Day 97-98

Ok, so I know I've been horrendously bad with keeping up to date! I apologise! Let's blame it on me just having far too much fun! So I haven't posted last since I jumped out of a plane... Probably not the best time to disappear off the face of the earth, but I am alive! For a quick recap on the past few weeks I've officially finished my east coast trip! Wahoo! It was an experience I shall cherish forever and it's been just the best laugh! I ended my trip in the city of cairns! Where I unfortunately and sadly bid my travel buddy, Rachel, farewell! She was a crazy fun companion for the weeks we were away and she made my trip 1000x more fun! Everyone needs a travel buddy! I then indulged myself in a few excursions where I visited the Atherton Tablelands and, of course, the Great Barrier Reef!! (We'll go into more detail about those soon!! I'm busy justifying myself!) I then got stranded in cairns for a few weeks until my farm work commenced and that's where I've been for the past month! Living it up like Paris Hilton in The Simple Life! #farmlife.

So let's go ALL the way back to Day 97. I'd booked my last free trip that I'd received with my Ox Experience which was The Atherton Tablelands Tour with Barefoot Tours.

The day began with a long bus journey to the far side of the Tablelands for an early morning swim in one of the picturesque lakes. It was a short walk along the board walk with several piers over looking the water, from the first I looked out into the lake and could spot two small turtles swimming close to the shore and three pelicans sat on a floating log! We followed the board walk round passing a second pier jutting far out into the vast lake and ending at a grass verge where we were about to jump right in! The water was frickin' freezing!! After a swim out to middle of the lake and back we were spoilt with a mid morning banquet - our guide had the table literally piled with cakes, mini muffins, fruit and biscuits with tea, coffee and hot chocolate on tap! 

After stuffing our faces with the free food provided, literally served on a platter to us, we continued with our day... That day included playing around in waterfalls, climbing up and sliding down slippery rocks, jumping into large rock pools of icy fresh water and hair flicking like we belong in a Herbal Essence advert! This may come as a shock to many, but I was actually unable to hair flick! To this day, it still hurts my pride... So here's damn Nicole being the only one who managed to get the photo!

This was actually the waterfall in which Peter Andre filmed the video for mysterious girl! Ooooooh!

We now jump into the Great Barrier Reef! This was one huge tick off my bucket list! It was something I'd set my mind to when leaving the UK, I could already see all the colours, fish and coral in my mind and it was so exciting! I'd booked it for the day I waved my travel buddy Rachel off (I thought it would be a good distraction! Turns out, I couldn't go a few hours before ruining something...), I hurtled down to the pier at the crack of dawn and boarded my boat. The staff had already laid out a breakfast buffet of fresh fruit, pastries with unlimited tea and coffee, granted it was about 25degrees already but you take the free stuff whenever and wherever you can! I was participating in my first experience of scuba diving today, we therefore had a briefing on our voyage out towards the reef... In which I thought I was on the Frog Hopper roller coaster! Thankfully my sea legs kicked in but for the three people sat along side me, the back of the boat was a more appealing option!

As we anchored at our first site where we were organised into groups and the first 2 group go onto the glass bottom boat before diving. Well that included me! I took it as a quick yet torturous preview of what the clear, crystal blue ocean had in store for me. We passed over countless clusters of magnificent coral, schools of fish swimming in unison and even the odd clam and sea cucumber!!

Ok this is where my life took a drastic turn for the worse (dramatic? Probably. Inappropriate? Definitely not.)... Here's how the day was going: blistering heat, beautiful sea and a huge Barracuda called Barry. I decided to take a quick dip before my dive and catch a few snaps with Barry... What happens? 2 minutes into swimming I look down, my GoPro camera case is COMPLETELY flooded. Absolutely gone. Knackered. KAPUT! Kicked to the curb! It even did a wimpish fizzle when I tried to rescue it... Camera number 2 of my trip, finished.

So yes, 5 minutes before I'm due to dive the Great Barrier Reef and view all it's glory and I'm left without a camera!? Thankfully I befriended two girls who also had no camera, so we rented one between us and I was in charge of capturing the moment! The colours are no where near what they are in real life and as with any photo, it just can't express how frickin' awesome this dive was!!

After multiple swap overs of masks to fit my unusually shaped head and passing the mandatory basic skills test we began to depressurise into the blue and here's what I found!

(I should really stop stalking fish because this is the second fish to turn around and give me this sassy ass 'bitch please' face!)

Now, my farm work was that unbelievable it deserves it's own dedicated blog, so stay tuned and that shall follow (I'll try keep it shorter than my 2 month gap!)... Chronicles of James visits an actual farm with actual farm animals will be up soon! See how I managed cleaning up pig poop!...

x