Castaway and Fraser Island

Despite my promise to update more regularly it has been a while since my last post so I will try my best to remember what we have done.

The trip to 1770 was eventful to say the least. Already one of our longest journeys, the trip ended up taking us around 14 hours as I left my bag in a service station and added 4 hours onto the drive.  By the end of it we were so tired we would have slept anywhere, good job really as the reception was shut by the time we arrived so we had to huggle together in a single bed with no sheets. We were meant to be leaving for the castaway trip the next day but as the plane was broken we had to wait until Thursday.

The hostel itself was amazing and nothing like any other hostel we had stayed in. We upgraded the next night and stayed in a double room which was lovely.Unlike a lot of hostels, the rooms were in wooden cabins with 2 rooms per cabin and each room had their own toilet and shower. The grounds where it was set were really pretty, and it had an outside screen, a wood fire, lake, hammocks and bbqs.

The town of 1770 was pretty boring with nothing there except a local supermarket and the travel agents. I wouldn't recommend stopping off there unless going on the trip.

Although we had had to wait until Thursday to go on the trip, we were all glad we did. We got flown over in a tiny 4 seater plane to a private beach that could not be reached any other way. Once there all you were left with was wood for the fire, ingredients to make a stew, tents to sleep in and a few beach activities such as sea kayaking and a few bush walks.

The area was lovely and views from the plane were stunning. Plus the pilot kept doing tricks which scared the life out of me but that Dean loved. I think he could've crashed the thing and Dean would've been happy just to be back in a plane again!

After we spent the night there we got flown back early as we had another 5 hour drive that day to get to our next stop at Rainbow Beach. This is where we were spending the night before leaving for Fraser Island. Even though we left early, we still only just made it in time for the briefing.

Fraser Island is the world's largest sand island. The best way to explore is to go on a 4WD tag-along tour which is what we did. Basically, you get split into groups of 8, otherwise known as your 'Fraser Family' and get your own landcruiser to drive around the island. You get enough food for 3 days and all sleep at the private camp site. It is called a tag-along tour as even though you are driving your own car, you are led by a tour guide and there are 4 vehicles in total.

The first day started off well. Our group was made up of me, Dean, Richard, Caroline, 2 deutch girls, a guy from Hong Kong named Jeremy and a german girl called Cindy. The best part was the trip up to Lake Macenzie, an off road track that was pretty crazy. It had lots of dips and we found ourselves getting thrown off our seats a few times. This wasn't helped by the fact that it was one of the deutch girls driving and she didn't have much experience driving a manual car. That said we made it to the lake in one piece.

Unfortunately, on the way back we weren't so lucky. Dean was driving and we had decided to take the track fast and hard as everyone was enjoying getting chucked around.This meant that the 2 deutch girls were sat at the back, the worst possible seats in the jeep if you don't like getting thrown about. what we didn't know was that one of the girls had a weak spine and as we went over a particularly bad bump her back got jarred and she was in a crazy amount of pain. We were right at the top of the track as well and so she had to be given really strong pain killers and moved to the lead vehicle. It then took us 2 hours to get down a track that should've taken 20 minutes at the most. We were met at the bottom by an ambulance and she was taken to hospital, along with her friend.

We didn't get to camp until around 7.30, by which time it was pretty dark and we were all starving, tired and completely sick of being in the car.

The next day, Neil and Vicki, a scottish couple that we had met the day before joined our group. They had been in the lead car before but they were with a group of french that spoke little english. Plus they hadn't been able to drive the day before and none of us wanted to drive anymore so it worked out well.

It was through these two that I heard about the farm where I am currently finishing off my farm work but I will get to that later.

The next 2 days were pretty disappointing. The weather took a turn for the worst and fraser island is really a place to be enjoyed in the sunshine. As it was so cold, none of us wanted to go swimming- one of the highlights of the trip - and as we viewed the famous wreck of the S.S Maheno, we were all doing our best to ignore the wind and rain. I can see how people could love the island, it is unusual and some of the spots are beautiful, it is just a shame that the weather ruined it for us.

The next stop for us was Brisbane. I had been looking forward to this and it didn't disappoint. Although it is a big city, it didn't feel too big. Unlike london, it was really modern and I just thought it was really pretty. There were random pieces of art dotted all around the centre of town and the walk along south bank was really picturesque - probably one of my favourite parts of the city. I also got the chance to catch up with Laura and Keziah, the two girls I met on my very first day in Oz.

From here we were supposed to make our way down the rest of the East Coast and on to a place called Cessnock, near Sydney. I had a job lined up in an irish bar/ restaurant/ hotel there. However, after Neil and Vicki told us about the farm here on Kangaroo Island I decided to try my luck and see if they had any work here. We were in luck and they had work for both of us. Although it is pretty much only working for accomodation it meant that I could get the rest of my regional work done so that I can stay for a second year. It took us 2 ad a half days of driving through the outback to get here. We crossed 4 states and drove over 2,000km. It has been worth it though. The boss is really laid back and work is pretty easy, if just a little boring.

