Day 20 - Ayers Rock

23/2/2015

This is really a bit of a mish-mash day. We were up at 6 (need a holiday after this to catch up on sleep) and on the bus to Ayers Rock by 7! YAAAASSSSS! *Ahem*
Anyway, we got to a camel farm (???) yes, random, I know,  but I got to ride a camel and this is Australia after all so I'm not questioning anything..

I cannot for the life of me remember this guys name behind me.

I think its Fredrick, maybe not, just made that up.

There's this really funny guy from Israel, called Dor, and someone asked when it's a good time to visit Israel and he said "Last year was not okay to visit, this year is fine, next year? I don't know as we seem to have a war every other year" I could not stop laughing and I'm pretty sure I even cried a little.
Shorty got us all looking out for Ayers Rock and Lou wasnt having any of it "I am not playing 'Spot the Rock", she played it anyway and spotted Mount Conner and now owes Shorty a pint. Bad luck Lou!

We finally spotted it and here's the beauty!

We set up tables of food and had many bottles of champagne and watched the sunset over Uluru. Our new group looks like a laugh. Here we are:

Excuse the derp face. I wasn't ready...

Half of us are heading up to Darwin and half are going down to Melbourne. I'm really not looking forward to saying goodbye to the guys I travelled with from the east coast but lets not think about that now..

We left Ayers Rock and went to our accommodation called Outback Pioneer Hotel & Lodge. Unfortunately, I'm the worlds worst at documenting where I stay, so I have no photos of this place apart from our night, I'm great at pictures of the nightlife.

Our dinner was amazing, we got to cook our food on the many bbqs, I had barramundi and it was wrapped in foil to be cooked and thought I had butter on the fish but it wasnt butter, it was a lemon. So I was stood there for ages waiting for the butter to melt. What an idiot.

We had a laugh, had a drink and then when to bed.

Ciao - x -

Day 19 - Alice Springs

22/2/2015

Today is the day we leave Queensland and go to the Northern Territory! I'm so excited to meet more people joining the group!
We left Hides Hotel at 9am as we had an 11am flight. I had a fry up at the airport, well, of course I did, it's me, duh! The plane was so small compared to the ones I've travelled in before and I'm pretty sure there was only about 20 people on the plane. Lou was hopping down the aisle like a kangaroo, doing the macarena, YMCA, pretending to row and then put a blanket over her head and pretended to be a dementor (Harry Potter reference for you muggles). Probably the funniest flight I've ever been on and yes, I have the videos to prove it. Here's a picture:

Sorry Lou!

Not really..

Had a great chat with one of the flight attendants who is off travelling with his girlfriend and he's so excited about going as he hardly gets any time off and they never get time off together. So, they're off to Asia and and Europe for 3 months. He seemed so happy, it was cute.
We reached Alice Springs and it's absolutely sweltering! The heat is more bearable here than Cairns, as there it's more sticky and Alice Springs is more dry, like a hairdryer on you...constantly.

Lou and I about to board the plane to Alice Springs!

We meet another guy from Topdeck, who I think was called Ben, (maybe, can't remember, apologies) who takes us from the airport to our accommodation. We get to Ibis Styles hotel/hostel, thing, whatever it is, dumped our stuff and went straight to the pool. The new group comes along about 20-30 minutes later and our new tour guide Lisa and 'Shorty' AKA Liam but he doesnt go by that name apparently. The new group come to the pool and most of them are british (YAY) with one Canadian girl, two Aussie guys, an Italian, a few German and Dutch. Again, a right multi-cultural group. I can tell this lot are going to be fun!
We all get ready to go to a meal together to a place called Monte's Lounge. It's a pretty cool place with long picnic bench type tables, it's a great atmosphere. The beer is quite expensive here so no beer for me tonight! Cheapskate. Their burgers are the biggest things I've ever seen (oo-eerrrrr) and extremely tasty.
All fed and watered (and extremely hot) we all head back and get some shut eye.


