Day 92.

D-Day.

So here it is. Day 92. October 29th. The day I defy all logic and common sense and physically throw myself out a plane door!

I was getting picked up from Jackaroo's hostel at 7:15am, I grabbed a quick breakfast of cereal and toast (I'd soon regret this...) before leaving. All I thought about the bus journey there was 'Jumping out a plane. Jumping out a plane!' However, weirdly it was out of excitement and not nerves anymore! I gone through it so many times in my head, I think I may have talked myself round to it!

I thought there'd be more preparation to jumping out of a plane. Turns out, there isn't! I signed a form, jumped on a scale (which, if I'd known previously, I wouldn't of had that second slice of peanut butter jelly toast!), watched a video which told us 3 positions to pull and then we were all ushered downstairs for harness fittings! I'd tried to purchase the dedicated photographer, which means a separate person would jump with me and take photos, unfortunately they were fully booked so I opted for the GoPro photos and video instead. (So if you are booking a skydive, definitely prebook this!) Once harnessed up we had our quick GoPro interview. I said my final goodbyes, he was zooming a camera in my face. It was very surreal! This. Is. Happening.

We piled into the bus and sat next to a parachute. As the bus made its 20 minute journey towards to air strip the instructors were acting so casual, I find it hard to believe how this could be everyday life for anyone!? THESE MEN ARE INSANE! We got to the air strip with the plane ready and waiting, one instructor cracked a HILARIOUS joke about how it'll never get us up in the air. Oh yeah, great time to crack jokes SIR! My instructor was taking photos and adjusting his harness by the side of the plane, in the mean time everyone had already climbed in and sat down. I was the last one to get in. Everyone knows what last one in means... First one out!!

The plane climbed and climbed, all the while I was sat next to merely a sliding door to the outside. Again, I wasn't nervous? Yes, natural nerves, but I was totally stoked to do this! At the end of the day, there is only one way out of that plane... 

I watched the traffic lights intently, red light means glasses on, orange light means door open, green light means... Well you can guess what green light means. We finally reached 14,000ft as the red light flashed. I slipped my glasses on. The orange light soon followed and the instructor flung the shutter door up! With me being the first one out, my instructor had to check everything was ok outside the plane, being attached to the man meant me too!! As he leant out the door into thin air he called 'HAVE A LOOK!'. You know, I'm fine! I'll have plenty to look at on the way down! Not good enough? Whether he didn't hear me or just didn't accept it he grabbed my head and forced me to look down! WOW. So that's what 14,000ft looks like huh!? It feels strangely surreal, from that high up nothing actually looks real. Taking no more than a second to look out, the green light flashed. FUCK. It was time.

My legs went first, straight out and under the plane. Holding onto my strap for dear life I felt the instructor shuffling behind me. 'Shit. Shit. Shit.' is all that was going through my head as I hung out of the plane. As we rocked back for momentum, the instructor shouted one final thing to me... 'CAREFUL! This gets addictive!' and then we went!

As we tumbled out the plane I remember seeing the underbelly of the plane as we fell. The wind then caught us merely half a second later. I was free falling at 200kph! It takes you about 3 seconds to realise what's going on and about 4 seconds to feel the adrenaline! THIS. IS. AWESOME!!! We hurtled towards to ground, gums and cheeks flapping in the blasting wind, passing through a cloud in about a 3rd of a second I then started to make sense of what was beneath me. A tap on the shoulder meant it was time to starfish! As my arms flew out we begin a spin! 

All of this happened within no more than 30-40 seconds, you then hear the release of the parachute and the sudden jolt upwards as the air catches it. 

As we glided down, I could see the entire length of mission beach and the hills of the rainforest. As we began to spiral down I could see out towards the horizon across the sea and the reefs hidden beneath. If not for the experience alone, the views made the dive worth while. The instructor gave me the reins of the parachute and allowed me to have a play!

It was a smooth landing onto Mission Beach as I tucked my legs up and we touched down on the sand. It was both the best feeling to be back on ground yet also the worst feeling that it was over.

(My 'I just jumped out a plane' face)

As someone who has a real issue with heights and doing this skydive was probably one of the biggest things, personally, I've ever done, I couldn't recommend doing it enough! It really is the most exhilarating activity you'll ever do and the feeling of flying is something you can never quite put into words, you can only experience it!