We also got to spend the night in Adelaide where I caught up with an old school friend who worked at the zoo there. He got us in for free which was pretty cool and he took us out around town that night. It was good to be out and experience adelaide like the locals do, rather than visiting the usual backpacker places. It was the first time i'd worn heels in 6 months, so that was different!

Anyway, as this is a mammoth entry i'll leave it there. As it is, we only have a few weeks left here then i head to Cessnock to start my work at the bar where I will stay until I come home in April. I'm looking forward to it as we will also get the chance to catch up with some friends from the first farm while we are in Sydney.

Much love to everyone who has bothered to read this essay of an entry.

xxx

Airlie Beach and the Whitsunday Islands

Airlie Beach is beautiful, one of the most picturesque places I have visited in Australia so far. As we drove in along the coastal cliffside road we were greeted with an unbelievable view. Hundreds of gleaming white boats were moored up in the marina and the sun was just starting to set over the bright blue water.

This is what I came travelling for, to see places like this. The whole town is really laid back and our hostel was no different. It was so unlike the other hostels I have stayed in. Outside there were hammocks, big enough for 2 people to lie in (we know, we tried) that over looked the bay. On a night we would just lie there and look at the stars,

On Friday morning we parked up the car and walked along the boardwalk to the marina where we were to catch our boat, the Wings 3. We had decided to avoid the notorious party boat and opted for a more relaxed trip instead and we were glad we did. The boat held around 22 passengers and three crew members. Although we were expecting it to be a lot bigger, it was still deceptively spacious.  The group we went with was an eclectic mix made up of every nationality. Everyone was really friendly and the crew were great.

 

In typical Lucy style, within the first half an hour of being on the boat my bikini top popped open and I flashed to half of the boat. Mortified doesn’t even come close to how I felt but everyone else, Dean in particular, thought it was hilarious!

Embarrassing moment aside, we had chosen the perfect weekend to go sailing. There was no wind and the sea was like glass, good news for our seasickness as this is one of the things we had been worried about beforehand.

Our first port of call was the famous Hayman Island. This is where the rich and famous come and stay when they visit the Whisundays. It is privately owned and Rich, one of the crewmen, told us that Will Smith had once paid $40,000 to dive there. Luckily for us, the other side of the island is a national park and owned by the Australian government, meaning we could moor up the boat and go snorkelling.

As the water was so calm, it also meant it was perfectly clear. This by far stands out as my favourite snorkelling spot so far. It was so relaxed and peaceful and the fish we saw were beautiful. Now if I’m honest, I kind of had the attitude that a fish is a fish, you see one and you’ve seen them all but some of the ones we saw there were really incredible.

That night, as we were sailing towards our overnight destination and watching the sun go down, we saw Dolphins jumping next to the boat. I have seen dolphins in marine parks but never in the wild so this was really special for me and I think I will remember it for a long time.

 

The next morning, we woke up early to go and explore the stunning Whitehaven Beach, known for its beautiful white sands. It didn’t disappoint. The water was crystal clear and the views from the lookout were spectacular.  As far as views go, this is going to be pretty hard to top. Whitehaven is paradise.

 

 

Although nothing could top the morning, the afternoon was also pretty incredible as I saw my first sea turtle. It was huge and nothing like I expected. I have been diving and snorkelling about 4 times now and I had missed them every time so this was definitely one of the highlights of the trip for me.

We are now back on dry land and at the beginning of an eight and a half hour drive to our next stop at 1770. This is where Captain Cook first landed when we discovered Australia. We are supposed to be going on the castaway experience but have been told that the plane that takes us there is broken so we aren’t sure if we will be able to now. Both myself and Dean will be pretty gutted if this is the case as it is one of the things we were both looking forward to.

Anyway, that’s all for now. If we don’t get to go on the trip I’ll update again after Fraser Island this weekend.

Much love to you all,

Luce xxx

Dalbeg and life after the farm

Life in Dalbeg was...interesting. When Amy and I pulled up at the Dalbeg Inn, I immediately thought I had landed in my own personal version of hell. My phone had stopped picking up signal about 5 minutes before we reached the farm which meant no calls, texts or, worst of all, internet.

I'm not sure what I was expecting when I thought of the 'Dalbeg Inn'. I was used to outback pubs looking a little run down, even by English standards. That said, I was still expecting the Inn to at least be an Inn. What greeted us was a house with a shop/ common room tacked on to the side of it and a shed in which we were to pay $140 a week to sleep in.  One look at Amy's face and I knew she was wondering whether we had made a mistake going there.

