Australia

Some how Jenna and Me managed to miss our bus to Airlie beach so we were delayed for a couple of hours, but on the bus we did catch we met a couple of nice Canadians, Ryan and Neil. We pretty much talked to them for the whole of the journey. When we arrived at Airlie beach we said goodbye to Ryan and Neil as they were staying at a different hostel and just by chance the boys were walking by, so they walked us back to the hostel. My first impression on Airlie beach was a good one, the atmosphere was great, and it seemed to be a very small sociable town.
We booked into the hostel for a couple of nights, then Jenna and Me got settled into our room. There was a really lovely lady I got along with instantly, she was telling me all about her travels and advising me on the places to go. Once Jenna and Me had settled in we decided to meet up with the boys down at the bar, and to our surprise we saw Ryan from the bus come in to the bar (who Jenna liked) and later Neil turned up. Also Rob was there from our white water rafting trip too, so I caught up with him a little and then everyone was sitting down to watch the Arsenal v Brazil match, and as per usual there were rowdy British people causing trouble, and Jenna and Me were a little bored so we went to bed. This night had been the first night that Jenna and Me actually had a good laugh together, I dont know what about but it was nice that we were getting along even if it was for an hour.
The next day we went and woke up the boys, so we could all go and get breakfast and have a little look around the town. Breakfast was great, all four of us sitting down in a little cafe right opposite the beach. The town was tiny, it was literally two long strips of shops etc. We all decided today was the day to book the Whitsunday trips too, so we had a look around for the best deals and so on, but we had a problem or two. Jenna didn't want to go very much anyway, Rory only wanted to do a day trip, but Carter and Me wanted to do a two night three day trip! So in the end after a lot of hassle, when it was supposed to be fun, we decided that Carter and Me would go together, and Jenna would go with Rory on a day trip, I was quiet looking forward to it now, as i thought it would be good for Jenna and Me to have a break, and meet a few new people, but Jenna was not happy, she spoke to everyone else properly, but me for a while.
later on we all met up for dinner, again we all sat together at Magnums and had 4 pizzas for 40bucks, they were delicious. On the way back we saw a notice for a foam party and Rory was so excited, so that was our night planned, we payed 5buck for our tickets, and then went back to the hostel to find our oldest, but decent looking clothes to put on, and off we went.
When we got to the foam party it was hilarious, the bar was the size of our dorm, and there was a tiny little dance floor, but plenty of foam, so straight away Rory was in there, and then I followed, it was funny but not very nice to be ducked under, the taste stays in the back of your throat for ever. Jenna came in too, and Carter would not budge so we had to drag him in. It was an ok night, but Jenna, Carter, and Me left early as we knew we had to be up early for the Whitsunday trips.

We all traveled to Townsville, and caught the ferry over to Magnetic Island, I found this pretty funny as it was a rocky ride, Rory and Jenna's stomachs were turning over. When we got to Magnetic Island we hadn't yet booked any accommodation, but we had planned to go to a hostel which we had seen in Rory's Lonely planet guide. When we arrived in the area we found that this hostel had been closed down for over a year, so we would never trust Rory's guide from 2002 ever again lol. We got back onto the bus looking for somewhere to stay and found Base.
At Base we booked into a dorm of six, which was good as it gave us the opportunity to meet more people. So we get into our room, settle in and go to reception to ask some questions, and were then asked to move next door. All the people we had met in our room must have thought we had complained about them, as they never spoke to us again, but this was still a good move, as when we changed to next door I realized one of our room mates had previously been at Mission Beach, but we never spoke before. His name Carter, he must have thought I was crazy on first impression, as I just started to blabber on to him without introducing myself. Carter turned out to be a very funny American from Mishigan State. Jenna, Rory, and Me kind of just adopted him from the moment we met. There was also four other girls in our room who were pretty crazy, and very into girlie stuff. Jenna liked the girls instantly, talking about hair etc where as I would stick with the boys, play cards, talk and hang out on the beach, as I could not handle the girlie chit chat for too long.
Base backpackers was literally on top of the beach, and the rooms were cabins and tents, it was really great to be able to sit and eat your dinner or have a drink by the beach, and the view of the sea at night was amazing. The only let down was the Kitchen, as the facilities were not up to scratch, so we would have to buy their food from the bar, so we spent quiet a bit of unnecessary money on food. It also had a very busy night life, which i didn't like too much, so I had a couple of early nights, reading a book that Carter had leant me (Kurt Cobains autobiography) which is very good.
I did have one good night out, it was a night for the men to dress up as women, and Rory jumped at the chance, he loved all the application of make up and girly clothes, he was definitely a site. In the competition Rory had to dance and skip better than the other men to win free drinks and free kayaching. He won the competition which meant free champagne for us girls, and beer for the men. I was also looking forward to the full moon party we paid for on arrival, thinking it would be good music, beach fires, fireworks. It turned out to be trance music, and no entry to the beach, ending at 7 am. Rory had a good night, but Jenna, Carter and Me decided at about 12pm to grab hot dogs and go back to our room. When we got back we found alcohol spilt all over the floor by the girls, which had attracted loads of ants. Two of the girls had drunk a bottle of vodka each ooooh!
The next day we left Carter as he wanted to talk to his girlfriend, which usually took 2 hours aaaah, and we went to hire a Moke, which is a funny looking little car, so we could have a look around the Island. The Moke cost 70 dollars for 24 hours, but it took us 15 mins to get around the Island and see another beach and a few shops on the way. We realized we had been cond, but we did have fun on the way home, as there was no music we decided to have a good sing along, and I will never forget Bohemian Rhapsidy!
We stayed at Magnetic Island for 4 days, and it was relaxing, but 4 days was plenty of time for all of us i think. We all decided to book our next buses to the next destination. To our surprise Carter wanted to meet us at the next place too which was great, another travel buddy!

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! : )