I Just got back from the best weekend of the trip, my 2 days spent on a diving boat on the outer Great Barrier Reef. I finished my open water diving course out there, now I am a certified diver. On my last dive I saw a turtle, shark, octapus, giant Maori Wrasse (huge fish a meter or 2 long), attacking trigger fish, and of course a ton of beautiful colorful other fish and coral. We had about 25 meters of visibility under water, so we could see the wonders for miles. I am now a diving addict. I got in 5 dives, almost 3 hours of bottom time (underwater time) in the last 2 days, now I am feeling a bit nauseated. Maybe too much sun, or too much boat time... or nitrogen narcossis....


Just coming out of the water from my fifth dive


The sunrise from my boat, yes I got up at 5am to see it, well worth it

My new accessory



A little nervous walking up to the bungee tower



Yes, kangaroos really do like wonder bread


The feeder is actually standing right over the croc, luring him out of the water, and teasing him with raw chicken bits



This shot really summarizes my stay on Magnetic Island, I actually laid in that hammock for 6 entire days straight.

The last 24 hours of my trip have been pretty sweet, and full of adventure. I spent one night in Mission Beach, where we went out for kangaroo. It was really good actually, they prepared like a steak, covered in plum sauce. One of the best meals I have had down here. The next day I took off on the last leg of my Oz Experience, to Cairns. We stopped off at a crocodile farm, run by a family who raises crocs for meat. I meant to try some croc, but forgot. They took us around to watch the feeding. There was a big bucket of chicket carcasses, complete with heads and feathers attached. The crocs only get a piece of chicken every couple days, since 75% of what they consume is converted to body weight. There were a ton of crocs. The workers use a plastic rake to stroke the crocs on the head, which causes them to close their eyes, and not attack. I think I would want more than a plastic rake if I was teasing a crocodile out of the pond with raw meat. They had tons of other animals too, kangaroos, wallabies, emus, alligators. We got to hold snakes and crocodiles afterwards. They taped the mouth of the croc closed, it was only a baby, but really really heavy. I had a few pythons wrapped around my body too, you would have loved it Sam! The highlight of yesterday definitely was the 50 meter bungee jump I did in the rain forest! The guy had to keep peeling my hands off the rail as I stood on the platform. It was way scarier than sky diving, since you get the ground rush. My entire body was burning with adrenaline afterwards for a long time, and my knees wouldn't stop shaking. I got dunked up to my hips in the pond at the bottom, and got water up my nose, which sucked. So much fun though.

My week spent on Magnetic Island was the most relaxing segment of my trip by far. All I did was lay around in a hammock all day reading trashy magasines and doing the crosswords in them. The hostel here is absolutely paradise, right on the beach. I spent most of my time in the pool thought, since there are stingers in the water. The fringe of the Great Barrier Reef is right off the beach, so people were diving and snorkelling just a few meters from the hostel. I was planning to do my open water diving course here, but I decided to do it in Cairns instead, where I can go out and do it on the outer reef on a dive boat. The visibility is supposed to be way better up there too. The only drawback is that I miss out on diving the Yungala, a wreck dive, supposed to be the best in Australia, and in the top 10 dives in the world. Oh well, I am sure the Barrier Reef will still be alright. On Friday night I went to a full moon party here at the hostel, 1400 people, so it was pretty big, not even close to Koh Pagn Nang I am sure Mike, but still a ton of people. It went from 7pm to 7am, but I didn't last very long, since I started partying before 7. I have done a fair bit of hiking here on the island. Magnetic Island has the largest isolated koala population in Oz, there are over 100 koalas on the 100km long island. I have seen 3 of the cute animals while hiking. They are hard to spot since their grey fur blends in to the gum tree bark, and they don't move, just sleep 20 hours a day. That would be the life. They have one of the most extensive digestive systems of all animals to extract maximal energy from the gum tree leaves. There are a ton of green ants here on the island as well, and the aboriginals used to lick their green bums, to stimulate their salivary glands when doing long trecks in the hot climate here. I licked one, and it was like having a drop of lemon juice squeezed onto my tounge, very tangy. I have seen rock wallabies on the island as well, they live in the rocks by the ocean, and come out to feed at night. They look just like mini kangaroos. There have been quite a few possoms as well sut walking around. This island is quite the wildlife sanctuary. Now I head further north for Mission Beach today where the cheapest skydiving in Aus is.

