Monday 6th April - Day 13

This morning I had to get up at the ridiculously early time of 3.50am to get ready for my hot air balloon ride. Just me and two Irish girls called Sinead and Tara were doing it this time. The guy was meant to be picking us up at 4.20am, but after the cancellation last time I was half expecting it to be cancelled again, but we did get picked up at 4.30am and then we had about a 45 minute journey to a place called Mareeba in the Kuranda national park. We got into another bus once we got there which was full of Chinese people apart from the three of us and then we went off to the launch site. I couldn't believe the size of the balloon, they were absolutely massive, they were a lot bigger than I was expecting. You could fit about 16-20 people in a basket. We all clambered into the basket, and after a quick safety briefing which basically consisted of not jumping out of the balloon or messing with all the pilot's bits of rope which he passed off as 'controls' we were off! It was such a smooth take off, you didn't really realise you had lifted off of the ground, it was a very peaceful and serene half hour and the views were amazing. You could see quite a lot of the scenery despite it being a little misty, and still dark when we lifted off. We got to see the sunrise up there though which was a pretty cool sight. The pilot found a place to land the balloon and there was a car and 2 people waiting for the balloon to touch down so they could help to ground it. Was a really good landing with only a couple of bumps, and we didn't have to roll out of the basket like he had told us we might have to do. After watching all of the Chinese people animatedly pack up the balloon we went back to have a breakfast before we got taken back to the hotel at about 9am. I was so tired when I got back, everyone else was just getting up as we had a free day that day in Cairns, I went into the city centre with a few other girls as I had to go and sort my photo's out which had mysteriously disappeared from my camera. Just had a mooch about for the rest of the day, had to have a little power nap once I got back to the hotel and I just had an early night that night to make up for my early morning!

Tuesday 7th April - Day 14

Had another early start today as we had a 7 hour drive to get to Airlie Beach and our 2 day sail in the Whitsundays! We stopped off for breakfast and then when we got back on to the bus we had to all go down to the front and introduce ourselves to the rest of the bus, I hate doing stuff like that, we had to do one in the Northern Territory as well, There were 10 questions to answer which included: name, nationality, favourite food, favourite drink, favourite film, most romantic thing you had done for the opposite sex, joke/trick, 3 people you'd invite to dinner etc. Was a bit daunting going up there and having 48 pairs of eyes on you and I was glad to get it over and done with. After this we had a lunch stop in Townsville where we had to get all our supplies for the next 2 days. We were then driven down to Shute Harbour where we would be meeting our sailing boats. We were split up on to two different boats called Hammer and Condor, which were both old professional sailing boats. Hammer, which I was on, could hold about 20 people and Condor 30, although we only had 16 and 21 on the boats to make it a bit more comfortable. I was pleased I was on Hammer, it was a lovely blue boat, definitely the prettiest! We met our crew which consisted of skipper Mick and deck hands Ross and Ange. We went down underneath the deck to find a bunk and I ended up sharing a double bed with Jo from Wales. It was really compact downstairs, but it had everything you needed down there, and because it wasn't filled to capacity it wasn't too cramped really. We had our first sail after this before we found a flat spot to drop anchor for the night. For dinner that night we had chicken, salad, potatoes and bread, had a few drinks before going to bed at 10pm ish, I was out like a light and slept like a baby, must have been all the rocking that was going on!

