AVATAR

Arrived in Airlie Beach and spent two nights before heading to our boat! Ship? Whatever. It was pretty big and had 3 hulls and Sarah and Katie (from Fraser) were on it as well so it was nice that Chris and I already knew some other people. There were 20 of us on the vessell and everyone had to share a bed. First the captain asked for the couples so they could go into the out hull and have more privacy. There was a couple who had been together for 8 years from Switzerland and a couple from Wales who were on the last 2 weeks of a 7 week honeymoon! And that was it but there were 3 rooms (and I use that term loosely) in the out hull so Chris and I decided to take it so that we could go to bed early/whenever and it would be quiet at night and in the mornings. To get to our "room" you went out of the main hull, outside, across a mesh floor underneath which was ocean, and then opened a clear hatch about 2ft by 2ft. Then you lowered yourself in directly on to the mattress (another term I use loosely). It was certainly wide enough for both of us to sleep comfortably. Lengthwise, however, was not quite as comfortable. With my backpack in the 'room' at my feet, all 5'4" of myself could not fully stretch out. Chris, being 6'0" could most certainly not stretch all the way out, even less so with his backpack and food in the 'room' with us. Add to that the rocking of the boat, the beer being drunk and that with the hatch closed it was SO HOT in there, neither of us slept very well. The first night I had a slight panic attack and needed to open the hatch a couple of times--just to make sure it still did-- which didn't help matters. 

The first day we went snorkeling and got the priviledge of wearing these little numbers.....

The food on the boat was amazing! Our host/chef provided snacks, tea, coffee, cake, roast, potatoes, veggies, fruit omg there was SO MUCH FOOD :D

The second day we went out to see White Haven Beach. Everyone was under the impression we would actually be on white haven beach but we were not. So Chris and I decided to swim across the channell to say that, yes, we had been on it. About 10 feet in to the water a black thing ahead of us started moving. And had a tail. Shit! Its a stingray-- the same thing that killed Steve Erwin. For about 3 seconds we kept moving closer to get a better look until we realized-- don't be stupid, get the eff out of the water. No that it would come attack us, but still. Better safe than sorry.

Then, of course, we had to brush our teeth with the sand :)

beautiful water--looking out to Whitehaven Beach

Back up to the lookout to see this:

With the tide out

and then some more snorkling, with the beloved stinger suits, and we boated (what's the term?) to a lagoon where there were wild Cockatoos and I fed one some bread!

Back on land the next day and night and then a night bus to where I am now- Cairns! Will be going scuba diving the Great Barrier Reef tomorrow :)

that white dot by my hand is the moon :)

The Town of 1770-- still living in the 1770's

Not much to do in this town but if you do it all you have a great time!

Scooteroo: driving mini scooters decked out to look like Harley Davidsons while wearing leather jackets and helmets with flames on them. Hell yeah. We even saw some wild kangaroos and the begining of a beautiful sunset.

Surfing: Get up to go to surfing school at 10, get in the water around 11 and be standing up on a wave by 11:45! Its much harder than it seems, and much harder than I remember when I was younger (and more agile and smaller and on a longer board, ha). We were on shorter boards and learned the techniques and had such a good time and got some great photos! Did the lesson with Chris, Lizzie and Lucy so it was two of us in the water at a time making it perfect for photos to be taken of each other :)

Spa Day: After the surfing the girls and I had a girly day at our hostel. A woman came around and gave us face masks and massages and mud/clay to put in our hair. It was a great way to kill time before the bus left at 910pm to arrive in Airlie Beach at 7am.

