LAUREN
Day 1
Waking up for a 5.30am start in Athens to catch our ferry over to Paros, we jumped in the taxi bus Scott had organised the night before.

Sunday mornings are for some reason very busy (think it may have been related to the church-goers from what people were saying), so what would have taken 20 mins normally took us about an hour. It was organised chaos with all the traffic and very greek with the honking and tooting and random short cuts. We were happy sitting in our air-conditioned bus and our taxi man took us to the doorstep of the ferry with time to spare.

We had cappucino freddos on the ferry (Scott and I would continue to have one every day as so delicious) and amused ourselves by playing presidents and a******s (card game).

We arrived at Panos studios, which was a gorgeous traditonal greek style building and super close to the port and old town.

Down to the beach in the afternoon after a feed for our first swim of the trip, and of course the first tanning sesh. Sand was yellow and the water blue and refreshing.

Day 2 Scooter day!!!!
How hard is it to hire a scooter in Paros? As we discovered, very hard! We were turned away by multiple vendors because the boys had international drivers licences' that didnt clear them for driving a scooter. Or it seemed many had scooters but would not hire to us for 1 day. Most of the vendors didn't want our business at all, which seemed a bit backwards to us and a bit frustrating.
Scott had spoken to a scooter hire place on the beach the day before so we went to try there as the last resort. This place too was reluctant to rent us a scooter. After a bit of luck and showing our aussie drivers licence they finally agreed. Louise and Blake scootered off on the adventure round the island, agreeing to meet us at the first stop, pounta beach- about half an hour away.

Scott wanted to take his kitsurfing gear on our ventures around the island as there were a few well known kitesurfing beaches (especially pounta beach-our first stop). So Scott and I went back to Panos studios and tried to make the kitesurfing gear fit on the scooter with the both of us. Mina, the owner of Panos studios lent Scott some rope to tie his board on the front part of the scooter, while I wore a backpack and Scott a front pack. Success! I was nervous about scootering with such a a lot of gear, but Mina assurred us in her cute greek accent 'is ok, is ok' and to go 'slow slow'. Wise words. Later on at another stop another kitesurfer laughed when she saw Scott's geat piled on the scooter saying 'it is very greek'.

We met up with Lou and Blake at Pounta beach who had been having a swim and a tan.
The wind wasnt strong enough for Scott to go kitesurfing unfortunately. We all jumped back on the scooters and made our way to the next stop golden bay, which took about 45 mins. We all had pretty sore bums from that leg!!
Golden beach was packed. We had lunch at the beach bar. I had a spinach pie, Lou a chicken wrap, Blake pesto pasta and Scott a souvlaki plate.
No wind here either for Scott kite.

Next stop was Santa Maria beach. This was just a quick stop and swim in the beautiful blue green water to cool off. Scott again disappointed by the lack of wind. We had been told that there was a drop in wind expected until wedneday (which is when we were leaving paros to go to santorini). Scott was dissapointed by this news! The town Nauossa at the top of the island was our last stop where we got a drink, a cappucino freddo and quick bite. By the time we got there if was about 5 30pm and we were all a bit weary from spending the day on a scooter. So off we went, back to Panos studios.

The last leg of the trip definitely tested our scooters horsepower! Flat and downhill roads and even some small hills were fine, but when it came to a big hill towards the end, Blake and Lou's pink scooter carked it mid way up. Scott and my red scooter made it- but barely. Was chugging along at 5 clicks. Luckily pinky was kickstarted again and we got home about 6ish.

That night we were going out for dinner. Blake and Scott took the scooters to get some cash exchanged from the bank and then to return them. After an hour, the boys hadnt returned and Lou called Blake to see where they were. They came home about 5 mins later, walking up the driveway with Blake holding a pack of serviettes.

Poor Blake had a scooter accident. He was ok- had some gravel graze on both hands and 1 elbow. Luckily he had been wearing shoes (he had changed last minute from thongs) and had only been going about 15 k/hr. Lucky also that we are all first aid trained and Lou and I got some stuff from the pharmacy to fix him up.

Had a late dinner about 10pm (very european) and off to bed. Tomorrow I had booked in an all day cruise with Captain Ben around Antiparos.

Day 3
Sail with Captain Ben around Antiparos. What a great way to spend the day! There were about 50 people on board captain Bens. A sun lounge was reserved for the 4 of us on the top deck at the back which was a good spot as we also had the seating at the back of the boat.
We cruised off from Pounta beach at 10am. The wind had actually picked up from yesterday and there were many kites out. Scott looked a bit heartbroken he couldn't go off and kite, but we had a great day ahead.

We had 5 stops in total, the blue lagoon, a cliff jumping spot, docked up on a beach for lunch, a naturual rock archway swimmimg spot and anothe beach.

We all did some boat jumping and cliff jumping at the different spots. One cliff jump was 6 metres that we all jumped. Lou jumped off the boat with her sunnies on her head at one point, but luckily got them back pretty quick from the water!

The beach we stopped at for lunch had some straw hatched umbrellas, sun lounges chairs and paddle boards and tennis balls. We had a few games and lounged in the sun.
Captain Ben brought out ouzo, wine and grilled octopus for snacks, and then lunch was provided back on the boat which was souvlaki plates.

We cruised back into the port about 5pm.
The wind was still up so Lou and Blake went back to chill out at Panos studios while Scott and I went on the mission to hire another scooter so Scott could make it to pounta Beach for a kite session.
Sucess!!First kitesurfing sesh of the trip in Pounta while the sun was setting.
Lou and Blake went to Nouassa town for dinner that night, which we didnt get to join them, but seemed like a very cute little tourist town.

Day 4
Scott and I went for a morning kite sesh back to Pounta. The wind wasnt really there but he got about 40minutes or so in. I chilled out on the beach while reading 'Everybody lies' until time to go. We headed back on the scooter to meet up with Lou and Blake and catch the afternoon ferry to Santorini. Lou and Blake had been wandering around the old town admiring the souvenirs and trinkets and fun things to buy.
It greatly amused us that the ferry was late and the only way people were updated of this was via a chalkboard at the information centre. Most people wait at the cafes and dont even see this chalk board. Very greek.
The ferry arrived in its greek time and we were off to Santorini!!

Total injuries: 3
blake scooter mishap, louise bruise from the bed, my blister on my toe from my thongs (these things come in 3 so we are done for the trip touch wood)

Sunsets watched: 3

People burnt from the boat trip: 4