Wednesday 8th April - Day 15

Got up about 7am today and had continental breakfast on the boat (obviously), we then had another sail, longer than yesterday and more extreme! At some points the boat was tilting at a 45-50 degree angle, and you had to sit on the high side of the boat (high side or suicide!) I swear, sometimes the boat was tilting that much that it was like that scene at the end of Titanic where Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio are clinging on to the other side of the railings to stop from falling down the length of the boat! Three times we had to do this thing called a tack, which involved scrambling as quick as you could to the other side of the boat, while the crew changed the direction of the boat to go with the wind. It was scary the first time, but I got used to it after that. There was this guy called Paul who was on our boat, who was 35 and I swear he is the worst person I've ever seen on a boat, he was hilarious to watch, he had to hang on to something stationary on the boat everytime he moved somewhere and he was so slow and doddery, he reminded me of a big bear on some ice who isn't quite sure where to move or what to do for fear of falling through. I think if he could have crawled about on his hands and knees he would have done! We sailed to a beach called Whitehaven Beach which is in the top 3 beautiful beaches in the world, and I can definitely see why! The sand is like icing sugar it is so fine and soft, and it is so white. The beach was absolutely beautiful, I had a little paddle, but I couldn't be bothered to put my stinger suit on so I didn't go in much further. In the afternoon we had a snorkelling stop, and we had to don those sexy stinger suits again like we wore in the Barrier Reef, I didn't stay out long though as I got cramp in my right foot, but it wasn't as good a view as the Reef, so I didn't mind too much.Had tea, coffee and cakes after being in the water, which was so good. In the evening, after another sailm we had another delicious dinner of lasagne and garlic bread. To say that we were on a boat, the meals have been gorgeous, some of the best food we have had the whole trip actually! After dinner, a few of us went over on the dingy to Condor to see what they were up to. That was the party boat really, a lot more hectic than ours and I was glad to get back to our little boat after a couple of hours. Didn't sleep as well as the first night as it got quite hot downstairs and it seemed a bit rockier than the last night.

Thursday 9th April - Day 16

Got up at 7.30am today and we got the chance to go for another snorkel, although I didn't go in. We then had another sail, went through some absolutely torrential rain, was so glad I brought my rain mac. We managed to beat Condor back again (Hammer Time!!) and then we had lunch before we had to leave the boat to go to Daydream Island where we would be staying for the night. I had such a blast with the sailing, it was definitely one of the best stops of the trip so far, despite the rain, we did get some sunshine and I liked the experience of living on a boat, although 2 days was enough for me. The Whitsundays are absolutely beautiful, so picturesque. We had the afternoon free today and then we are going down to a bar called the Fishbowl for a BBQ and to meet up with the other people who didn't do the sailing.

Friday 10th April - Day 17

Another early start today, last night was good, the BBQ wasn't worth the $20 we paid though and we didn't even get pudding! It was a fun night though, there was a didgeridoo competition and some of the people were quite good, then there was a dancing competition and Amy, a girl who I have got friendly with from Canada who is smaller than me (can you believe it!) entered, it was a best aboriginal dance contest, and she was so funny, she really goes for it when she is dancing, and she is quite well known on the tour now for her crazy dancing moves. The best part had to be when she had to name her dance and she chose the title 'Uluru is my b****' after she had climbed it a few days ago, she was so funny. Had a lunch stop after leaving the Whitsundays, and then we made our way down to the farm called Langmorn Station where we would be staying in a place called Rockhampton. Not too sure what I was expecting, but I was pleasantly surprised when we got there. The farm was over 2000km big, it is a working cattle farm, but they have ventured out into the tourism sector when their business wasn't doing too well. The facilities and rooms are basic, but really new and to a good standard, and the views were definitely the best bit, you could see for absolutely miles of just these green fields, which was good after spending so long in red dirt in the Northern Territory! In the afternoon after we had got settled into our rooms, a few of the group had a football match, before the people who owned the farm took us all out on a tractor ride around the country homestead so we could see some of their land and learn a little bit about what they did there. After this we had a little bit of free time before we had our dinner in what was like a big converted barn yard with a bar fitted and a big tv screen etc. We had the most amazing roast beef dinner since I have been away, with beef which had come off of one of the cows from the farm. It was so tender and hardly needed chewing at all, it was lovely, we had a delicious chocolate pudding for afters too before trying out some whipcracking and karaoke before bed.

Saturday 11th April - Day 18

Today after a continental breakfast at the farm, we left Rockhampton and made our way down to Hervey Bay and Fraser Island, which is the largest sand island in the world. The ferry ride over to the island was about half an hour, although it felt a lot longer, probably because it was so windy and rainy on the top deck! We were met at the other side by a shuttle bus which would take us down to the Kingfisher Resort where we would be staying, and the Eco Lodges. There were about 16 of us in one lodge, with four to a room, it was basically a hut on sticks with shared bathroom and kitchen facilities. Once we had got into our rooms we had about an hour to work on our white t shirts for the t shirt party we were having that night at the Dingo bar where we also had our dinner. Seeing everyone's designs and ideas were really good, although mine looked like it had been done by a three year old, although I guess it is the taking part that counts!