That said, we soon settled in. The '1st generation' only had a couple more days left at work before getting their 2nd year visas signed off and everyone was in a really good mood.They all told us they had loved working on the farm and that their three months had gone so fast. They warned us that the boss was very strict and that at least half of the group they had started with had either quit or been fired. Luckily, the first week was pretty easy, especially for me (I had something like 5 days off out of 7) and we were still getting signed off for the days we didn't work. We were drinking every other night for various leaving parties and the days we worked we were usually finished by about 2 so we spent the rest of the day lazing about or heading into town.

After the old group left, the work started picking up and some days could be really tough. We were working from 7.30am to 6.30pm at night and everyone was exhausted. The only thing getting us all through was the thought of our second year visas and everyone else on the farm. In a short time we had become a family, eating and socialising together.

Unfortunately, 7 weeks into our stay, there was a crash in the market and our boss was failing to make a profit. We all went out one morning and when we came in for lunch she called a meeting and told us that she was closing the farm effective immediately. I was ok, I had another 7 months to do another 6 weeks worth of regional work and it meant that I could leave with Dean, the guy I had been seeing on the farm. He had already got his visa and was due to leave a month before me so in some ways it worked out well for me. It wasn't such good news for some of my friends who didnt have a lot of time to complete their regional work. We all had one last party that night to say goodbye before a group of us headed back up to Cairns the next morning.

As you all know, I had visited Cairns twice previously but I was happy to go back as I really love the place. I wanted to show it off as most of the people we were travelling with had never been and I wanted them to love it as much as I did.

While on the farm I had promised Dean that I would do a skydive once we got to Cairns so when we got there that was one of the first things we looked into. There was also a number of things we wanted to do as we travelled down the East Coast so myself, Dean and our friends Caroline and Richard all went into the travel agent and booked a reef trip, a 14,000ft skydive, a trip to fraser island, a trip around the Whitsundays and a castaway experience.

I had already been scuba diving on the great barrier reef but I didn't mind doing it again. I think I actually preferred it this time as I was more used to the feeling of breathing underwater so I could relax and enjoy it.

The thing I was most scared about was the skydive. We rang up on the Monday and booked it for the following Saturday. At the time, it felt like it would never happen but all too soon it was upon us. Saturday morning my stomach was in knots and by the time we were in the bus on the way to the airport my nerves had really kicked in. My instructor was great. He was a dick and kept winding me up, but in a way it made me relax. I think just having someone reassuring me would've just made me over think it all, he kept me distracted. The worst part was watching two girls jumping at 11,000ft.in what felt like no time at all we had climed the other 3,000ft and it was my turn. Happily, my friend Rich had to go first and watching him look so scared kept me from thinking about how scared I was. It turned out I didn't really have time to be scared anyway. Before I knew it I was out of the plane and trying to remember how to breathe, not easy when you are falling 200km an hour.

It was the most incredible experience of my life and by the time I reached the bottom I just wanted to go up and do it again, I can see how people get addicted. The one thing I was disappointed about was that I couldn't afford the video and if I do it again I will definitely get one.

I am now in Airlie beach for 2 days before going sailing around the Whitsunday's on Friday. The place is absolutely beautiful and the hostel is the most chilled out place I've stayed since I came to Oz. I've been here five months now and I am excited I am finally getting to travel as I haven't been able to since I arrived.

Once we finish our trips I am going straight back to work so I am treating this as a mini holiday.

Thinking back, I have done so much other stuff but this is turning into one mammoth entry so I will make the conscious effort to update more in future.

Hope everyone is well at home.

Much love to you all,

Luce xx

Ravenswood and my 23rd

I can’t believe it’s been nearly a month since I last updated, no wonder Alex has been bugging me to do more blogs ha

Just re-read my last entry and there’s quite a lot to update everyone on.  After spending 2 weeks and far too much money in Cairns, me and Amy had been ringing farms around Queensland trying to get a job on a farm. Everyone we spoke to told us to ring back in two/three weeks. We were just about to give up when we got a break, a pub in a small town near Townsville badly needed workers and they’d agreed to sign off our paperwork to enable to get us our second year. This was risky because bar work doesn’t qualify you for a second year, no matter how remote the town is that you work at. In order to get around this, the owner said he would claim we were doing maintenance work. So, a few days later Amy, Alex and I headed off down the coast in awesome paul (Alex’s car) and came down to Townsville. We had been out the night before for the final state of origin, which was a really good night but we all felt slightly delicate the next day so the drive took a little longer than it normally would. We got to Townsville around 4pm and after a quick nap we headed out for some food and to explore. Amy and I were getting picked up early the next morning so we didn’t get to spend as much time in Townsville as we’d have liked but we both said we will go back there for a few days once we finish work.

The town we got a job in is called Ravenswood. It is another old mining town but it is even smaller than either of us had thought. The population here is a mere 150, compared to Karumba’s 500 and minus the tourist trade. It is so quiet here. We can go a whole day without serving any customers and the hours are long. We start at 9am most days and won’t get finished till around 10pm. Me and Amy usually relieve each other for a couple of hours each afternoon but we are still doing a lot of hours for hardly any money. It quickly became clear to us that we wouldn’t be able to complete three months here and we kept up the search for regional/farming work.

