I'm feeling a bit sad writing this as I'm back home in the UK it's cold and raining outside and i'm looking at all the wonderful places Paul and i have seen over the last month.
I left you last on Magnetic Island... from here we got the ferry back to the mainland to catch the Oz bus up to our next stop Mission Beach.
This was not just another stretch of sandy shores and surf like the beaches we had been use to. In Queensland and the further north you get the more things there are that want to sting you, eat you or just try and kill you. The waters off the shore of Mission Beach are full of such lovely creatures. Sharks, Crocs and at this time of year the deadly box jelly fish. A good thing we didn't come here for the beach really. Our main reason for stopping here was to get the chance to do a dive trip out to the great barrier reef. We missed out on our chance when we were at 1770 so we thought this would be another good place to do it as there are a few companies that run trips from here.
So we booked our selves on one. The morning of the Reef trip we both woke up excited about the day, unfortunately the weather had taken a turn for the worse over night and it was hoofing down with rain by the time we got down to the jetty. To make things even worse when we got there the nice lady behind the desk informed us the Reef trip had been canceled as we had been the only people to book on that day. We tried not to let it get us down and jumped on the next boat that was leaving for a place called Dunk Island.
As we approached my imagination began to run away with itself. I was expecting to see some Jurassic monster emerge from the thick rainforest at any moment, the scene reminding me of something straight out of the movies. Dunk Island is mainly covered with rainforest and great for exploring unfortunately we had not gone expecting to spend the day in the forest and were suitably unprepared for such, with no insect repellent and flip flops. Instead we decided to explore the luxury resort situated on the edge of the Island. We blended in with the guests and were able to take advantage of all the complimentary extras like tennis and basket ball, we even got away with a free cup of tea from the buffet breakfast! The weather cleared up nicely so we went and hired a kayak and went for a paddle around the Island, i saw a manta ray from the kayak which brightened up my day even more.
The next day we had to get the bus, but not until after lunch so in the morning we took ourselves out to explore Mission Beach a bit and headed to a butterfly park. When we got there it turned out to be just a few trees and we only saw a couple of butterflies so we headed back. On our way back to the hostel we did bump into some slightly more exciting wild life in the form of a Casawarey. These are the most dangerous birds on the planet! with there only being around 1500 left in the wild we were really lucky to see one.
From Mission beach we were only a few hours from our final destination of Cairns. We stopped off at a Crocodile farm in Innisfail, where we got to see some more Casawaries up close, but behind a fence and also some hungary crocs getting fed. One of which was over 5 m long called Gregory, the oldest and grumpiest croc on the farm who had been picked up for taking out a farmers prize bull!
We got to Cairns early evening and had time to enjoy a good meal and a movie before having to get up at 4 am to catch our flight down to Sydney. This was the start of my epic journey back to the UK. We flew 4 hours from Cairns arriving in Sydney just before midday. My flight out was not until 6pm so we had some time to kill at the airport. Paul was a star and kept me company until it was time to check in. We said our goodbyes (shed some tears :( )and i started my 22 hour journey home.
Now i'm back it hardly feels like i've been away and i'm missing everything about our adventure.
I've seen some amazing places and i'm still very much on a journey, but i feel so much stronger for having experienced the things i have over the last few months and now know that anything is possible!
Who knows where life will take me next... i have a few ideas ;)
