DAY TWENTY FIVE

The night was tough on both of us...our fly net prevented the little b****** mossies from penetrating our cordon, but the overflow pipes that were situated conveniently in the jungle next to our hut were released in the witching hour. Stuffing wedges of Vicks Vaporub up our snoz's masked the pure sewerage smell to an extent, but in this case sewerage was king! ( if anyone ever visits the Monkey Island bungalows, do not accept bungalow 17!) The options for the days activities were closely scrutinised, and we settled on a jungle trek to Long Beach, which was situated on the south east of the island. We were side tracked by a sign advertising a rope adventure course with zip wires, so we headed in that direction. A German bloke with a slightly questionable rats tail greeted us and explained the complete lowdown of the course. It was slightly expensive compared to other island activities at $25, but we thought it would be good fun, and after our trek we would partake. Setting of on the trek, just the two us apparently following red spray-painted blobs and various casual beach going shoes nailed to trees, in place to guide the intrepid explorers. It was clear that weather conditions had taken care of those markers, so by the smell of our noses we carried on anyway, it was actually completely and utterly fantastic, progressing through jungle trails, climbing up waterfalls, having to retrieve our pluggers ( flip flops for the U.K readers) from what can only be described as quick-clay, tracking around fallen trees and scouring rocks to reach a beautiful 6 mile beach. Again, the amount of rubbish that had either been washed up, or left by tourists marred the serene landscape. We found ourselves stood on the white sand, peering out to the sea in a beautiful 30 degree heat. Places like these shouldn't be treated with such contempt, such beauty should be preserved and respected. Heading back up the stone shelf, Jasmin noticed dark skies in our midst, so the pace was stepped up! We came past around twelve other groups before it started absolutely blasting down with rain. Next thing, paths became streams, both of us covered in red clay but loving it, and we made it back.. Thoughts went out to the other groups that copped the apocalyptic conditions worse than us! The afternoon was spent wandering down the main beach, clambering over rocks, walking on the sand bars, checking out corals, starfish and again quite a lot of rubbish! When we made it through to were the river meets the sea, again you have to look at this place and just appreciate what we have in this world. So many beautiful places. Having a meal that night, they must of played every song that Tommy Irving, Gareth Overends and I have listened to on ski trips. In frankie lee's words 'Seh, Seh, What a reet good dooooo!