There have been some good bits to working here. The owners, Jill and Charlie are great. They look after us like we are their own kids and they do so much for us. We have ended up buying one of their old cars from them and they dropped the price to $800 for us. It needed a bit of work but we are hoping that after parts and registration it will still come to around $2000 so its cost us less than a $1000 each all in all. We also ended up getting a new job on a farm through some people who came in to the bar. We are starting there on Saturday, the money is better and it will enable us to legitimately get our second year visa signed off so we are happy about that. It is only an hour and a half drive from where we are now so we are hoping the car is up and running by Friday.

Last Wednesday was my 23^rd birthday and although it was sad that I wasn’t around my friends and family at home I still had a great day. We went into Townsville on Tuesday night and my girls treated me to an indian which was lovely. We then got ready to hit the town for the first time. That night reminded me why I love backpacking. While me and amy had been working, Alex had stayed in Townsville and had made friends with some people at the hostel so we got introduced to them and they got dressed up for my birthday as well and we all started playing drinking games. As we sat there more people came over and got involved and by the time we were ready to head out there was a good group of us. They all sang happy birthday to me at midnight and the night out was good. Townsville nightlife isn’t as good as Cairns but the people I was with made up for it. I didn’t get my cards from my mum and everyone until Friday and my parcel only arrived yesterday (Monday) but that just made it feel like my birthday lasted longer. My present from my unorganised sister is still to come too so that’s something else to look forward to J

Although we are looking forward to starting our farm work and meeting the people we are going to be working with, both Amy and I have spoken about how we are starting to miss travelling and we are hoping to get out and about on our days off now that we have the car. We have a plan to road trip up to Darwin then down to Alice springs and Ayers rock once we finish working so we will see how that works out.

Think that’s all for now. Thanks again to everyone for my birthday wishes, I miss you all lots!

Big love xxxxx

Goodbye Karumba, hellooooo Cairns!

So after hardly updating my blog in the past 2 months, I find myself writing a new entry after only 2 weeks.

Although we knew it wouldn't be the same in Karumba after our little group left, Amy and I were still undecided about what to do. We both needed the money and we knew our manager Dawn was relying on us. That said, we needed to start our regional work to get our second year visa and we were finding it increasingly hard to get on with our manager Tim.

Tim is a 32 year old man with no hope of ever finding a wife! He does not have one single attribute. He is offensively ugly, way out of his depth in the position of manager and has no discernible personality or social skills. He is detested by most of the locals and only has a job because his dad knows the owner.

It was the night before Alex, Rachael, Jules and Dean were leaving Karumba and it was the second round of the State Origin. Most of us were working but our friends from Karumba, Dan, Robbie,  James, Issac, Isaac, Smeady and Reynolds etc were all in the pub. They had already been warned by Tim that if they made too much noise they would be barred, automatically putting them in a bad mood. It didn't matter though, it was such a good atmosphere and although we didn't finish work till late, the shift went really quickly. We had already planned an after party at the huts. I wanted to be in bed by one as I was up early the next day, but after not finishing work until midnight, I knew that wasn't going to happen. I think I got to bed about 4.30, standard. And I was at work 10-3 then 5-close :(

The night was pretty eventful, after being asked to leave the huts by the police because a bush fire had broken out, we decided to go back to the staff house. We aren't allowed to take people back to the staff house so we were just sat outside in the garden, with the music on quietly, all just having a chilled drink. The next thing I know, Tim is coming out screaming at everyone to 'get the fuck out of my house' and telling me to fuck off etc. I was so mad. Not surprisingly. the guys got so pissed off and a few of them got up in his face. I don't know what he expected, it was 3am and they had all been drinking since 11am the day before. If he had come out and asked us to leave in a nice way there wouldn't have been an issue. Anyway, we all left and went back to Dan and Robbie's house and the night ended pretty well. For some reason I decided I was a pro basketball player and we ended up having a game, I was shocking, even with my granny throws I was way off! I don't remember much after that but I woke up at 8am, still drunk in robbie's bed with Rach. Fun times! Poor robbie had had to sleep at james', ooops.

I got to work the next day and was told to expect a visit from the police. Tim had got the boys done for getting up in his face and had barred them for 12 months!! after an angry phone call from the owner about taking them back to the staff house I decided enough was enough and me and Amy agreed to leave. We told Dawn the next day that we loved the job but we could no longer work for Tim. She was understandably upset after losing so many staff in the space of a week but the atmosphere had just gotten so bad there was no other option.

