Monday 7th December 2009, Mission Beach

We arrived in Mission Beach at about 3:40pm and were picked up by the hostel even though it was only around the corner!! But a lift with bags is so much better than walking it!

The hostel was called Absolute Backpackers and its set in a lush oasis/garden. It reminded both of us of a Spanish villa with veranda. It was lovely and a good pool as well. Originally we were booked into the cheap rooms which had no air-con and didn't feel particularly nice so we asked to upgrade to the main building with the nicer rooms. It was only $4 each extra a night and so worth it!

Once we'd checked in and polished off a diet coke we headed out for a walk down the beach. We were staying close to Wagoling Beach. Mission beach was about a 45 minute walk away. But Wagoling Beach was nice. Basically imagine long stretches of beach with no one on there except yourself and the occasional dog walker. Palm trees covering the side walk with coconut shells all over the beach! Beautiful! We had a small walk and made some funky photos on the beach before the rain could no longer hold off!! Although it was raining it was actually really nice as it was warm but sill it cooled you off!! But saying that we still left the beach and headed to the supermarket to get stuff for tea!

Tonight we treated ourselves and had… Wait for it…KANGAROO STEAKS!!! They were well cheap and bloody good. We paid $4 for 2 and after seeking a little advice Caroline cooked them beautifully! We had them with chipped potatoes and salad with olives!! A proper feast and accompanied by a few glasses of vino!!

Tuesday 8th December 2009, Tully River

Today was White Water rafting day down the River Tully. We were picked up at 7:40am and then it was about a 40 minute drive to Tully, which is where the Rafting centre is based. Once there we checked in and then positioned ourselves in the smoking area with a coffee and waited for the others who were all on there way from Cairns.

Once everyone was at the building we were all loaded onto a bus and transferred to the starting point which was another 45 minutes or so. Our boat had 6 of us in plus the guide. He was lovely and really knowledgeable. Now because it was so long ago I now can't remember his name, so for this were just going to call him rafter man.

We had a full day on the Tully rafting about 16km. It was fantastic and we were rafting up to grade 4 rapids which were ace!! It was a tad scary at times as we were in the knowledge that the Tully has claimed lives in the past, as recently as January of this year!! Put apart from once we didn't fall out. The time we did we were surfing a wave whilst in the boat and it tipped slightly and then Caroline rugby tackled me out of the boat!!! No only joking it did tip but she couldn't help it!! So we both went in and it was a little scary especially when I realised I was under the boat! And although it felt like the longest 5 seconds of my life I popped out around the same time as Caroline and then we both made it safely back onto the raft!! As well as the rafting we had plenty of time for swimming include once swimming down a grade 3 rapid!! Another scary and not the most enjoyable experience! River water does not taste good!! We also did some rock jumping, which from below the rock didn't look that far up but believe me when your on top looking down it was seriously high!!!! But we did it anyway!

Lunch was provided and this was bbq burgers on the river bank. Also at lunch we saw the most enormous fish and an eel. And we still went swimming in that river!

We finished at about 4pm, but unfortunately the bus had broken down so we had a long wait to get us all back to the office/bar! And then on the way back to Tully itself we came across an upside down car which turned out to be the photographer's car. Thankfully although a little shaken he was ok and had managed to crawl out the car with just a cut to his arm! We couldn't believe he escaped with hardly any injuries. Another car had pretty much driven him off the road and then not stopped. Some people!!

Anyway once back at the bar/office we all watched the DVD of the day and had a look at some photos whilst eating some freebie wedges with chili dip and sour cream and drinking some free beer! Life's good!! We managed to bag a free group photo as well which is always better on the wallet strings.

Once back in Mission Beach we had pasta for tea and then we were joined by 2 Irish lads who we had met on the bus back from the rafting, and together we polished off a fair amount of goon!!!!

Wednesday 9th December 2009, Mission Beach-Cairns.

Our bus today wasn't until about 3:40pm, so after checking out we spent the remained of our time relaxing by the pool soaking up the rays. It was bloody boiling so a lot of the time was actually spent cooling off in the pool but either way it was nice!!

After having lunch we changed and sorted before heading to the bus stop to wait for the bus and sweat it out big time. The bus journey was just over 2 hours so we arrived in Cairns at around 6pm!!

At this point we were getting very excited as it now meant it was only 2 days until mum came!! So we ill now see you all in Cairns to see how much fun we all had with mum!! Bye for now xxxx