The past few weeks have been so much fun! Chelsey and I loved our week with Lauriely and Rob in Airlie beach. After staying with them we spent a few days on a Catamaran going around the Whitsunday Islands which was so much fun! There were 25 of us on the boat and 4 members of staff. We were greeted by the skipper who was dressed in a demin shirt with the sleeves ripped off, no shoes and a top hat! He was great fun! The catamaran had a trampoline on both sides of the main quarters which we could chill out on. After a few hours on the boat we had our first snorkel spot which was awesome. As Chelsey and I were feeling a little delicate from the night before we took floatys with us so we didnt have to do very much! We were given stinger suits to wear because of the risk of being stung by jellyfish. HOWEVER, the suits do not cover your hands and feet so I floated around with my hands and feet out of the water in the air! I must have looked liked such a numpty but I was not going to get stung! The reef was beautiful! Well, I say beautiful, most of it was but some parts look like enlarged brains and to be honest I am not a fan of the brain look. The fish were incredible, they were so colourful and were swimming all around us! My favourite was a fish who reminded me of an ice lolly called 'wham' because of all the colours! There were a few moments when all you could hear was a muffled scream coming out of our snorkels because we had just swam near a huge fish! When we got back onto the boat Chelsey thought it was a great idea to jump off the boat, so of course my heart starts racing and I become a fearful wreck! After about 20 minutes of standing there one of the crew came towards us to push me off, so before he got there I grabbed chelseys hands and jumped!

The rest of the day was spent driving to our evening spot, on the way we stopped for another snorkel where we thought we might be able to see turtles. Unfortunately all we saw was murky water whilst battling the current so that we didnt get swept around the corner! Everyone enjoyed a few ciders on a small island before jumping back on the boat. So by this point we had been on the boat for about 6 hours and I had fallen over 3 times! All elegence went out the window after that, I was grabbing hold of anything and everything when I needed to get around the boat, I even took too crawling at one point (this was after I had fallen and faceplanted a guys crutch, needless to say I did not want to experience that embarrassment again!).

That evening was great fun, we all sat around on the trampolines and had dinner and played games! The following day we were all up at 5am to get the boat moving and go for another snorkel. I think I can say that this was not Chelseys favourite morning as she spent the majority of her morning spewing over the side of the boat, this awkawardly gave me the histerics because everytime she was sick the fish were having a feast and it was all cleared up in just a few seconds! I didn't just laugh at Chelsey I did supply her with water, towels, etc all day :) We had another snorkel that morning and then went to Whitehaven beach. Whitehaven beach is 7km long and is known for its white sands. The sand consists of 98% pure silica which gives it a bright white color. Local rocks do not contain silica so it has been suggested that the sands were brought to the beach via prevailing sea currents over millions of years. We could clean our jewellery with the silica, exfoliate and clean our teeth, although we didnt try that one. However, we did lick a green ants bum because we were told that it tastes of lime! Whilst we were at this beach we were able to stand in the water and watch sting rays swim past us! Un real!

That evening we went on a hillside walk to see some aboriginal art work and then it was back on the boat for dinner and more games! All night I had the urge to jump in the water so when the skipper said we could a small group of us jumped in a number of times.....all fear had gone after a few vino's! However, before jumping in the water one of the crew had assured us that there were no sharks in the water, once we were all out he explained that in fact it was shark infested water! Someone was looking after us that evening!

By 9.30am the next day we were back on dry land! That evening Chelsey and I had to say goodbye, we were fine until I walked Chelsey to the bus and we hugged and said bye, then there were lots of tears! I have had the best 6 weeks travelling with the canadian bundle of fun, we have lived with each other 24/7 and have had some amazing times together, we have always kept smiles on our faces and I have learnt so much from Chelsey. I certainly have a friend for life. As someone once told me, you should not be said that its over but happy that it happened :)

So on Friday 14th I hopped onto another plane to Sydney, when going through security at Proserpine airport a man trotted over to me to ask to check me and my bag for explosives! A few minutes later he returned to tell me I had passed with flying colours! Do I really look like I would carry explosives!

So now I am back in Sydney staying with Sue and family back to the job hunt! :)