2 days later, we woke to find Tim's dog had been through the bins and there was rubbish everywhere!! We all left it as it was his responsiblilty to clean up. When I got home that night I was just getting in to bed when I realised my bed was soaking underneath my pillows but the pillows were dry. I text amy to see if she had spilt anything. She text back saying she hadn't but had seen it earlier and assumed I had spilt something. Earlier that day, I had noticed that there were a pair of bloody pants on the porch that had obviously been thrown away. When amy got to work that night she said she had found a pair stuffed into her hand luggage. I asked her what they looked like and it was the same pair! we soon put 2 and 2 together and realised it wasn't a coincidence. We then found more rubbish stuffed under her sheet. We were both livid and rang tim to confront him. He denied it but he was the only one in the house at the time and was the only one with a reason. I confronted him the next morning and he admitted it. He said I deserved it and called me a little bitch. I have never been so angry.

We went straight to work and told Dawn who in turn phoned the owner. He was told to apologise but as Dawn was going on holiday this week and there was noone else with a license he held on to his job. It made me even more angry that Dean had been sacked for eating in the smoking area but that he can do things like that, leave the bar open full of money, steal cases of beer and turn up 2 hours late to work and still keep his job!

I am actually a little bit gutted to have left Karumba and I'm really going to miss some of the people I met there. On the last Thursday before we left we went for an all day drinking session at the other bar in town. Some of the boys came over and we had a really good night. We were in bed by about 11 but we were trashed! Amy had written some notes to Tim and she went into the tavern and read them to him in front of the customers, very amusing but far from professional haha.

So last saturday we were up bright and early to catch the bus back to cairns. We wasted no time and hit the town that night. It was Quebec's national day so we all dressed up in blue and white and Alex painted the canadian symbol all over us. It was a great night and it was so good to be back in a proper bar and just dance.

On sunday we decided to go for a 'quiet few' at the Pier bar as this is where the australians hang out and it was meant to be a good night. We met up with Teli, a miner from Karumba and he ended up coming out with us. It was another messy night, the Pier bar was busier than we thought it would be and then we went to some other bars that we hadn't been to before. It was nice going out with a local and doing something different. We still ended up in Gilligans just in time for the wet T shirt competition. I thought the boys eyes were going to drop out of their heads. Very amusing!

We've also taken the chance to blow some hard earned cash and have been shopping for the past 3 days. Its been nice to spend without worrying.

We've been in touch with a guy we met in Karumba and we think we have another job lined up which should count for our second year so fingers crossed that comes off.

Big congratulations to the lovely Mister and Miss Al who have just got engaged. Looking forward to a good old skype with you later.

Big hugs to everyone at home.

Love and miss you all lots xxx

Aye Karumba!!

I've been in Karumba a month now so I thought it was time i updated the blog. I haven't felt the need to update sooner as I haven't really been doing much and I don't want to bore people back home.

That said, I guess Karumba is a fairly big part of my oz experience so I don't want it to go by undocumented. I've made some great friends here and I think we will stay in touch after we go our seperate ways.

Last Tuesday was Amy's 23rd birthday so we surprised her with a sunset crab and croc tour and a party at the house.

Luckily, the 4 pommes, me amy, rach and Jules all had the night off to spend it with her. The tour was great. We didn't see any crocs but we got lots of free alcohol and we were on the water as the sun went down.

We'd spent the day decorating the house and getting ready for the party. we went all out and put up balloons, streamers and our own union jack flag. We also made vodka jelly and our version of pass the parcel. I couldn't believe that our german and french canadian housemates had never played pass the parcel! talk about deprived childhoods!

The party ended up being so much fun. The chefs cooked up a feast and there was more than enough alchohol to go around. Plus we all woke up with no hangovers, winner! vodka jelly is clearly the way forward ha

We've also managed to make friends with some of the local lads. They remind me of my male friends from Scunthorpe -Very loud but totally harmless. They definitely liven up the tavern a bit. They invited us to a party they were having on the beach last saturday so we all went down for a few hours. There was a fire and music, all you need really. It was just a shame I had to work at 8am on sunday so we couldn't stay longer. Hopefully we will be able to do it again before we leave.

One bad thing is that Dean got sacked last night. We both arrived at the same time and we get on really well so i'm gunna be sad to see him go. We are all so mad about it because he didn't even deserve to be sacked. it was just our shit manager trying to look good in front of the owner and make an example out of him. It was so unfair. It wasn't even worthy of a warning and yet they fired him.

To make it worse, him and Jules have been seeing each other so she is going with him. She wasn't getting enough hours anyway but because she had him here she stuck around. Now she doesn't have anything to stay for so she is leaving Thursday with Alex and Rach. I'm going to be sad to see them all go and we are going to really struggle with so few staff.

A guy I met in Cairns called Matt came up to start work on Wednesday so at least thats one more person here. Not sure what he will think of it but hopefully it will all work out.

