Here we go again....
12/9
Early start today, ready and waiting outside the hostel but the bus driver had overslept and was late. On the way up to Cape Tribulation we had a rainforest walk in the Daintree and a Daintree River cruise to see some more crocs. Success, some crocs out on the banks albeit small ones. We got to Cape Trib at lunchtime. The hostel was really cool, luckily the dorm was a family room and full of us from the trip up. Went for some walks in the afternoon and then had to make a mad dash back across the beach before the tide came in, we made it just!
13/9 My Birthday
This morning I was given a Mars Bar with some sparklers in and the girls in my room sang me Happy Birthday so that was really cool. Went snorkelling at the Great Barrier Reef, what a way to spend my birthday!! It was amazing, so many fish and bright coloured coral. Not much of it has been destroyed as only 2 boat companies go out to the reef that we went to. Saw a bull ray (like what killed Steve Irwin) and some massive giant clams. Others in the group saw turtles and a couple of people saw a shark- argh! It was freezing when we got out of the water. Realised half way through the morning that we had forgotten to check out, whoops! On the trip back to the hostel we stopped at Mossman Gorge, Alexandra lookout and Rex lookout. Some good views. We then had to hang around and wait for the bus at 00.25am.
14/9
So we got the bus at 25mins past midnight and arrived at Bowen at 10am. Good sleep on the bus. We then walked for 3 hours and made our way to a really nice beach. Hardly anyone there. The walk back took us 1 hour 45mins. We waited for the bus to take us to Airlie Beach, it was 30mins late and as we were the only 2 we thought it had forgotten us!
15/9
Today we went to Whitsunday Islands-eventually! The boat was delayed for 3 hours, turns out the fridges weren't working. Then because the tide was low we had to be transported to Freight Train (our boat) by tender so that then took even longer. Once on board we were given ours beds. It was very cosy down there! We finally set sail and headed off to the islands. Because of the delay there was no chance for a swim on the first day. They ferried us across to an island for a few beers.
16/9
Today we went to Whitehaven Beach. It was so beautiful. Enjoyed the view and then set about topping up the tan. Ended up falling asleep on the beach, don't worry though I had tons of lotion on so didn't burn. After the beach we were going to go snorkelling and scuba diving. The tender was broken so it took like half hour to fix that and then by the time everyone and all the equipment had been ferried across to the beach it was 3.30. The first group had a dive of 15 mins and then the second group only had 10mins. Luckily I was in the first group. There was not enough snorkels to go around either. The dive was no where near as good as the snorkelling in the Great Barrier Reef. The visibility was rubbish and there was not much colour down there. Glad it was free and I didn't have to pay $60 for it.
17/9
This morning there was no electricity or water on the boat. Then to make matters worse, the starter motor wouldn't work so we ended up getting sent back on another boat. We saw how nice the other crew were and how much better their boat was. When we got back to land we all went on mass and complained to Oz Sail. After that, we all felt much better and headed over to our hostels, got cleaned up and then headed to the bar. We ended up with a free drink and some free nibbles. Good night had by all of us I think.
18/9
Check out this morning and over to Oz Sail to see how our complaint was going. We ended up getting $50 back each. Not as good as we had hoped but better than nothing! Off to the lagoon to relax and soak up some sun. Met Hayley Dumbrell for a few hours, nice to see someone from home! Scored another free dinner before leaving on the bus for Hervey Bay at 8pm.