I just returned from 3 long hot days of sailing around the Whitsundays on a really neat classic sailing ship. I went with Jo, my English friend, and there were 14 people, the skipper, the cook, and the first mate. Everyone was really nice, met some cool new people. We boarded the boat nice and early at 9am on Thursday morning. As we got on we had to give up our sandals, never to see them again for 3 days, then get our feet washed off. They are quite particular about keeping the boat clean. Bananas are prohibited on boats, for superstitous reasons. My boat was called Providence, and was a classic wooden sailing ship, very pirate-looking. Everything was done with manpower only. We all had to pitch in to sail the thing. We had to hoist the sails up and down, and hand crank the anchor up, which was heavy. I have never seen so many ropes in my life. My sailing lingo is quite good now, I know all about the peak and throat of the masts and what angles to keep them at, etc. There wasn't too much wind, so we motored some of the time, and sailed some of the time. We would pretty much sail for a few hours, stop and snorkel for an hour, get back onto the boat, have a snack or meal, sail, stop and snorkel, eat... The snorkelling was absolutely amazing, beyond what I ever imagined. We were on the outskirts of the Great Barrier Reef. The coral was beautiful and very diverse. It came in all colors and all shapes, some looked like brains, some like shrubs, some like mushrooms, some hard, some soft and waving in the current, yellow, blue, red, green, purple, pink, white....... And the fish, the fish were the best part. It was like being in an aquarium of exotic fish. At a few points, I was surrounded by schools and schools of tropical fish, tons of them, all different colors and shapes too. Words really cannot describe. I took my digital camera with me to try and capture the wonders, but the pictures don't quite do it justice. I can't wait to do diving now. I get to Magnetic Island on Monday, where I will stay a week or so to do my open water dive course on the Great Barrier Reef. I saw one fish that must have been over a meter long, and almost a meter high, it was a giant, and so so colourful, and moved really slowly. We had to wear stinger suits while in the water because it is now stinger season, and there are some deadly jellyfish in the water. I saw some, but didn't get stung. We all slept on the boat both nights. Some people slept in the bunks, but I slept on the deck both nights. It was really beautiful laying there on the deck of this pirate ship, looking at the clear sky and stars, being rocked by the waves. It was however, not the most comfortable sleeping of my life, and the sun was so hot at 7am we couldn't sleep any longer. A group of turtles swam up to our boat the last morning, but apparently I couldn't be woken, too bad. The food was excellent as well, we had 6 meals a day, definitely the best eating I have had since landing here. We went to Whitehaven beach to watch the sun set one evening. We did a little hike up to the lookout to see the whole beach. The beach is magnificently white, like snow, and the water was so turquiose. We saw tons of stingrays right off the beach too, and some people even saw sharks. The only problem with the trip was the heat, there was no way to escape it. I layered on the spf 30 constantly, and managed to avoid any major burns. I felt pretty grimey at the end, covered in sunscreen and salt, it was nice to get back to land and have a shower. Last night in Airlie Beach there was a big street party, and bands performing, I guess there has been a week-long festival the whole time we have been here. A "save the reef" festival. There was a huge fireworks show the first night we got here. I still feel like I am on the boat, constantly moving back and forth. I am leaving tomorrow for Magnetic Island.


Bat fish, they circled our boat the whole time we anchored there, and swam with us. They are actually bigger than my head.


Great Barrier Reef coral


The infamous Whitehaven Beach


Me snorkelling, and looking so cool doing it


Home for the 3 days

My stay on the ranch was lots of fun, it reminded me of home actually. I have been dying to hear some country music, seems there are no country fans down under. I tought my English friends how to line dance while we were there. There were a number of goat-based activities laid out for us, the first of which was the team event. Myself and Jo teamed up for the female power team. In this event there was one goat let into the ring, and we had to catch it, pick it up, and carry it to the centre, kneel on it and pretend brand it. I managed to snag a front foot in no time at all, but as soon as I had him I could feel his little leg popping, I thought I was breaking it. His leg must have been up past his back he was struggling so much. Then I managed to get ahold of 2 more legs and get him to the middle where I stuck my knee on his chest. The whole thing seemed rather cruel. The goat roping was hilarious. I was pretty good with the lasoo just practicing, but when it came down to it with the actual goat, it wasn't so easy to hit a moving target. They put us in a pen with 25 or so goats, and we had to pick one that we were going to get, and if we got that one, we got 5 seconds knocked off our time... yes, this was a timed event. I almost got my goat on the first throw, but I only hooked one horn, and it slid off, then they all started running, and things went downhill from there. My strategy after that was simply to throw the loop into the stampede and try to hook something, even a leg would have been fine. I finally got one just as my 1 minute was running out. So my first goat rodeo under my belt, I am thinking of going pro next year. Later on in the evening I put on a clinic on the mechanical bull. Yes, in true Canadian style, I won the bull riding contest, managing to stay on for 12 bucks (12 seconds or a bit more). After the 12th buck I jumped off since my hand was numb and tingling. I have had a stiff forearm ever since. What a grueling sport. That night was the worse sleep of my trip, the dogs howled until sunup, at which point the millions of birds took over squaking and chirping, and the "rustic" accomodation were the most uncomfortable ever. During the night I felt something with multiple legs crawl across my face, and threw a small spaz. We were on the bus for 10 hours the next day, and played a game of lawn bowling on our way to Airlie Beach. What a stupid sport, just like curling, only on grass, with balls that aren't round. I sucked. Now, I am in Airlie Beach, and suffering the worse stomach flue known to mankind. I have spent 2 whole days in bed, I hope to be better by Thursday when I leave to go sailing for 3 days though.