Sparkie's

When we arrived at Mission beach we booked into a dorm of six, but turned out that we would only share with one person Rory! Our first night at Mission was very quiet as we were nervous to mingle with the other backpackers, but once we started talking to Rory we felt much better. Jenna and me decided that Rory was gay lol. He was the most intelligent, and funniest person i thought i had ever met, it felt good to laugh so much, as me and Jenna had been bickering a little. We both realized by now that we wanted to do very different things, and Jenna was having a hard time adjusting to the creepy crawlies lol, so Rory helped to get us through this stage, and also became a very trustworthy friend! Rory was up everyday always on the go, wanting to play board games, or swim, or run, walk, anything just to get rid of some energy.
Our second day at Mission beach we were invited our for Daniels birthday party, he was a member of staff and it was his 19th birthday. We all had to have a mustache drawn on, as it was a Mexican theme night, this was our second night out since arriving in Australia, and it was a good night too. When we got back to the hostel i decided i had so much fun, that i couldn't sleep so i went for a night swim ( it was sooo cold at first), i got out after a little while to have a shower, and as i was showering i realized i was in the company of a frog!
I got to know the regulars at the hostel, which made me feel much more at home. Jenna also had a good night, but didn't like Mission beach because there was a few flies and very little to do, besides relaxing, but i fell in love with it. Every morning we would wake up to music i loved that, we would make breakfast, go down to the beach which was only a two minute walk. One day Rory and Danial spent around three hours trying to make a raft which was funny to watch, they did manage to make it, and it floated but as soon as they jumped on it sunk to the bottom of the sea lol. Later we would play cards, or board games with everybody. We also had our first BBQ at Mission, i had Spanish mackerel which was very nice, Jenna also had this but was worried about having it put on her plate with the head still attached.
On our third day Jenna and Me decided to do something whilst we were here besides chilling out, so we went white water rafting, and the birthday boy Daniel joined us. When we arrived we met somebody else on there own who joined us for the day, which was nice his name was Rob, from Holland. The white water rafting was so fun, and it was something Jenna and me enjoyed together which was good. When we was rafting we also had the chance to jump off of a rock into the river, which was about 25-30 foot high, so we just went for it!
On our last night at Mission there was a show put on for everyone, by Nick someone who worked there, he done a dance with fire on a stick, and on pois, which was my highlight of the week, it was amazing. After the show we went for a stroll down to the beach, this was a bit scary in the dark, but was so beautiful once we got there, we sat for a good hour in the cold, just watching the horizon and the tide coming in.
Whilst i was at Mission i had my own Mission also to learn how to use the pois myself, obviously without out fire, but i succeeded after a lot of practice and encouragement from Daniel! The following morning we had to say goodbye to everybody, accept Rory who decided to join us at Magnetic Island yeh! I was sad to say goodbye, but also very excited to see what our next destination would be like : )

Hello day three, and we had a fantastic shower today, along with a spider above my head : ( lol was actually the scariest shower ever, but kind of getting used to it, as i've not seen one move yet! Today we had a stroll down into town in the early morning, and noticed there was a market. The market was pretty much filled with sarongs, pearl necklaces and over jewelery, but it was great to find something to do on our way to town. We also noticed that because the beach near us is just mud and sea, there is a massive public pool on the beach front (excellent).Once we arrived into town we went on a 40 min bus ride to Cairns tropical zoo yay was sooo excited! I AM GOING TO RUN OUT OF MONEY ON THE COMPUTER SO TO BE CONTINUED ..... At the zoo we had the opportunity to hold a koala and feed the kangaroo's, so i did, it was amazing i wanted to sit with the Roo all day. We saw a baby one sticking out of the pouch! Once we got back to the hostel, we sat down by the pool and a couple of blokes in there late thirties started chatting to us, we was a little worried but turned out they were really nice, gave us a lot of advice! Tim and Rob from north London, they asked if we wanted to join them for dinner and we said yes, but due to jet lag fell asleep and never turned up, so as you can imagine we felt terrible lol. We managed to spot them the following day and say sorry as they were leaving to go home. So that was about it for day three : )Oh yeah it actually rained today too for a bit, and was surprising pretty cold at night, we only have sheets on our beds so had to put a jumper on and pj's lol!