I'm not sure how long I'm going to stay in Karumba for. It wont count for my second year visa and me and amy both want to get started on that. It is a shame because we like it here (most of the time) but there's no point staying here for 3 months to have to go somewhere else for another 3. We've been told that theres a pub in a place called croydon 200 km away that would sign off the visa if we worked there. Only thing is amy doesn't have 3 months as she has to go home in September for her Dad's birthday before coming back out again. We also have a contact that we made in the bar of someone that owns a cattle farm so we might call him and go work there instead. It is just deciding when to leave. We were thinking the 5th July but one pay day later would be the19th, the day after my birthday. It would be easier to be here for that but probably have a better night out in Cairns or
somewhere. So lots to think about atm!

Anyway, think thats everything for now.

Love and miss everyone lots xxx

White water rafting and aiii Karumba

Last Wednesday me and Robyn went white water rafting on the Tully river. I'm not going to lie, I was pretty much s**ting myself, I'm the kind of girl who pays into Flamingo Land and only goes on the waltzers.

It turned out that it was one of my favourite things I've done so far. The weather was lovely, we were really lucky. The only thing was that there hasn't been as much rain this year so the water levels were quite low. I'm definitely going to do it again next year once the water levels are back up again.

Got to say, the most difficult part of the day was having to get changed by the side of the road. The bus driver wouldn't let us back on with our wet clothes on but there was literally nowhere to change. The guide directed us to the other side of the bus which was supposedly the 'womens side' we got there and there was this chinese guy just stood there! So we had to change in our towels, not the easiest thing I've ever done =/

That night our group went for our version of the last supper. It was the Alexs' last night in Cairns and I was leaving early on Friday morning. We went to this lovely little restaurant called Mondos and as it was Wednesday we could get fajitas and a drink for $20 so we all had that and it was really nice.

It was sad saying bye to Alex again but I know she is doing what is right for her and hopefully we will meet up again when they get back to Oz later in the year. Gotta say i'm a bit jealous that they are heading back to Bali as well!

On Thursday me and lougles went shopping at DFO, which is basically a discount shopping centre. It's the only place in Oz that i've ever found a bargain. Shorts for $2 and some flip flops for $5. I'm really gunna miss Lou and I hope we keep in touch.

Yesterday I was up early to come to the outback to work. I'm at a place called sunset tavern in Karumba. The money is pretty good and there is literally nowhere to spend it so i'm hoping I will save enough money to travel down the East Coast in style.

The bus picked me up at 6.25am and is meant to arrive in Karumba at 5.30pm, which is bad enough. It ended up being half 6 by the time I finally got here. As we were driving through the outback I felt like I had landed in a scene from Wolf Creek. There literally is nothing there. Just dirt tracks, a couple of houses and a garage/restaurant/ general store. I felt a bit of relief when I got to Karumba because
compared to the rest of the places this was actually quite lively. The tavern is very busy so i'm sure the time will go quite quickly and i'm looking forward to working on the bar. The house was a bit of a shock. There's 10 of us living here and they have literally squeezed as many of us in as possible. It was pretty grotty and at first I didn't know what i'd gotten myself into but Rach cleaned up and its not as bad now. I'm sure i'll soon get used to it. I'm missing the pool already though!

That's about it for now. I want to write an entry on the aboriginals but i'll save that for another time.

Love to all
xxx

Tablelands and waterfall tour

I can't believe I have been in Australia for nearly three weeks. The time is flying by. The 2 Alex's arrived last Fridaybut it doesn't feel like they have been here over a week already. It has been great having them here, home away from homeand i'll be sad to see them leave.

Little things about Oz are still surprising me. After more than 2 weeks here I yesterday realised that they don't have 1 or 2 cent coins. So even though things are priced at $1.99 if you give them $2 you don't get any change! I don't get why they don'tjust have the price at the full $2, they aren't fooling anyone with their 99c lol.

After the Alex's got here last Friday I took them on a tour around Cairns and we went for lunch. I'd warned them about how expensive Oz  is but like me I don't think they realised the scale of it until they got here.

That night their friends the 2 sam's came over and we had some goon and headed out to a local bar called P.J O'Brians. Well actually we tried to go to the wool shed but the sam's didn't have any id and even though they are clearly over 18 they wouldn't let them in so we headed over the road. It ended
up being a really funny night, We busted out the inbetweeners moves and had a nice little routine going by the end of the night.

Last Thursday we went on another day trip. The weather the last week hadn't been great, it's still the wet season here so we had a few showers.  Luckily the weather was a lot better for the trip but as we were in the rainforest it still got a bit cool.

We visited a few different places including Babinda Boulders, Josephine falls, Milla Milla falls and the Curtain fig tree. I think Josephine Falls and Milla Milla were my favourites. At Josephine there is a small pool at the bottom of the falls where you can go swimming and there is a natural water slide which was great fun.

We were a bit nervous getting in as on the way there our tour guide had told us about all these people dying there and a few months before 2 locals had to be rescued due to flash floods. Girl alex was a wimp when we got there and complained about the water being too cold but we convinced her to get in in the end and i'm sure she enjoyed it.

