Trip highlights. broken down from 6 weeks to just all 5 minutes 17 seconds

So it has taken almost a month since returning however here is the the trip highlights
Video of the trip finally complete, check it out to see all of the most extreme things to do.




I hope you enjoy watching this as much as I have done filming it. This was filmed on a Contour Roam with a goggle strap mount which I then used webbing and a clip to mostly fix to my wrists along with all of the wristbands that I collected on the way around, these really helped to stop any vibrations.

Scuba Diving - the great Barrier Reef

The standard Aussie early morning and it's a staggered start as different members of our room head to their boat day trips, we leave and head to the boat. It's a big sailing yacht however there is now wind so we use the motor to take us out to the reef, on the way the supply snacks and every so often do briefings for the variety of activities to occur later including ours on how to use the scuba equipment, there are pretty much just two things to remember:
1- Keep breathing
2- Never hold your breath
About 2 ½ hours later we are at the first reef, first group to go so camera ready and strapped to arm, before having the instructor place the tank and goggles on us, always good to get the priorities right. We are led to the back before the small step of faith, we hold a rope around 1m underwater and go through the safety procedures and hand signals before he puts his thumbs down (go down?) I am loving it so can't wait to see the reef so give the OK and away we go. The instructor had us lock arms but within 5 minutes turned and held up a card saying let go and stay close, we agreed and we  started to roam free.
The fish were amazing and didn't seem bothered by us at all, happily drifting around or just going a little further into the reef out of our reach, even the reef itself was enticing some coral being sharp when others such as sponges so soft to touch as they waves in the currents.

The colours of them all were so great, unfortunately the water has created a blue hue on all the screen shots I have taken from the videos.
Back on the top then we sail to another spot and go for a second dive, this time it's a little longer and not quite so deep although the instructor has forgotten his watch telling him how much air is left so has to occasionally swim back to me and check my tank pressure. The second dive is equally amazing and goes by just as quickly as the first. We surface and jump back in the boat although before we head off I go for a quick snorkel while they call everyone back before we aim back to land all shattered from the swimming and many with sunburns to go with their day on a boat.

Magnetic Island

Another day and another coach, unfortunately this one was late by almost two hours, eventually we arrived in Townsville if just a little later than planned, then onto a boat over to the island, there are a few islands around the area and with the sea mist it looked remarkably similar to the journey we had made from Phi Phi to Phuket in Thailand a couple of weeks before.

The Hostel was a little different to others we had been in, instead of large block with dorm rooms this was lots of huts each with a few bunks in. Palm trees line all the footpaths and the pool, the hostel hosts a full moon party and it looks like a great place to be when it happens, large open decked bar with steps down from it all to the beach. In the morning I woke early and ran/jogged up to the point on an off road path and clambering over rocks, it around 7 in the morning and it was still rather warm, coming back quite drenched after seeing some great views and time for a jump in the pool followed by a walk to the nearest shop.

Food loaded up and time to head to cairns.

Rainbow beach & Fraser on rainbow backpackers

The Hostel is good, everywhere so far has been all positive and this is no exception, the room was a 10 bed dorm with 2 fans and no air-con but still it wasn't super hot. Most days they put on a walk at 5 in the evening meandering through the countryside up to large Sandblow where the guide taught us all about the beaches, the history and how to throw a boomerang with the reward of a beer if you could catch it, I was close but unfortunately no free drinks for anyone. Photos taken as the sun was setting and some body board sand boarding done and time to head back for dinner and then bed.

Our room mates seemed cool however many were off to Fraser island in the morning so even though most wake at first light around 5 and snooze there is a lot of hustling and bustling around 7 as they all try to work out what they need for the next 3 days and go off to their 4x4's. Once up a little wander to the supermarket to find breakfast, there is no big Coles or Woolworths in Airlie beach so all the shops a quite expensive. A quick jump in the pool to cool down and a chat to our overly friendly gay french room mate before finally reading the last few pages of book 1 and then going to check out the beach. The weather has been quite up and down with a couple of tropical storms passing by but mostly missing us although they have brought with them lots of wind. The sea is in a bit of a mess so nobody is really our surfing, a few people gave it a go but soon came back to leave their boards on the beach and just swim until a bigger wave day.

The rocks around Rainbow are all sandstone with the cliffs stained by the forests decaying over thousands of years to give the different colours and the beach it's name, occasionally there are super light patches on the beach where the sand is almost pure silica. The sandstone cliffs gave us a place to carve our names with all the others placed there over the years.

Some fish and chips shared before going to hostel for a night of drinks with some one of our room mate Kate and some other Europeans she had befriended, we still had quite a lot of Goon left so this was all consumed before we all headed down to the beach, the whole night left many of the others feeling a little worse for ware today.

Brisbane to Rainbow beach.

Up early and Faye takes us into the city with Sasha who is dropped off at work, we are taken to Queens street where we say our goodbyes and then go for a wander around a couple of the shops as we work our way to the coach station. Bex disappears of for a few minutes, while I move the bags to the right bay, to return with some KFC that she had been craving for days. I had been a little hungry waiting so had eaten another peanut butter roll, it seems to travel well so along with tuna has been one of the main basis of our diets for the last couple of weeks.

The journey was fairly standard, we stopped at one service station that had a massive kangaroo that had been used in the opening ceremony of the 1982 commonwealth games.

Brisbane

Arriving we tried to contact Chris to find that he was working for the next few hours, we went for a little wander to waste some time until he was free. We ended up at the culture centre where he met us although on arrival said that he had just been on his phone checking the directions at the traffic lights when a policeman had seen and fined him $300.

The house was nice, big and air conditioned, it was great to see everyone again, Chris cooked us some Kangaroo that we had picked up on the way, it is super tasty I will definitely have to try some more before we leave.

The next day we went back into the city with Sasha when she went to work, everyone in Australia seems to start their day early and go to bed fairly early too, so we were in the centre about 8.

We checked a few places out and ended up at the pretend beach in the centre, it is next to the river and rather surreal, it looks like a normal beach with lifeguards but on entering the water it's not salty and occasionally you come across a metal grate in the sandy bottom.

At night we all went out to EH a local “tavern” as they call it but to us it would be a club/casino/restaurant/hotel, quite expensive however chris won $80 on the slots so most of the night was on him. He had also heard about an interview he had been to for the job of a spotter catcher and he had been offered the job so he would soon be starting his dangerous animal training.

Day two in Brisbane and we all jumped in the car and drove to Noosa, some surfing beaches up the coast around 1 hour, Sasha feeling a little hungover bought everyone ginger slush puppy type drinks. Noosa is a little surf village and clearly quite a popular area to holiday, the beach is nice with lifeguarded areas although these were not very busy today as the swell was pretty small. We had a go surfing Chris' board however it was a little small for the waves so the rides were quite short however it did mean that I could use Chris as an instructor to help me with my duck dives.

After Thailand for a week and now Oz for almost two weeks one would expect that we would start to have tanned however I have been using so much sun cream I think it looks like I have just come straight off the plane, we have found a Gingers size pot, about 750ml for $10 in Woolworths.

The last full day and we decide it's time for a rest day so spend most of it in the house talking to Faye and catching up on everything such as clothes washing, it's super hot today so going outside anywhere near the middle of the day wouldn't end well.