Day 13

Day 13 started where day 12 left off. We finally made our way to the airport at midnight, to find that checkout didnt open until 1:00 (when they had told us that it was to open at 12:30). Boarding was suppose to start at 2:30, but come 3:00 we were still waiting to be called. We finally got off the ground just after 3:00 in the morning, 15 hours after our initial departure time.

                                                     

The flight and the morning back in Melbourne were spent catching up on sleep. We headed out in the afternoon to Southland mall to pick up some goodies for Andy's birthday party. 

The weather in Melbourne has been shaping up quite nicely. The mornings and nights are cool, but the days when the sun is shining it is a gorgeous day. With that we spent part of the afternoon kicking the footy around. 

For Andy's birthday we went over to a friends house for dinner and a table tennis tournament. It was good fun seeing some of Andy's friends that I had met before and being introduced to others. My table tennis skills were quite below par, but birthday boy made up for it as the winner of the men's tournament.

I can't believe how quickly the time has flown by, only two more days before saying goodbye to Aus once again :( 

Day 12

If you thought yesterday was a terror of a day, today definitely rivalled it! We got up and got packed, before going out for breakfast at the hotel. The day was quite a cracker with the sun shining bright and not a could in the sky. We went for one final walk down the esplanade. Andy ended up going for a swim in the lagoon pool to cool off before heading home. 

We arrived at the airport and boarded the plane, as per any usual airport experience. As we were taxing down the runway the plane suddenly turned around and headed back to the gate. The pilot announced that there was a pressurization problem and it would be another 15 minutes before we would know more. Everyone sat patiently awaiting to hear what would come next. About 20 minutes later we get the news that were going to have to disembark the plane, this is when murmurs of complaint started to come from the crowd. Another 2.5 hours waiting in the airport, the voice over the loudspeaker announced that our flight had been rescheduled for 2AM tomorrow morning. So we then had to plan how to kill 11 hours! 

We made our way back into the city and our hotel was nice enough to let us drop our bags off. We spent the next few hours exploring the casino, walking along the esplanade, enjoying dinner and getting some final massages at the night market.

Day 11

Today was our last full day in Cairns and we spent it doing what I was most excited for in Cairns, diving the Great Barrier Reef! 

We got at what felt like the peak of dawn to head down to the boat. We managed to catch the beautiful sunrise on the way down. 

There were probably about 40 people on the boat, a mixture of young and old. The ride out to the reef took 2 hours from the dock. About 30 minutes in, my biggest fear happened... I started to feel sick. I went to sit at the back of the boat when all hell broke lose and I said goodbye to my breakfast. It was pretty much all downhill from there as Andy got sick and nothing seemed to help my heaving. Needless to say, the boat ride was no fun at all. 

We finally reached the reef and I hoped once we were anchored I'd begin to feel better. Unfortunately that hope was just that, a hope. The nassau refused to go away. All the crew members told me that if I got in the water it would make me feel better. So I timidly got dressed in all the gear and hopped in the water. After about 15 minutes of swimming and snorkelling around, the feelings were still not gone away and that's when I called it quits and back on the boat I went. I then proceeded to fall asleep and woke up around the time the second dive was supposed to take place. There was no way I was strapping on any scuba equipment right now, but I did go sit on the edge of the boat with my feet in the water which helped me feel a bit better. 

Soon after it was time for the 2 hour journey back to the mainland. Surprisingly this was the best part of the trip. I actually started to perk up and the feelings of sickness I had, had for the last 6 hours were fading. Of course that's how things happen! 

Finally my feet were planted firmly back on land. I think Andy and I had a sense of relief that we had made it through the day. What started off as being the day I was most looking forward to ended up being one of the worst unfortunately. 

We spent our last evening enjoying a meal out and exploring the night market for one final time. 

Tomorrow we fly back out to Melbourne!

Day 10

Day 10 was another early one, as we got picked up from our hotel to make our way up to the Daintree Rainforest.

The first stop on the tour was a croc tour along the Daintree River. Although it was quite a disappointment only seeing 1 croc.
Can you spot him?

After the croc disappointment, we went for a hike through the rainforest to learn about the plants and animals of the famous area. 

Before lunch we stopped at a beautiful beach called Four Mile Beach. It was secluded and felt like a little private piece of heaven. 

Lunch was at a cute little hostel in the middle of the rainforest, followed by a stop at a local ice cream shop. This wasn`t your usual ice cream though, it was ice cream made from local fruits grown on the property. So flavours were a little odd, but it was a nice midday treat. 

It was a long drive back to Port Douglas where we made our final stop at Mosman Gorge. The gorge is an aboriginal heritage site where we learned about the aboriginal traditions and Andy even went for a swim in the gorge. 

 We finished off the day driving back to Cairns. When back we had dinner at the Cairns night market and came across one of the best finds of the trip: Chinese massages. Cheap and relaxing :)

Day 9

Today we woke up early to enjoy breakfast on the esplanade. The sun finally decided to shine bright!

We spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon walking around the city and exploring the different shops, along with the lagoon pool that lies right in the city centre overlooking the water.

Cairns doesn`t have a beach, so the pool makes up for it! 

Later on we rented a car and drove up the coast to a resort town called Port Douglas. The drive along the costal road looked right over the ocean, along all the twists and turns. 

After walking along the main drag and enjoying dinner in Port Douglas, we went to a rather unusual evening of entertainment... Cane Toad racing.

I was the score keeper and Andy a toad jockey where he used birthday noise makers to get the toad to hop off the table into his hand.

It was definetley and interesting one of a kind experience.

Day 8

Today we boarded an early morning flight to Cairns. Cairns is in north Australia and about a 3 hour flight away from Melbourne. 

When we arrived the weather was a lot warmer than Melbourne, but still a bit overcast. 

After checking into the hotel, we took a little wander around the city and stopped at the local shopping mall. The esplanade is the "main drag" that overlooks the ocean, and has a ton of shops, resteraunts and tourist information centres. 

After an afternoon of watching footy, we went for dinner on the esplanade at a nice Italian resteraunt. Following dinner we checked out the famous Cairns night market. The market contains all sorts of souvenir stalls, which were fun to look around at. Following the night market we checked out the Cairns casino. It is a smaller casino, but we enjoyed looking around and losing and few dollars on some bets. 

After a long day of travel, it was early to bed to get set to enjoy our next day in a tropical Australian paradise.

                                      

                         

Day 7

Today we were all a little tired after the busy day of the wedding yesterday. So the morning was pretty chill. The weather was really nice today so we went out for a kick of the footy. Somehow I think my skills have regressed since being here, sadly. Andy was a good little coach giving me pointers. 

Tonight we headed to the docklands to the Ice House to watch the Melbourne Mustangs hockey team take on the Newcastle North Stars. The hockey was actually of quite good quality coming from Australia. The Mustangs lost but it was a great atmosphere and good to see hockey all the way on the other side of the world! 

After the footy we jumped on the tram down to Richmond to the MCG just in time for the footy game where Collingwood was taking on Geelong. Although neither is really my team, I have a fairly big distain for Collngwood, so i was barracking for Geelong tonight. The footy is a great atmosphere especially during a close game. Unfortunately Collingwood won by a single goal, but it was a great match to watch live!