OZ - Cairns

Cairns is the most ugly city in Oz. It is a bit like LA! There is no beach and instead there are miles of ugly mudflats. God knows why people built apartments that look onto the mudflats!

Anyway, I have done nothing in Cairns except catch up on my emails. I did catch up with Derrek who I had met in Hawaii. He's great and it was nice hanging out.

Oz - Cape Tribulation, Daintree & Port Douglas

Cape Tribulation is about a 3 hour drive from Cairns.


I did a bus tour thing and was glad I was not doing a day trip. We zipped up the road and did a Croc Cruise on the Daintree River and we did see a few crocs. We then did a boardwalk through some rainforest but it was more like a stroll. Not my kind of stride!


Next we arrived in Cape Tribulation and the place I was staying was nice enough, but totally isolated. It was a 9km return walk to the nearest supermarket! Luckily I had stocked up before I arrived.


Out of boredom I did another daytrip to the reef on the Rum Runner. It was a bit of a crowded boat, but at least not too many people were sick. I did a dive, but was pretty disappointed as the visibility was worse than down South and I had been told it was supposed to be better at Cape Trib. I skipped the second dive and just snorkelled instead. I actually saw more snorkelling!



The next day I just hung about at the beach bored before getting the bus to Port Douglas via Mossman Gorge, which was overrun with tourists!

Port Douglas is a really up and coming hoighty toighty place and is where you might bump into Hollywood stars. Not me though! I just spent the day by the swimming pool topping up the tan!

OZ - The Great Barrier Reef

After 17yrs it was back to the Great Barrier Reef, but this time to do some diving.

My only memory of all those years ago was being on a catamaran and spending the trip puking, spending some time on a beach and being a miserable pubescent!

We boarded the Compass cruise boat, which is the cheapest option for daytrippers heading to the reef. It was a rough ride and I was surrounded by people puking in brown paper bags, mainly the Japanese. It took 2 hours to get to Hastings Reef and we were then picked up by a speedboat which transferred us to the Reef Encounter boat.

I was well impressed! Way too posh for the likes of me! We were greeted by a huge lounge area with big sofas, a TV, a bar, fruit bowls and so on. Nice! Even tho I was in a shared room it was pretty nice too, with a nice en suite.

After lunch (of way too many chickpeas.........the joys of being a veggie!), which barely had time to digest, we (me & Jo) were in doing our first dive at Hastings Reef at the Coral Gardens. I wasnt totally blown away, but the coral gardens were spectacular but a bit shallow. It would have been easier to snorkel. I was diving with Jo who I had met on board. She had only recently learned how to dive and whilst she did well she spent most of the dives on top of me which drove me demented when I was trying to take photos. I spent most of the time kicking her, but it didnt seem to make any difference. Anyway, apart from that she was really nice.

Back up on board the boat headed to Saxon Reef. Barely dry we were back in the water diving Turtle Bommies, which was defo the place to see turtles as we saw 3.

Back on board again and we had dinner. As soon as we were finished we were back in the water doing our nite dive. It was ok. We saw a moray eel and a sleepy turtle and just loads of trevallies that were using our torchlites to hunt the little fish. Poor things!

Back on board we got apple pie and ice cream and then it was an early nite for me.

The next day I was up at 5.30am ready for our 6.30am dive at Twin Peaks. It was ok, but most of the fish were still sleeping so we didnt see much.

Back up, dryed and then we were back in again at Twin Peaks, but this time the fish were wide awake and we saw a turtle and a couple of sharks.

Back up and then the boat was off back to Hastings where we did our final dive to the Fish Bowl.

It was the coldest diving I have ever done. The water temp was only 22degrees and it was windy when we got out. I defo cant say it was the most relaxing trip as we crammed in 6 dives in 24hours. But it was good and I would do it again, but next time in summer!

OZ - Mission Beach

More sun, more sea, more beach!

I had hoped to visit Dunk Island, but after buying my ticket the water taxi broke down so I got a refund and spent the money on muffins and stuffed my face all day.

OZ - Townsville

I had 1 nite in Townsville after Magnetic Island. It was full of flippin US marines. They were everywhere. I am sure it would have been deserted otherwise.

I managed to find time to walk along the shorefront, which had great views of Magnetic Island.

Nice place, but a day was enough!

OZ - Magnetic Island

I was expecting Magnetic Island to be the party island and especially the place I was staying as it had 3 bars, but no it was nice and relaxing.

After arriving on the ferry and dumping my luggage I went for a walk along the beach.

The next day I did a fair amount of walking. I headed up the hill to the view point and stumbled across a wallabee. Cute! I carried on over the hill and went to all the view points then up to the Forts, where I saw a wild koala! Woopee! I carried on round the North East coast until I was fed up with all the beaches and ended up at the main resort area Horseshoe Bay.

It took 4 hours of walking to get the Horseshoe Bay and yet it only took 30minutes to get back!

Not much else to say about Magnetic Island. Great Keppel was much better!

OZ - The Whitsundays

What a totally wicked time!

When I first set eyes on the Siska and the number of people that were going to be on it I thought it might be a bit cramped, but it was soooooooo amazing!

There were 22 of us on the boat but it really didnt feel like it, and it was definitly not a party boat, which was even better. I felt a bit dodgy as we rocked and rolled out the harbour, which was my own fault as I had played drinking games the night before with some of the guys I had met.

We cruised out and it was the most amazing weather and most spectacular scenery. First stop was Whitehaven beach, which was just spectacular. After a couple of hours sunning we were back on the boat to Dumbell Island where we stopped for the night. After a huge big dish of nachos we had dinner and watched the sunset. I managed a glass of wine and was in bed by 8.30 and fast asleep by 9pm. The best sleep ever!

I woke up the next day just in time for the sunrise. After Milo and toast I hopped in the water with the camera and snorkel. The coral was amazing and there were loads of friendly fish and some I had never seen before. Back on boat for a bit more sunbathing we cruised to our next snorkelling site, which wasnt as good but I was glad cos my camera batteries were dead.

It is unbelievable how many cruise boat trips there are and yet when you actually head out to the islands you hardly see any boats.

This is the best thing I have spent my money on in Oz so far and tonite we get to have free drinks with the crew. Woopee!

OZ - Airlie

Arrived in Airlie after a 6 hour overnite bus ride on which I got 1 hours sleep. I arrived at the perfect time though for the sun rise. It was stunning all the colours with the islands out to the sea.

I walked along the coast to the nearest proper beach and took loads of photos. After finally checking in to my accomodation I headed to the beach to do some sunbathing. I was dreading Airlie as it is hyped up as the party place, but so far it has been really relaxing and peaceful. I am sure tonite will be a different story tho when Airlie comes alive!

I bumped into some of the guys I met on Fraser Island and we hung out and played silly drinking games. Not a good idea when you are on a boat the next day!