26/07/12

Just to recap, yesterday was the reef experience. I thought that made the day, so I left it there and uploaded the blog. This was before tea and my wander around the night market. I was looking for a new necklace as mine was wearing thin and would snap any minute. I accidently stumbled down Asian Ally and had people left right and centre 'You wan massage?' 'Me give you good price!' I had this the night before when we were down there and I thought, 'You know what, yes.' $15 for a 40minute massage, can't go far wrong. I got asked 'Soft, Medium or Hard?' Without knowing the scale, I went for a safe medium. I should have gone for soft. It was nice, but at times I did feel like I was getting my limbs torn off, or getting beaten up. So yeh, that was yesterday. Today was just full of lazing about at the lagoon, playing pool and packing for mission beach tomorrow! I've read a lot of good reviews about this hostel 'Absolute Backpackers', so I have high hopes for this weekend to be a relaxing one, that is, until the sky dive on Sunday! Can't wait.

27/07/12

Got up way too early this morning, I know it's not early for normal working folk, but I'm not working. So 6am was too early. Got to the bus stop for 7:15 (half an hour early) waited for the bus, got on the bus, got off the bus. I'm not booked on until tomorrow. That's the last time I let someone else book my ticket. The hostel owner at Caravella's must've thought I was checking out tomorrow. Ah well, it was an honest mistake. Went to the Greyhound office and booked in for 1pm, so I'm just chilling on the harbour until then. Managed to kill 2 out of the 5 hours by reading, just got to find something else to do for the remainder of the time. This will be difficult with a heavy bag to lug around. I could watch a film...

An hour of Lee Mack and brunch in the form of a burger, I'm now only an hour away from my bus. Hopefully I can stay in this cafe for a bit, although I may need to buy a coffee as I've finished my food now.

Got the bus here and arrived at 3pm, it's such a nice little place. Got a shuttle bus from the shopping centre to the hostel... it is 200m away. We arrived at the same time as someone who walked. About 40minutes after I arrived, so did James and Max. I went on a Carrawary and Wallaby spotting tour, saw tons of Wallabys but no Carraways. Might have to go on it tomorrow or something. Oh! Speaking of tomorrow! As James and Max are doing their sky dive tomorrow, I've changed mine to tomorrow! So looking forward to this now. I so excited I probably wouldn't be able to sleep if it wasn't for this $4 bottle of red I'm sinking.

29/07/12

I don't mean to keep quoting song lyrics, but seriously; In the words of Lou Reed "Oh, what a perfect day". Woke up naturally at about 7am, not 15minutes later, Pip the receptionist knocks on the door and says "Some people have cancelled their sky dive if you want to do it in 20minutes?" f*** yes! Get up. Shower. Get Dressed. Oh god, what to wear for a sky dive? ...what's this? Genie pants? f*** yes! Following the number 1 rule of the genie pants, I did it commando. Got to the sky dive centre, filled out all the forms to say if you die you can't sue them, yadda yadda yadda... Meet Phil, my 'Tandem Master' and get harnessed up. I paid for the video so he had a camera pointed at my face in no time, which for some reason (probably the adrenaline) I lapped up. I'm not usually good on camera, but I rocked that lens. Short bus ride to Tully airport, got on a small propeller engine aircraft and away we go, 20minutes later, 14,000ft in the air the door opens. *Buh-buh....buh-buh....buh-buh...* Shuffle over to the door, dangling my legs out, JUMP! After the first couple of seconds with my heart in my mouth, the falling sensation subsides. 1 last glimpse of the plane as you tumble towards the ground, accelerating to 140mph with nothing but positive profanities projecting from my mouth. This was the real deal. There is nothing but blue sky, clear water, golden beaches and remote islands in view. If I had to pick a word to describe it, apart from "Amazing", "Incredible" or "Awesome", I'd go for the anti-climatic "Windy" and certainly breezy inside the genie pants. The chute opens and it takes a couple of seconds for it to catch, but when it does and the goggles can come down, it's so weird. I'm now suspended in mid-air floating to the ground. He let me take control of the parachute, instructing me to turn, slow down, speed up, and that was pretty cool. You wouldn't believe the amount of g-force you get with left down, spinning towards the ground at 30mph. Eventually we touchdown, and my-my that's something I WILL be doing again in a hurry! Got back, got on the 11:15 bus to North Mission and went on a walk with James, Max and Nicola. This was possibly the most boring walk in the history of 9.2km walks. A few decent scenic moments, but nothing spectacular. Although I did see a Cassowary in the wild but it was in the bushes and too fast to get a picture. So not quite the 'perfect day' but 5 hours later, we got back in time for the free BBQ. Now it gets better again. Sure, it was just tons of sausages, salad and bread. But you can't go wrong when you give people a FREE BBQ! Now, this would be a pretty good day, all in all, but what makes it perfect is how it ended. One of my favourite things to do. Walking along the beach the night before, I noticed there is TONS of drift wood on the beach. I suggested a fire on the beach with some beers if we survived the sky dive. So we asked a few people, got the fire stuff, got some more food to cook on it and BAM! This was perfect. At one point there was about 20 other people sat around the fire, I cooked steak, corn and garlic bread and everybody had a good time. Most people went fairly early, but the 3 of us stayed up and I kept the fire going until sunrise. I was expecting it to be amazing, but it wasn't as spectacular as I was hoping. Clouds had formed on the horizon but still, staying up through all of yesterday made it probably THE best day in Oz so far. I write this at 13:40 having just woken up. I think I might just chill by the pool today...

Well I certainly didn't think I'd have anything to write today. That was until I went to the restaurant and had a burger. This burger was amazing. I can't even begin to describe it. It was just incredible. The waitresses in the restaurant were stunning too. Overall, an amazing dinner session. I don't think I've said much about the hostel but it's probably the best hostel I've stayed at so far. Everyone is really friendly, both staff and backpackers. It's so relaxed and they can't do enough for you. The free shuttles and activities are a massive bonus (we played Pictionary on the first night) So all in all, Mission Beach has been amazing. Sure, it's only a weekend, but I could stay here longer. Now on to Townsville for my open water dive course! 10am bus tomorrow morning, staying at a guest house in a private room. A bit of comfort should be good.