Cairns-great barrier reef

We arrived in cairns (pronounced cans) early in the morning. We couldn't go to our hostel yet so we grabbed a cup of coffee at one of the only resturants open. It was right near this public park/ pool that looked like an infinity pool to the ocean. 

We then checked into our hostel and decided to o to a public market. I tried Star Apple there a fruit native to australia.

It was ok kinda soft and squishy but

Sweet. I also tried coconut with

Honey mostly because it looked like fun to eat. 

Later that day we just walked around cairns. I bought my didgeridoo after getting some lessons from the guy there. It was pretty cool he taught me different techniques. Even though it kinda upset me I could of used the money to skydive I think I will be happy to have the didgeridoo. Even if it means I need to go on the streets to play and earn my money back. Haha 

Later that night we decided to go out, which we never really do bc we are always so busy but we decided we needed to be more fun and not act like we were 24 going on 84. We went on this pub crawl which was only $17 and sounded like a great deal. But we spent way more than that on drinks since the drinks were so weak :(. 

Jess breaking it down with some aussi guys haha. They like to dress up and get wigs to be funny. It's so

Strange but so many Australian guys do it. They acturally call them bogens. It's like halloween every day there haha.

Than there was this guy...the next day I was so tired but we had to get up and ready to dive the barrier reef. We also had to stop drinking the night before at 12am bc you can't dive if you have consumed alcohol within 12 hours of your dive (or something close to 12). Getting out to the reef was rough I am so glad I took a dramamin, however I still felt so sick. 

My group had 4 people in it, Jess and I, and 2 Canadian guys. Our guide was from Italy I think he was probably late 30s-40s but so hot. Anyways.... The dice was pretty cool it was almost more fun to have the gear on and keep going dealer under water and to sit on the ocean floor. However you could see the reef just as well when you snorkeled. It's sad the reef is not as colorful as I would of thought it would be because of all the human pollution a lot of it has died. Our dive was about 30 mins under water we saw a reef shark and all different types of fish. The photo above I bought for $20 and regret not paying the $50 for all the photos. At least I have one though. 

After lunch we snorkeled. I had my wetsuit on but took it off after a while because it keeps u afloat and it's harder to drive down and see the reef closer. We saw a sea turtle which was pretty

Awesome. We could swim right next to

It. 

I took all these photos with my iPhone, I bought this water proof bag to put my phone in and it worked pretty well. My phone didn't get wet at all but would act up time from time because of the pressure I am pretty sure. Overal the reef was pretty cool an I am glad I got to see it. They say in 40 years the reef could e close to gone bc of all the pollution and global warming it's so sad to think about! 

 

Whitsundays

Whitsundays was absolutely amazing! The whitest beachs I have ever seen accompanied with the clearest Aqua water I have ever seen. Absolutely breath taking. We did the pride tour which was nice it was one of the only tours where you don't sleep on the sail boat but on a resort. 

The marina 

The first day we got on the boat around 2pm and set sail. Everyone started to drink right away, bc what else do u do on a boat haha. It took about 2 hours to get to the resort. 

The resort was pretty nice, such an upgrade from the hostels we are used to staying at. We shared a 4 person room with 2 other girls. The view from our room was the ocean. 

That night we went to the bar on the resort for free/ included dinner. This tour had all our meals included whih was nice not to have to worry about bring food for all meals. Dinner was pasta, and salad it was surprisingly pretty good. After they had everyone play some drinking games to get to know everyone better and jut to have fun. Everyone went to be pretty early that night bc we knew we all had to be up early for a long day at sea.

(Huge game of flip cup above)

Day 2 we had breaky (what they call breakfast in OZ) then got on the boat. We went to white haven beach first. The sand is so white and reflective it Acturally doesn't get hot. 

It is tradition to get naked and take a photo behind this sign. The boys really got into the spirit and took all clothing off the girls just made it look like they were by pulling straps up and down. 

These are the beautiful stinger suites they give you before you get in te water to protect you from jelly fish. They were super sexy haha. 

After white haven beach we got back on the boat had lunch and went to a new location to snorkel. It was ok not as colorful as I thought it would be. But still fun. I jumped in and my mask fell off right away. Thank god Dave a fire fighter from Canada was willing to take the deep plunge for me and get them. He had to go so deep I couldn't see him anymore. I couldn't believe he went for it! He said he didn't realize how far down it was! So

Crazy! But big thanks to Dave! Then 2 mins later I almost dropped my phone and mask again haha such a mess Dave told me to just get back on the boat! However I just handed my phone to someone on the boat and continued, clearly multi tasking was to much! After snorkeling we headed back to the resort. On our way we saw a sea turtle and some Dolphins. We also just slowly cruised and enjoyed the sun setting with the sails out. It was so relaxing and beautiful! 

When we got back we showered and headed to dinner. After dinner we drank and sang kareoke. It was so mcuh fun. Jess don't quite make it for kareoke haha, but the rest of us had a great time. Later in the night Ras, Gustave, Brigitte and myself walked to the end of the dock to see the full moon. The full moon makes the palm trees and water silver it was so pretty such a clear night with so many stars. The next morning everyone was pretty hung over ( sorry mom) haha we managed to get up and go for the bush walk to a great look out point. There are these little green ants u can eat that tast like lime... I didn't try it. Then we jumped in the water to feed the fish had lunch and set sail for the main land. I am so glad we ended up doing this tour it was so beautiful! 