Milla Milla was beautiful. It is where Peter Andre filmed the mysterious girl video so we had fun re enacting that ha. And a few herbal essences head flicks. The water was absolutely freezing though so we didn't stay too long.

I'm trying to get a job now, handed in my c.v at a few places but no luck so far. Hoping to hear back from a few places but it is so hard to get a job here. Everyone is trying to get a job and although it is getting to be the busy season it still hasn't properly kicked off yet so not many places are hiring. Although I have a bit of money left I think I will give it to the end of next week and then go for some outback/ fruit picking work just to get some money in. I'll be sad to see the back of cairns
though as I'm really settled here and I really love the atmosphere and everything about the city.

Think that's everything for now.
Love to you all xxx

Road trip to Cape Tribulation

On Wednesday we had our little road trip up to Cape Tribulation. I think it was probably the best day I've had so far. We hired a car and set off about 9am. It was such a nice day and it was already boiling by the time we set off.

We first stopped off at Palm Cove, which i hadn't even heard of until we set off but it was so beautiful. It felt like we were in Thailand or somewhere and some of the pictures I took could be used on a post card it was so pretty.

We carried on up the coast until we got to Port Douglas. I've been thinking about going there next so I wanted to check it out. It was really lovely but we didn't see as much of it as I would've liked. Wednesday was the equivalent of our armed forces day back at home so all the Army and Navy boys were walking about in their uniforms and we caught a bit of the service while we were there.

We carried on up to Cape Tribulation which is about another hour away from where we were. This is where the rainforest meets the sea and some of the views were just amazing. I was freaking out walking through all the trees though as there were lots of strange noises and i was convinced a snake was going to jump out at me. I also saw my first spider, yuck!

We stopped to eat at a little cafe called masons. While we were there we spotted a sign that said there was a swimming hole there so we went to explore and ended up swimming in a river. it was so clear you could see all the fish but they stayed away from us. It took me a while to get in the water but as rach pointed out I had been swimming with fish 2 days before so it wasn't a big deal really.

I liked the rainforest but not sure I could stay up there for long as everything was so remote. you needed a car to get to everywhere and the thought of all the spiders and everything just made me cringe.

On the way back we decided to stop off at mossman gorge, which again was lovely. It was starting to get dark though so we didn't have as long there as we would've liked.

Rach was leaving today to start a new job so we decided to go out that night, plus it was Anzac day so we couldn't resist the temptation to see fit aussies in their uniforms ;)

the night started badly as we went to get some alcohol and all the shops were shut. Random fact about Oz, they don't sell alcohol in supermarkets here, you have to buy it from liquor stores. I find that so strange. Also, we went to buy some lemonade which was 2.89 on the shelf but rach spotted some in the fridge so we got that and when we got to the till it was $3.99!! they charged us $1.10 for it to be cold!! only in Oz.

It was so wierd when we got back because the night before there had been a big group of us but Ryan and Linn had left that day, Steph was off scuba diving and Louise had to work so there was only the 2 of us. We soon made friends with a big group of dutch guys though and had a sing along with them.

The night ended up being great, so much fun. We met some Aussie navy boys all dressed in their uniforms and we ended up drinking with the dutch guys on the esplanade until the early hours. I was so ill the next day. I blame Louise for making one of the navy boys buy me a jager bomb haha, such a bad influence.

I had some great news this morning, mister and miss Alex are coming to cairns tomorrow. I so can't wait to see them and give them both a big hug! I wasn't expecting to see them for a few months so it was a great surprise this morning.

We've also found a great deal on a bar crawl tomorrow night so another night out may be on the cards.

Louise is asking about a job for me in the bar she works at so fingers crossed that will work out. I'm happy in cairns so I wouldn't mind staying here a while longer and making some money,

Love to you all xxxx

Scuba diving at the Great Barrier Reef

I can't believe it is a week today since I left my mum and meggie at Kings cross.This week has flown by. I haven't really done much since I arrived on Wednesday. There were a few little bits I needed to do like sorting bank accounts and sim cards, boring stuff that needs to be done.

The first thing I did when I got to the hostel (apart from take a shower) was ring my mum and cry lol. I just felt really lonely. I think it was the jet lag, I knew I was being stupid I just couldn't seem to stop myself.

After i put the phone down to my mum I made myself go over to the communal area and I was glad I did as I met two girls from Norwich, Laura and Kaziah, and they made me feel better and took me under their wing. They've been here four months and so far they aren't missing home at all. It was good because as soon as that initial barrier was broken it just seemed really easy to keep meeting new people and there's a nice little group of us now. Laura and Keziah have headed off down the east coast now but I think I might try and meet up with them again at some point if I can.

I had my first night out last Thursday and we went out again on Saturday. It was good but stupidly expensive, $7.50 for a pint of cider (about £5) so I was unusually dignified by the end of the night!

