this man! 3, 2, 1 and out of the plane! 60 seconds of the most amazing feeling in the world, freefall - unbelievable!! awesome, scary, exhilirating, crazy, spinning round and round, I can't remember if I screamed but I am sure I did! Then a huge tug upwards as the parachute was released 100% correctly (phew!). AWESOME!!! A gentle glide down to the beach, falling quickly, I steered us down for a time, and then had to look at the horizon so I didn't feel giddy. Legs up, and a smooth, elegant landing!! FANTASTIC!! Even now as I write this I am smiling away... the most amazing feeling ever. My ears took ages to pop, I am still not convinced they are completely right even now! But DEFINITELY worth it! After this, we had to wait ages for our dvds, and eventually I got back to the hostel at half 6. I cooked tea, and re-lived my experience with others.

It was lucky I did jump that day because the day after, one company wasn't jumping at all, and the other company were jumping but only several of the instructors would jump. We spoke to a Scottish girl who had survived a bit of an ordeal, they had gone through 2000ft of cloud, and that wasn't right apparently. The instructor said they would be lucky to get a few broken bones! They had to brace for impact and they landed half an hour away from the beach- very near some crocs and barbed wire fences etc! Crazy, she has been given a free jump further down the coast, and she really wants to do it surprisingly!! I would love to do another one though...we will see if funds allow!

Right, after that crazy day, Friday was chill day, I sat downstairs the whole day and ended up talking to lots of people, having pretty much the same conversations, but I met some lovely people. I cooked tea again, and then bed. It rained a lot this day which was the start of the crazy weather really.

Saturday and we checked out by 10am, picked up by the Oz bus at 1pm. Squatter and Coaster were our drivers/guides and they were great. We stopped at the huge golden gumboot - obligatory photos (there are over 120 huge structures of different things all over oz!) We got the ferry from Townsville over to Magnetic Island (it was so rocky- felt pretty seasick!) and then we got a local bus to the Base Backpackers = paradise! Absolutely beautiful, and a good hostel - more like a resort again. We checked in, got to our cabin - which was miles away - Amber found it really tiring to get all the way up to the cabin and back to the bar for dinner. We met the rest of the oz bus and had tea there. We got to bed, and decided that the next morning we would need to move rooms because we were so far away!

So Sunday morning,I got up at 7am and went for a walk with the driver guides and Olivia - a girl we had met on the ferry the day before) and we walked to Hawks point, 600m up! There were some great views up there, and we felt very energised to have got up and out and up the hill so early in the morning! I asked and we got moved right next door to the bar and there were toilets right next door too so that was much better for Amber. That day we met Gillian - who was coincidentally on our Cape Tribulation tour! We spent a really chilled out day in the bar by the beach, reading, playing cards, eating good food, taking photos and really relaxing! That night we were in an 8 bed dorm - with 6 people who had been following each other for 6 weeks! So I felt we had crashed the party a bit, but they were all lovely, and one guy moved up a bunk so that Amber could have the bottom bunk - I was not letting her climb up!

The next day (Monday) we hired a mini car!! They were amazing, it had only been a week since I had driven and I picked up the mini car (white and pink with a canvas canopy - we had that down!) and I loved it! It was a manual, no power steering but a fantastic fun barbie car! We went out with Gillian, and drove the whole 7k to Horseshoe bay which was gorgeous. It was the other side of the island and there was no choppy waves like round at our hostel, it was beautiful. We sat and chilled and had some food, admiring the view and another mini car turned up - two girls Emma and Nicola arrived, sat at our bench and we got talking! Then half an hour later, Cordy and Hayley (a couple) turned up, came to sit at our bench and we all chatted the whole afternoon! It felt a bit like forest gump! Then Hayley had a funny turn - she fainted, so I ran and got the doctor, panicking - thinking why is this happening to me again?! By the time the doctor got out there (he was old and slow, and very unenthusiastic...!) everyone was laughing, so I felt a bit stupid! Hayley was fine, just now a 'fainter'! After a great afternoon - apart from the blip - we went to a lookout point and at just the right time an old man was feeding the rock wallabies - so we fed them too! Apparently not many Australians have even seen these creatures, so we were really lucky! We left sadly to get the cars back, and got back to the hostel just before it started to rain. We had a few drinks after a BBQ tea, and went to bed, ready to move on to Airlie Beach the next day - which is where we are now!

I shall update you soon!

Lots of love

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