Fraser Island

After Noosa we headed to Hervey Bay the bus ride was 5 hours. However the greyhound is great because it has wifi (spotty at times), bathrooms, and power outlets! 

Once we got to our hostel (Next-name of hostel) we had a briefing on Fraser Island. Then it was time to leave an get food for the 3 days. Everyone only brought a small bag to Fraser. Really all you wear is your bathing suite and need a sweater for later at night. It was Halloween and we were getting all set up for Fraser. Halloween isn't really celebrated here. Only a few people dressed up and went out. It didn't feel like halloween at all. 

The next morning we watched a video about driving on Fraser because of the sand and left. We had to take the ferry across. You are told not to go in the water aroud Fraser because of how many sharks and stingers (jelly fish) there are. Our guide who has been doing this for 30 years won't go deeper than his shins, if he needs to go in. 

Driving on the sand was so fun... Unless you are hungover. The first day we went to lake Birrabeen it was so pretty the water is rain water so it is safe to drink and even better that it is free of sharks, jellys and crocs. 

Jess pretending she is an alligator and Kevin (from Germany) 

Ellen (from Sweden), me, Jess, and jasmjin (from the Netherlands)

A really old dead turtle washed up on the shore, you can see where it was bit by a shark. 

After we went to lake want. It was a 40 minute hike to get there through the jungle. Then we crossed the sand dunes, but the lake was amazing maybe my favorite one there. The one side of the lake was all sand and the other the forest which had all different birds in the trees and shrubs right on the water. It was such a surreal moment bc it was so beautiful. The moon was out while the sun was shining, beautiful rainforest birds were flying overhead, the sand so white and soft, and blue green water, spent with amazing people from all over the world.

The little Minos in the water are the same ones that salons use for the pedicure bath with the little fish that eat the dead skin off your foot. We all laid in the sand while we got free pedicures from the little fish haha.

Below Hendrix (from Denmark) me Jess, jasmjin and Kevin later that night we were all so tired from te day getting up at 5 and traveling around Fraser we headed back after this lake. That night we made dinner, for

Me and Jess pasta and veggies, and everyone else a delicious meal with grilled corn and salad and chicken :( haha we were so jealous. That night we played cards and drinking games. We drank Goon it's similar to franzia its boxed wine that's super cheap and the thing to drink at Fraser. It was also our first night getting used to taking the dingo stick with us when we had to go to the bathroom ( aka dig a whole in the sand). That night we also went out to the beach with a few people still up to watch the stars, they were so clear and bright. 

The next morning we were up and at it at 7:30. We went to the champagne pools.

They call them that because when the ocean sprays over the rocks it bubbles and looks like champagne being poured.

From there we went to Indian head a view point were you can see sharks and sea animals at times. We climbed up there and saw a few sea turtles but no sharks.

Then we continued to the Magen's shipwreck. It was sold by New Zealand to Japan and as Japan was taking it to Japan it got suck in a cyclone and washed up on shore. Then australia allowed the USA to use the boat as target practice with bombs.

Back in the day is was the 2nd largest steam boat. They compared it to the titanic saying it was a luxury cruiser.

Then we headed to the lazy river or Eli creek. It was super cool, you walked up the path and jumped in the creek and the current would carry you down. It was all fresh water. We stayed there for a bit played some frisbee. We saw someone we meet back in Noosa at the same spot (Suzy from England) she was with some local guys from Australia. They had the coolest decked out car it had a huge solar panel on it to power the fridge in it. They were also grilling and the back of another car. They were so nice even gave us a ice cold water. Such a treat! After that we headed back to camp made dinner and hung out again. It also thunder stormed and rained this night which was kinda cool. We played wolf pretty much the same thing as mafia but with different characters. (Below, Ellen, me and jasmjin)

It was super fun and we were all up till 3am! Needless to say we were all feeling it in the am when Jeff woke us up at 7:30am again. 

The last day we went to lake makenzie, it was kinda unfortunate that it was raining but a few brave souls still went for a swim. Luna, Marie, Kevin, Oliver, Mads, jasmjin and me decided to swim half way across the lake to stay warm. 

After that we had lunch and got on the ferry to head back to our hostel. Some people showered but we were all so hungry and Luna took everyone's orders and went and got the pizza. Mads props to Luna!! 

Us all eating pizza. The trip was so fantastic, I became so close with people who were strangers the day before. Like we said, it's not good bye it's see you later! 

Noosa

After brisbane we headed to Noosa for a day. I wish we had more time there. We stayed at a pretty cool hostel and the area was really nice. It was such a pretty beach and the town seemed really great as well. It kinda reminded me of Byron bay but without all the hippies. When we were there we went to the beach and the national park. Both were great. I paddle boarded which was so fun! 

The national park was also so pretty, it was pretty much a trail along the coast you could walk. At times people can see Dolphins and whales. We did see a dolphin in the morning while at the beach. It was dumping out of the water so close to shore, it was pretty amazing!