Jenna and me woke up about 8am and was too scared to use the showers,due to company of a few bugs lol so was reduced to washing with wipes on our first proper day! We then got breakfast at the cafe next door to our Hostel, still not aware of exactly how much we were paying for things without a calculator lol, everything seemed to be very expensive, especially for the sandwich with a dash of mayo we just brought for 5 dollars! Anyway we set off into town checking out the shops, which were mostly selling beach wear and couldn't resist the temptation of buying a sarong, and hat (as mine i had taken with me was a little too crocodile dundee!). All the way through the town we were aiming to find a bus stop, to take our first trip down to Trinity beach. We arrived at Trinity beach expecting clear waters and white sand, but it was the opposite, apparently they are further down, but the beach was still amazing i could have sat down for hours just looking at the view of the mountains on the horizon, and listening to the sound of the sea (how cheesy does that sound) but sooo true, I was also wishing everyone that i am close to could be there to see how amazing it was! We decided to give the sun a rest and head to the beach side cafe, I ordered up fish and chips lol and Jenna had a ham sandwich! We will have a better menu to tell you about soon i promise, looking forward to kangaroo, and crocodile.
Later on we arrived back in town, and bought some food to cook in the Hostel as we hadn't mingled with anyone yet, and this would be saving on the pennies! It had been a long few days and by the time we had walked back to the Hostel (about 6pm) Jenna and Me fell asleep and woke around mid-night. I decided this was a great time to ring my Mum and let her know i was safe, and to pass on the message. It was great to speak to her (love you Mum, everybody!), only wished i could have spoke longer, and to everyone i knew to tell them all my news, but as it is not cheap to phone home, it's not possible. thank god for Travelers point and email) I also phoned Jonathon to see how he was, and to catch up as i missed him too. Think i realized today how long I will not be home for so was a bit sad, but excited to see whats ahead! : )

The 28th may Jenna and Me took the flight from London Heathrow to Singapore, with British airways (the worst journey i have ever made) 12 hrs of being squashed, i was also seated next to a man who looked like Harrold from neighbours (actual name Jeffery) he was our first Australian contact, as he offered help if traveling through Sydney on our journey's which we definitely will be. The next 5 hrs were not so bad with Australian Airlines much more room to breath. Once we finally arrived in Cairns it was so strange to see tropical trees just outside of the doors, it was 4.40 when we arrived so we hung around for a bit awaiting the hostel to open. We got in a taxi to our hostel about 6am, which was a bit scary as it was a fair distance still we arrived. When we arrived the hostel was still closed, so there is Jenna and Me stranded first night in Oz and then we had the pleasure of a cockroach to welcome us home! After a bit of a wait we was allowed to book into our room (upgrade from dorm of 4 to a twin RESULT)but still on first impressions we were gobsmacked to see how basic and dingy the room was, however after 3 days, were already used to the budget accommodation (apparently better than yet to be seen), and creepy crawlies!
We had a little walk through the town in the afternoon, finding there to be a lot of Restaurants, and tour operators, and very big roads, we almost got ran over trying to cross one, and very disorientated trying to understand street signs etc!!
Later on in the night we went out for our discounted dinner at the woolshed, which later on turned into a pub/club. The music was great (same as at home) and we were shouted up our first round of drinks from a couple of Australians called Joey and Craig. They were from Sydney and New zealand (our second lot of contacts and possible shared accommodation)however Joey tried to kiss Jenna so we did never bother to email and meet. So that was our first day : ) p.s forgot to say we also had sun burnt within 20mins, was very hot compared to sunny England!