Today was the best day so far, I went scuba diving at the Great Barrier Reef. It was pretty amazing. I had a mini panic attack when we first got in the water. I felt like I couldn't breathe which made me panic and then it was even harder to breathe. One of the girls in our group didn't even end up going but i'm happy to say I manned up and carried on and ended up really enjoying it. I wanted to do the second dive at the next reef but all the spots went before we got chance. We took an underwater camera with us and we will get the pictures back from that tomorrow so i'm pretty excited about that :) really gutted we didnt get to see a turtle. Typically we paid extra to go on the marine biology tour and we were the only group who didn't see them!

I've decided to stay in Cairns till friday at least. I really like it here. it is so chilled out. A few members of our group leave on Wednesday but Louise is working here so she is sticking around and me and rach are on about getting a job so we could both be here a while and there's people joining us all the time.

Me, Rach and Lou are going to hire a van and head up to Cape Tribulation on Wednesday, this is where the rainforest meets the coast I think. I'm looking forward to that because I've been wanting to do that since I got here but the trip is usually like $150 and it should only cost us about £50 each at the most to hire a van and drive there. I'm hoping we go through Port Douglas on the way as I really want to see that too.

anyway, I'm sure I've bored you all enough so I'll leave it there for now.

Love to you all xxxxx

Hong Kong

Saying goodbye to my mum and Megan was one of the hardest things I have ever done and I was totally unprepared for it. I guess when I first thought about going away I didn't really think about how it would feel when it actually came to it.

We'd had a lovely weekend in London, playing tourists and visiting places like Camden Market (favourite place in London so far) and Madame Tussaudes. It was a great way to spend my last few days but it didn't make it any easier when it came to saying goodbye at Kings Cross. In fact, I think it probably made it harder.

Reality hit me all at once and it kind of caught me off guard. Needless to say I was a bit of an emotional wreck so I apologise to any of you that I cried on. I know that i have some truly amazing friends back home and you all made it hard for me to leave.

Anyway, enough of the soppy stuff. I'm currently sat in Hong Kong airport waiting for my flight to Cairns. I flew from London Heathrow at 8.15pm last night and got here about 8am UK time (3pm here) I now have to wait until around 4.30pm UK time to catch my next flight to Australia. I feel like Tom Hanks in that film 'Lost in Translation', I'm just rattling round trying to keep myself busy. My flight isn't even showing up on the board yet I'm that early!!

The first flight was a lot better than I thought it would be, take off was fine (this is the part of flying I hate the most. I watched a documentary once and the airplane went up and came straight back down because it was too heavy, I never got over it) I also had a mild panic about 2 hours in when I realised I'd forgotten to wear my fight socks, I had visions of me waking up with massive cankles. Luckily alls well but I think i'll make a conscious effort to wear them on the next leg. Anyway, once we were in the air there was plenty for me to do. I decided to watch beauty and the beast haha (emma you would be proud), an idiot abroad (trying very hard not to laugh out loud) and breaking dawn.
I also managed to get about 7 hours sleep as my row was empty so I stole all the blankets and pillows and laid out. Good job too because it was freeeezing on board. I thought ahead and took one of the blankets for the next leg too just in case. I wanted to take a pillow as well but thought that might be taking it a bit too far haha.

There's loads of new films and recent tv shows for me to watch so i'm sure i'll be kept busy. Not sure how tired I will feel though so might need to take one of my sleeping tablets to get me off tonight.
I should get to Australia for 2.30pm local time, which is 4.30am UK time. At least it will give me plenty of time to get washed and changed and pick up an Aussie sim card before waking my mum up and letting her know I've arrived. I can't describe how much I am looking forward to having a shower. I feel like I did coming back from V fest last year.

I've just made a friend sitting in the airport so maybe there is nothing to worry about after all. Unfortunately she is going to New Zealand but at least I know there are people out there willing to talk to me ha.

Anyway, not a whole lot more to say right now so I'll update when I get to Oz.

Love to you all
Luce x

7 weeks till touch down...

It's been a while since I updated (not helped by the fact I forgot my password, duh) and quite a lot has happened.

It definitely hasn't been plain sailing. At this stage I wanted to have more than enough money to go out there and get some bits before I go but it hasn't really worked out like that. There has been some unexpected costs (what idiot gets drunk and loses their whole life..oh yeah that would be me!) and  I haven't been able to earn as much as I wanted :(

That said, it is only 7 weeks until I fly out and I honestly can't wait! Starting to think about all the things I need to take with me. Alex has been a lifesaver throughout the whole thing, don't know what I would've done if she hadn't have done it all first and given me so much advice. Can't wait to see her when we both get to Oz! I can tell it is getting close as the mother is starting to panic and has realised I don't really have a plan, i've heard a lot of 'be carefuls' since I got home.

It has been hard saying bye to everyone, i've made some really good friends over the past few years and it isn't easy to say bye when you know you're not going to see people again for a year or two. I know we will stay in touch though, no way are you all getting rid of me that easily ;)

 That's all for now,

Luce xx