I miss you guys at home. Slightly..



Ciao -x-

Day 18 - Stealing Koalas

21/2/2015

Clare got up at 6am and left for white water rafting while I got ready with Lou to go to Cairns Casino, nope, not for gambling, but for finally getting to HOLD A KOALA! We walked to The Reef Hotel Casino and it's pretty swish inside, go up to the top floor where they have a zoo. A hotel, casino and zoo all rolled into one, fancy.

Everyone meet the new love of my life, Micro.

He's so adorable and I want to keep him! I only got to hold him for 5 seconds which isn't really enough time for me to think of a really good koala-nap plan..dammit.

Lou and I then went shopping for the rest of the day and spent a little too much dollar. Oops. It's not our fault that Cairns has it all!

Everyone heading to the Northern Territory all met up for another meal out all together, watched the guys play pool and said a final goodbye to Helen, Olly, Tom and Dec and promised to meet up in London when we're all back in the UK. I'll definitely miss Helen, one of the nicest, funniest and most genuine girls I've ever met. Will also miss the guys and their ability to make serious decisions with a game of Rock, Paper, Scissors and their never ending game of Odds.

Not entirely sure what we done for the rest of the night but it was pretty late at this point anyway so we went back to our rooms and made sure we were all packed up ready to catch our flight to Alice Springs!

Ciao - x

Day 17 - The Bungee Jump

20/2/2015

Up at 8, 3.5 hours sleep isn't too bad I guess. Said goodbye to Claire.S who's off to do a skydive and then catch a flight back to Nottingham. She's definitely one of the best and most genuine person I've ever met. We'll definitely keep in touch! Bye Claire!
Got on the bungee shuttle bus to AJ Hackett with Claire.C and we were off to bungee jump!

We pay for our jump and we see this...

Nope, not bricking it at all.

We walk up to the top (something you would have liked to do, Dad) and watch this guy bungee before us. Soon enough it's my turn and I'm talking to the guy who's binding my legs to stop me just falling from the edge staright to my death, and it turns out he used to live in the UK and work in Essex. He's definitely moved up in the world. Essex to Cairns. I know where I'd rather live and work.

Yes, this is me. Can you imagine doing this? 

It. Was. Insane!
Terriying on the way up, awesome on the way down!

We waited around for a while and Olly, Tom, Dec and Tony arrive so we watch their first jump and then head back to the hotel. The rest of the day was just filled with boring stuff like washing and sorting out the backpacks again, it's surprising how messy and unorganised they can get in just a few days.
Later, the whole group meet up again again and go for a meal in Rattle n Hum.
Lou and I walked around cairns in search of some funny, quirky and awesome gifts for our trip leader who leaves saturday morning. We bought him a mango because he has a great love for mangoes, some pens because he lost most of his throughout the trip, some hairbands because he ties his dreadlocks up with a rubber which totally ruins your hair and a plastic poncho for when he visits sunny England. Aren't we thoughtful? Yes, yes we are.

Ciao - x

Day 16 - Great Barrier Reef

19/2/15

Up at 6 (seriously? Is there another lie in any time soon?) We left the hotel at 7am and walked to Passions of Paradise to go on our Great Barrier Reef trip YAAASSSSS!
We got on a catamaran which was ridiculously cool as it had two of those hammock things at the front! Spent most of the time lying on them on the journey to and from the reef.

It's not the best picture but still, it's a fab boat.
It took about an hour and a half - two hours to get to the great barrier reef, perfect tanning time. We had a health and safety talk and got shown how to use the oxygen masks by our very funny diving instructor called Russel. If you ever go scuba diving on the Great Barrier Reef with Passions of Paradise and Russel is on your boat, you will never be short of a laugh. The man is hilarious!

LOOK AT THIS!!

So blue, so tranquil, SO BEAUTIFUL!

