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