'Travel. It leaves you speechless, then turns you into a storyteller.'

x

Day 89-91.

Magnetic Island.

We stepped off the Greyhound, collected our ridiculously heavy backpacks (seriously, that's one thing you never get used to) and headed in to the ferry terminal. I'd bought the Oz Experience ticket which meant I got a free ferry and stay on the island as part of my deal, so it was just the tick of a name and I was on. Our ferry wasn't for another hour and a half and my 3G had ran out along with my laptop battery. Does this mean I'd have to TALK to people!? No. Balancing myself on a chair and reaching up as much as I could, I found a power socket to charge my laptop that clearly wasn't for public use, but, that obviously wasn't going to stop me!

The ferry was surprisingly quick! It headed across clear blue waters (honestly, I haven't seen a murky sea in WEEKS!) and we arrived on the island about 20 minutes later. There are just two hostels on the island and I was staying at base, who infamously never have shuttles! So I didn't hold out hope and jumped on a public bus (a very busy public bus may I add) with all my bags and just collapsed backwards into a seat. The bus took the most awkward route possible to get there (I forgot how inconvenient public transport is!) but none the less it got us there! The hostel, if I could even call it that, is so beautiful! (Something I NEVER thought I'd say) It's right on the beach, scattered with Palm trees and has a pool overlooking the sea. I swear it's more like a resort than a backpackers! My room even came with a sea view!

We took a walk to the shop to collect some food for a meal tonight. That's right, I'm actually going to cook for possibly the first time since being in Australia! I can tell I'm getting further north because the heat just keeps coming and coming, it must of been at least 30 degrees while we walked! As we collected our bits and bobs we noticed this absolute banger of a car sat outside which we'd seen at the hostel, we may have laughed now but we'd soon have a connection to that heap of crap...

We spent the rest of the day relaxing by the pool (yes, RELAXING, I'd just took a 15 minute walk, I deserve it.) and basking in the ridiculous heat. By the time evening came around and I'd finished making my dinner, I was just sat on the benches, minding my own business and having my dinner when all of a sudden, I turn my head and there's a damn possum one footstep away from a face full of my food!! Welcome to Australia I suppose! The look on it's face was very much '..... If I don't move he'll SO not see me' they're definitely not a scary animal but damn that bitch wasn't getting my food! Sooner have my arm than my food!

Day 2 on the island.

Ok, so remember when I mentioned the banger of a car outside the hostel? Well, we ended up chatting to a guy who'd rented a car earlier that day and it was super cheap, only $25. He asked us if we wanted to just take it off him rather than take it back, so we thought sure! You can't walk anywhere, so this was the best way. He gave us the keys and told us 'it's just the blue one parked up front!'. As we left reception and looked around for a blue car... Guess what car was the only blue car.... Yes. That heap of crap. So here she is, MARY! (We actually kind of love her now!)

We took Mary on her maiden voyage across the island to Horseshoe Bay where we had a little walk down the beach and another bit of sunbathing.

We wanted to see what Mary was really made of, so we took her for a spin over to Alma Bay where, again, we sunbathed (I swear I actually have a tan now and not thanks to St Moritz!) and had some lunch by the beach.

Geoffrey Bay is just around the corner from Alma Bay. This bay is full of gigantic rocks and is home to the rock wallabies! (That sounds like an old man band doesn't it?) Luckily when we pulled up they were actually out looking for bits of food. They're exactly the same as normal wallabies except they live in the rocks! (Australians are real creative that way) they also really stank and looked riddled with flees... But thankfully for all of you, they still look cute in photos!

There was very little wind today so it was unbelievably hot on the island so we decided we'd gate crash a scuba diving lesson in the pool to cool down until sunset. After a quick nap by the pool and just before sunset we were going to take a walk up to Hawkins Points which over looks the island, a pretty good spot for sunset I would say!

We then took our little Mary for a final spin round the island (well down the one road on the island) and bid her farewell! 

x

Day 84-86

Whitsunday Islands.