Sunday 12th April - Day 19

Was down at reception for 8am today to be picked up for our full day 4WD tour of Fraser Island. The vehicles that we would be going in were like big buses that were 4WD equipped, I wished I could have gone in a proper 4WD jeep or something, but obviously it's more cost effective to use a bus for that amount of people. We all got on to the bus, all the Contiki people were in the same one, and the guide Kirstey introduced herself before we started to make our way out of the resort and past the dingo fence, which reminded me a bit of the scene from Jurassic Park with the T Rex's for some reason! It wasn't long before our guide dropped the bombshell that we wouldn't be going to the Maheno shipwreck or Eli Creek today because they were inaccessible due to the cyclone that had happened a few weeks previously which had washed all the sand away and revealed all the coffee rock underneath which the buses weren't able to drive on. I was so annoyed that we wouldn't be going to half of the places which we had been promised. There were two options for the day trip, one was a half day cheaper $90 trip and then the one that I had gone on which was $145 and a whole day, I'd only booked on to this full day one specifically to see the shipwreck, and when I found out that the tour operator had known that it wasn't accessible for the past three weeks, it annoyed me, as they never told you before you got on the bus, or gave you the option to downgrade to the cheaper half day tour, they obviously just wanted all your money. The first stop that we had that day was to a place called Lake McKenzie which was a massive clear blue lake with nothing but little harmless fish and turtles living in it, and although it wasn't the warmest of waters it was really nice to have a swim in water that wasn't salty. After this we had hot drinks, muffins and cookies to eat, before making our way to a place called Pine Valley for a 40 minute walk through the rainforest. It was just the right temperature for a walk, although I spent most of the time looking at the floor trying not to trip over tree roots or fall down the muddy banks. For lunch we were taken to a resort called Eurong for an all you can eat buffet, it was really tasty and there was lots to choose from, I tried to eat $145 worth but not sure if I did or not! In the afternoon after lunch, we were taken to a beach called 75 mile beach, where the 4x4s drive down and scenic flights take off and land from. This is normally the way you drive to get to the shipwreck, but instead we were taken to a place called Rainbow Gorge. This was a massive sand dune, it was good to see, and you can't actually comprehend how much sand is on the island, it's crazy. I decided to do a scenic flight for an extra cost of $70 as our guide told us that we would be able to see the Maheno shipwreck from the air. It was only a 7 seater plane, and it was mad taking off and landing on the beach trying to dodge all the cars. The flight itself lasted about 20 minutes, and we seemed to spend a lot of time flying over the island, which was good to see, but I would have preferred to see more of the shipwreck, as when we got to this bit, the pilot literally flew past it and that was it, if you were sat on the wrong side of the plane, which luckily I wasn't, you didn't really get to see it at all. I enjoyed the flight, but I don't think that it was worth the $70. Got back to the resort at about 6pm and then just chilled out in the room for the rest of the night.

Monday 13th April - Day 20

We left Fraser Island today, which I wasn't too fussed about, as I think it has been the least enjoyable part of the trip for me really, I think I was expecting more from it, but maybe that was just because I had the disappointment of not being able to see the shipwreck, plus the weather was absolutely awful. It was chucking it down all night, and didn't stop raining all day. Our first quick stop off today was at a place called Noosa, which seemed like a lovely little beach town, but was spoilt a bit by the rain, there was lots of nice shops to look around and I got myself a surfery type necklace. We had another 2 hour drive after this to get to Brisbane, but it probably took a bit longer than that because of all the Easter weekend traffic on the roads. Still raining when we got to Brisbane, we went to a shop called Quilpie's Opal's to listen to a talk on opals and then inevitably spend some money. We got a Contiki discount though so it would have been rude not to! We also met up with Megan, the Australian girl from Brisbane who had been on our Northern Territory tour, it was really nice to see her again, even just for a short time. Didn't really get to see much of the city apart from the opal shop which disappointed me a bit, but after saying goodbye to rainy Brisbane we had another hour's drive to get to rainy Surfers Paradise. We are staying in a hotel called the Australis Sovereign, and apart from the hotel on Daydream Island it is hands down the nicest and biggest room we have stayed in. We have an apartment type room with a massive living room and a separate bedroom, it's lovely to have so much space after being in some quite cramped rooms. Still raining once we got settled in, we had a free night so we decided to get a Chinese take out and bring it back to the hotel. Free day tomorrow so we can have a late night and more importantly a lay in tomorrow...yaaaay!!