Turtle vs. Turtel

Wow I feel like I have done so many things since I last posted! This one will be dedicated to Fraser Island and Roberto "Italiano". He is, obviously, Italian and was travelling alone in Australia. The meeting to get set up for our Fraser Island tour put Roberto in a group with myself, Sarah, Katie, Rhian, Susie and Martin. These became the people that I shared driving, food and insanely funny yet 'had to be there' type jokes. A lead driver needed to be chosen in the group and present a credit card-- our group decided to do this based on who had a credit card with them. Roberto did! Perfect, he is our lead driver. Mind you we all had not spoken too much yet and so did not realize at the time that we were putting our faith (and lives? for a period of time) in someone who did not understand more than about 5 words of English. During the safety video about how to drive and, more importantly, what NOT to do Roberto dutifully sat and watched the TV screen. When it was over Rhian casually asked if Roberto understood what was said. He looked at her for a moment, with a smile plastered on his face, and said, "Yes. Yes. .....the video? No." Oh crap. The next day we got up early and drove over to the ferry to get on the island and headed straight for Lake McKenzie. So beautiful, it looks exactly like the photos-- so now there's no need for you to go there ;) 

Chris, being only 19, was not allowed to drive (must be at least 21) and so was in the car with the guide along with other under 21 yr olds. At Lake McKenzie I was hanging out with the girls from my car mostly, tanning and playing in the water. At the end of our time there Chris and I started throwing and kicking the rugby ball around, joking with each other and just having a good time. On the walk back to the cars I overhear one of the girls in his car-- "That was weird how you made friends with that other girl so quickly......" "uhhhh, I've known her for about 2 months" haha Apparently we hadn't made it obvious we were travelling together. Then Hans, our older German guide, took us to the Shipwreck where I discovered how to take continuous photos on my camera. I now have about 100 photos that are nearly identical of the Shipwreck. This was how the island got discovered: The ship crashed in to it captained by a woman named Fraser. It was a cruise ship, only first and second class, somehow got lost and BAM! discovered an island. And then sank.



Our car ate dinner together that night as we had bought food as a group. The two boys stood around rather helpless looking until the food was ready. Bless them for doing the dishes though. On this night we found out, after painstaking conversation, that it was Roberto's dream to come to Australia. Awwww. 

The next morning was an early one. Roberto quite enjoyed driving. None of the girls enjoyed him driving quite as much though. He would barrell through the soft sand, make full use of the 4x4 bouncing us up and down in our seats, exceed the 80km/hr speed limit on the beach and didn't mind if the water came up. We minded. Us saying 'No no watch the wave!' and Roberto responding 'yes, its good! its good.' 'No Roberto! ahhhh!' I may not have excercised but my heart rate was definitely up during this trip.

During my turn at the driving I managed to stall 3 times, get stuck in the sand twice and drive through a wave causing the entire car to be engulfed by water. I eventually surrendered my post, climbing over the seat into the back telling them I wasn't doing it anymore and someone else needed to step up. Roberto leaped at the chance to drive more. You win some, you lose some.

We went to Indian Head, got some good pics and then went to see some turtles. Chris and I became the entertainment of the group with me trying to catch a turtle and him giving mocking/insulting/hilarious commentary. I managed to flip a few through the air, not being able to hold on to them tight enough. One of them would swim towards us with his head out of the water looking directly at me. I didn't like this. Chris capitalised on it. But eventually I got one! and a round of applause from the fifteen other people on the Fraser tour :)

The next, and last day, provided us with a couple great lines from Roberto. We went to a Lake Wabby which is at the bottom of a large steep sand dune; everyone runs down the sand and into the water. About 6 of us lined up to do this. We all went blitzing down the sand, I was going as fast I could, determined to be first. However, my bathing suit felt as though it might be slipping so on the last couple of steps I put my arm over my chest. This made me lose concentration, which made me trip at the waters edge, which made me face plant into the water. FACE PLANT. At least I can continuously provide entertainment for the group.

On the walk back Chris was talking to Roberto and trying to figure out how old he is. Chris is rambling on and on, just talking bullshit, then finally looks at Roberto and asks, point blank, 'how old are you?' Roberto turns to him, smiles, nodding his head and says 'yes!' uhhhh. How many questions had we asked Roberto in which he had not understood a single word and just replied yes? ha, too many I'm sure. Then Chris starts telling him how good in the water he is and such a good swimmer he is and so on. Roberto smiles and nods his head again-- 'I like swim'