We spent last night celebrating Rachel's birthday in Airlie Beach. Rachel, Isla and I spent way to much money on way too many jugs of cider (I never even used to like cider!? Apparently now it's all I drink...) and ending the night with a 3am McDonald's! As they say, you can take the boy out of Britain but you can't take the British out of the boy! Despite the late night we had a busy day planned, we were boarding a boat called The Atlantic Clipper to go explore the Whitsunday Islands! Grabbing a dreaded box of goon from the bottle shop we followed the boardwalk to the marina where our group and boat awaited us!

After a welcome meeting we were immediately supplied with dominoes pizza and pies! Something's tells me I might enjoy this trip... We sat on the top deck and enjoyed the sun until we arrived at our first stop. The guys on the boat set up the slide off the side of the boat and opened the jumping platform. Now when I heard 'jumping platform' I was kind of impressed and expecting a platform naturally. Well, it was more, they just undid a chain so there was a gap in the railings to jump off the top deck from! None the less, it was fricking awesome! The water here is a habitat for quite dangerous jellyfish (and yes, I'm flinging myself off a boat into it!) so when going in the water you must wear stinger-suits/wetsuits. So we slipped into the wetsuits (I swear I looked just like Angelina Jolie in Lara croft, I PROMISE) and flung ourselves off the boat! We then watched the beautiful sunset over the islands surrounding us before tucking into our first meal on the boat.

We all retired onto the top deck with our bags of goon and sprite to water the damn thing down with and sat in a circle, again playing drinking games. Literally feel like I'm 18 again... Either that or I'm way too old in the head! But by now I have quite the back book of drinking games to take home! While we quietly enjoyed a few games and a few drinks, we had the pleasure of watching one Glaswegian get pretty drunk, how did I know you may ask? Well, what MAY have gave it away was his declaration of his hidden 'liquid ecstasy' on board. Oh wow. Your that person huh? He then proceeded to offer it around... It's safe to say no one was amused and he was officially labelled 'the boat douche'. Only being able to cope so much with 'the boat douche' for so long and the evening wind turning cold we headed off to our cabins which were really nice, except for everything being slightly damp constantly, that's boat life I guess!

'COCKADOODLEDO! COCKADOODLEDO!' This was the hilarious wake up call the crew on The Clipper think is appropriate for a 6:30am wake up call! I mean, it definitely does the trick because they don't stop until your up! Everyone sat around the breakfast table staring gloomy eyed into their muesli as we set sail for our first stop of the day, Whitehaven beach! As I heard the anchor begin to drop I ran to the back off the boat to get an early start in and be on the first boat to the beach. As the first boat filled up we then made our way to what is known as 'Shitty beach', the name made me do a double take too, don't worry! It's named this because it's the gateway to Whitehaven beach and really is a shitty beach in comparison! The crew had told us to take a right towards to look out before going to the beach, here is where we saw the iconic postcard view of Whitehaven beach. I wanted to replicate what Becca had done for us at the Grand Canyon, so I kept my eyes down, followed the path right to the platforms edge and looked up... Photos will never do it justice but this is what I saw.

The beach really is one of the most beautiful places I've ever been. The water is crystal clear and bright blue for as far as the eye can see. The sand is the whitest sand I've ever seen and the purest. It's 98% silica therefore despite the heat remains cool so it's perfect for walks along to beach and obligatory photo shoots! We even briefly saw a baby lemon shark!!

We spent the whole morning there before making our way back to the boat. Thankfully we'd gotten there early as the boat loads of tourists were beginning to come in and flood the beach, it was amazing to have had it to ourselves for a little while! Once on the boat we dug into some lunch before setting sail for our next stop where we'd be snorkelling, sliding and spending the night. At this bay they set up the big clipper slide, but I had no interest in that right now, there was a coral reef out the for me to snorkel! Slipping back into my Lara Croft wetsuit and grabbing a mask we headed out to the site.

Where we got dropped off was unfortunately quite near the beach which meant a large proportion of the coral was dead. Thankfully that wasn't anything compared to the rest of the coral reef we were able to see which was brimming with sea life. I was following Nate along the reef until we reached a really deep part and you were able to see the edge of the coral reef, as he dived right down to get a better look I just couldn't get the knack! I just looked like this pathetic thing trying to swim! Definitely need more practise on my next snorkel expedition! 

