Ios is well known for being the party island of Greece, which I would not doubt if we were there in high season. Coming in September means all the crowds have faded and a lot of the places have even closed up! But that did not stop us and really it just meant we had more of the services to ourselves! I can only imagine what Ios would really be like in peak time with stretches of beaches and clubs on every corner it would get wild, and we heard constant stories of thousands of people roaming the beach, lazing by the pool, pool dance floors and raging discos. Though we didn't get to experience that, we were still lucky enough to have an awesome time with great company and it really gave us the chance to get to know the people on the island better without the hassle of a billion tourists- probably 98% of them Australian!

I had been reunited with my girl Alana and was picked up by the owner of Ios resort- Mike. He is the buffest man I have ever seen! I could not fit my arms around his chest and he is super intimidating!!! Him and Alana really hit it off and I was lucky enough to really get to know the sweetheart that mike was! That night he took us out for dinner - at 11pm, WHAT?!- And gave us tips on the good Greek cuisine. Unfortunately all of us were absolutely b*****ed, probably because sitting down and eating so late induces sleep mode and we headed off to bed.

Next day Alana and I went to track down Samm, Rhys and Georgia who had AGAIN scored an amazing hostel for just 15 euro that was located right on the beach with a pristine pool. WE proceeded to spend the ENTIRE day by the pool getting beers, lemon lime vodkas and daiquiris to enjoy poolside! Alana put on a synchronised swimming routine and a couple of young Greek boys came and did flips off the bridge just near us. We cheered an encouraged them until one landed wrong and was visibly upset- poor little guy! It was the perfect day in the Greek islands of just doing nothing and having great company!

That night the pool predrinks helped kick off the start to a great night of perusing the local bars possibly getting a little too excited with shots and being walked home to spend the last night with Alana before she retuned home to Australia L In my rush to get back I suddenly slipped down a gravel hill and completely grazed my forearm and my iphone cover was completely scratched- let alone various other parts of my body! Awful! Next day I woke up very sore and a little worse for wear. Good night though!

Our next day at Ios we signed up for a jet boat tour of Ios that a tired Shereen and Elly passed on. It was the perfect cure for the tired four of us as we whipped through the fresh air to some local caves that had linking tunnels, which I uncoordinatedly made my way through. Next stop was a secluded beach that had steps and umbrellas and pool beds that in summer would have been in full swing! Instead it was all packed up and we just went up to explore and enjoy the good view. And get another self-timed photo. We were also given snorkels and made a new friend victor the octopus! Absolutely beautiful location and we were made jealous of the gazillionairs that had built holiday houses with helicopter pads and giant resort type houses.

Our final stop was an 8-metre cliff jump!!! From the boat you could see the yellow dot that marked the spot and it looked like a piece of cake! Not so much when you get up there… I definitely hesitated too long and after exclaiming how simple it was instead I had way too much doubt!!! It was terrifying! I eventually made myself do it and had the worst 'im surely going to die ' feeling that resided once I had surfaced from the water. Thank god! Really it was not that bad and I am so glad to have done it J

Another amazing excursion that was followed by more pool lazing- far out our lives are tough. We had been keen to check out the tubing challenge Mach 2 that we had heard so much about. Apparently if you can stay on for 15 minutes on the back of the boat on a tube then you get your money back! Ummm challenge accepted! We all got vested up and made our way out, holding on for dear life. Which I turned out to be super bad at!!! I tried SO hard to stay on, determined not to let go, but the waves and turns just were too much for me!!! I just wasn't heavy enough to counteract the sidewards action of the tube and kept being thrown off like a feather!!! Sooo there was no hope of me getting my money back. Unfortunately Georgia also equally struggled but was having the worst time of it, not enjoying herself at all!!

Even though I fell off a lot I embraced the fun part and found humour in how easy it was for my to fall off! The hardest part of it all for sure had to get back on in the water, which proved nearly impossible! On the plus side this way eating up the time that the boys had to stay holding on for to get their money back! Really it was all part of the master plan- that Georgia perfected. She was so upset by the end of it, not enjoying it one bit so I think the guy definitely went easy on us, which made it easier for the boys to stay on! Unfortunately Samm got a little too cocky and at one stage came off after being on the tube with no hands haha But Rhys managed to grab the tube well enough to be rewarded by his money back and his picture on the wall of fame!!!

Probably the best part of it all was that in the speedboat a photographer also comes out with you to capture the hilarious moments! And they were hilarious. There were about a billion photos of Georgia's terrified face and they came out SO hilarious! There were some great ones of the four of us when we were actually all still holding on and some great action shots of us falling off. The guy did a great job and for some reason in all of them I had the cheesiest grin on! I was actually just having a lot of fun and found it humorous that I was finding it so hard to stay on! Georgia's face was pure terror, Samms was like ultra concentration and Rhys had his cheeks puffed out- that clearly worked for him! The entire disc was only 20 euro as apposed to one photo for 5 euro soo we all made the investment to be humoured for the rest of our lives. What great memories!!!

That night we all went out for dinner and had planned on hitting the bars again. Our day on the boat and tubing had really taken it out of us and once again the sitting and eating move was rookie and we all went back to our close hostel for a disco nap. Which really just got everyone unkeen- which Shereen and I knew it would! We tried waking everyone to get keen but it was just not going to happen. We probably could have done with a night in anyway J