If I could live on this catamaran on the Great Barrier Reef for the rest of my life, I would die extremely happy.

Here's me scuba diving (with Lou in the background)

Don't I look happy! (Did someone say fish lips?)

Afterwards, I fell asleep on the hammocks and I got burnt. Always seems to happen, damn english skin, or the fact I actually loathe suncream (ew). Let's go with being an english rose.
We got back to Cairns at about 5pm-ish and got ready for a meal out with the rest of the East Coast crew *sobbing* We went to Rattle n Hum and had a fab meal then we all went on to The Woolshed bar/pub and all got slightly merry as the girlsgot free champagne! Got back to the hotel at 4:30am (oops) and straight to bed as I've go my bungee jump tomorrow. I thought this out well, didn't I?


Ciao for now -x-

Day 15 - Cairns

18/2/15

The lay ins are over (boooo) as we're up at 6am, down to breakfast at 6:30am and on the boat ready tp leave the incredible Daydream Island by 7:30am. Sitting with Claire on the ferry who comes out with "I get so seasick, I was once sick on a pedalo". To say I cried with laughter would be an understatement. I nearly died! We also heard this old biddy complain about our group being on the island. She obviously just hates young people as she's on a guided tour for the nearly dead, herself. Crazy old bat.
We get back to Matilda (the coach) and get ready for a long ass drive to Cairns. 7 hours and 15 minutes to be exact. On the way, Alan started telling us about mangoes and how we're going to stop in a town called Bowen, home to the Big Mango.

We stopped at a shop further up the way to try a mango smoothie, which Alan says is the best ever. FYI, no it's not. They're gross.
We get to cairns about a year later, and get to Hides Hotel where, Claire.C, Claire.S, Lou and I share a room. It was pretty cute.



                                           



Claire.S, Lou and I went to the Cairns night market  and got a full body massage for $15. I felt great after, but during it, I thought he was going to break my back. It kept cracking and it cracked in places I didn't know it could crack. I felt bruised. We then decided to  get dinner  Chinese & sushi. Go to an amazing gelato place and I get a lemon sorbet and it's like heaven. I need to find a place like this back in London!
We're all pretty excited for the next day as we're off to the Great Barrier Reef!
*Cue Finding Nemo quotes*
YOU TOTALLY ROCKED SQUIRT!




Ciao for now - x

Day 14 - Daydream Island

17/2/15

Finally got a lay in!
Well, 8:30am is a lay in on this trip. Get to breakfast and have a proper fry up and a proper english brew! I. Am. In. Heaven! Lou and I then went outside and listened to a talk and watched the feeding of the stingrays and sharks in the resort pond.

Walked around the resort again, Helen, Lou, Claire and I went to the spa and booked ourselves in for different treatments found a jacuzzi, bought ourselves cocktails, went back to the jacuzzi, asked someone to take a picture of us (as toursists do) he didn't really know how to take a photo and took, like, a thousand photos, bless him, and relaxed in the jacuzzi! Helen and I then went off to the spa to get our pedicures done. Listen, a girl needs a pedicure after 2 days on a boat without the luxury of even a proper toilet.

Lou, Me, Claire and Helen

We had to put our feet in this bowl of warm oils and we both had sunburn on our feet so it was pretty painful. We had complimentary champagne after though, so that was worth it! Claire and I then went to the shopping village (I swear this island has it all!), went and played bingo and I won! I won a line and won a gold class voucher for the outdoor cinema with front row seats, free bottle of champagne and free popcorn. Can never go wrong with free booze! Claire and I then decided to try Bundaberg Rum as apparently you can't go to Australia without trying it. It was vile. Had dinner in the Fishbowl Tavern and then went to the outdoor cinema to watch tarzan! The champers was delicious!
It was then back to the bar for a while, laughed at PJ singing and dancing around our group and then it was bedtime, ready to be up at the crack of dawn to leave Daydream Island. *sad face*

Ciao -x-