We spent the rest of the day jumping off the boat, testing out the two slides and basking in the sun while our dinner was getting prepared. It was Spaghetti Bolognese.... WITH CHEESE! Now it may not seem like a big deal, but to backpackers, cheese is everything! It's so damn expensive you just never get it unless it's with your McDonald's cheese burger. So to have a giant bowl full of cheese in front of me almost rivalled Whitehaven beach as the most beautiful thing I've seen on this boat!

So again I got roped into playing for drinking games. Tonight's game was ring of fire, a game I've infamously had bad luck in! Oh look, tonight was no different. Of course I pulled the last king which meant I had to drink the kings cup of goon and cider! Nor could I wimp out either as the whole room was chanting a song with a count down! I'd no sooner put my cup down when the crew announced the start of the Clipper Show. You couldn't of announced that 30 seconds ago and helped me out!? The start of the clipper show involved 2 large boxes of fancy dress. Oh, DING DING DING! I love fancy dress! It was like a pack of wolves fighting over a dead carcass  in a bid for the best pieces! I came out with a lycra green body suit and a clipper crew turtle shell. I WAS A MUTANT NINJA TURTLE!? Awesome. Others weren't so lucky as there were a lot of men in suspiciously tight hot pants... Something tells me there were more woman's clothes than men's clothes in that box!

LET THE CLIPPER SHOW COMMENCE! As the crew were introduced - one in a mankini, one in a beautiful silky night dress and the other as a cave man - to the music of rocky, the show had begun! Now I was a little disappointed, I did think it was going down the path of male strippers, but it didn't, turns out we were the stars of the show! The aim of the game was several rounds of team challenges until there were 4 finalists. The first was a practise round where we had 5 seconds to get into groups of 5 and perform a motorboat. First for everything I suppose! It was then the start of the real games. 5 seconds to get into groups of 3 then create any letter of the alphabet, but strictly no boring letters! Barely having anytime to think of a letter to do I was getting picked up and thrown over someone's shoulders and told to plank it while a guy on the floor was doing some sort of curve. Apparently it was meant to be a letter J!? Hilariously, this was ANOTHER practise round. Thank god because I didn't know what was going on! 5 seconds to get into groups of 9! This was a rowing boat challenge, now I'm slightly bitter because we lost this round and I haven't a clue how!? We were definitely the loudest and most vigorous, but whatever, we lost. I think it was blessing in disguise as the night progressed into an elaborate threesome round, a Sex Position round and a Stripper round in which multiple people lost a lot of dignity! Thankfully, their expense was our hysterical laughs! It was pretty apparent who the winner was going to be during the final dance off round when a man in a Hugh Hefner inspired silk robe busted out some break dancing it was a done deal! Not before the Glaswegian decided to gate crash the party by running into the middle pretending to be a contestant... Oh real funny and original SIR, sit down.

What had been a hilarious night was then swiftly ruined by 2 people who couldn't handle they're alcohol. Obviously the Glaswegian was involved by hitting Nate on his shoulder (which was raw from falling off a skateboard at 30mph) causing argument number 1 and then a girl from Lewisham who obviously had some sort of anger problems as she couldn't understand a word we were saying but decided to get angry at us anyway for no reason! So I took that as a sign for the end of the night and headed off to my damp cabin bed!

'COCKADOODLEDO! COCKADOODLEDO!' The damn rooster was back in our hallways for our morning wake up! This time totally worth it, we were snorkelling in luncheon bay which is a bay close to the exclusive Hayman Island, therefore bound to be good coral!

After navy rolling off the side of the boat, I was surrounded by a school of fish immediately. I think they'd gotten used to hearing the boat and knowing it meant food as even George made an appearance! George is a huge fish and kind of a big deal, he's like a celebrity in the Luncheon Bay! So meet George and the rest of the gang!

I'd also cracked diving under the water so managed to swim amongst the coral which was absolutely amazing and I was able to observe so many beautiful fish. I was close to getting a restraining order on one pair of zebra looking fish by following them for so long, it actually got to the point where one of stopped under a bit of coral and just stared at me... I got the message and left them alone then! There was a beautiful parrot fish which are bloody fast little swimmers! So took me a little while to get a photo of that one. The cutest fish, and my favourite, were the butterfly fish which are two fish which partner together very early on and spend their entire life together. Watching over each other's shoulders as the other one eats from the coral. Super cute!