Megan's Adventures Down Under!: October 2012

Cairns was quite an adventure! We met so many cool people from all over! We even met some Canadians! We stayed at Gilligan's, which is a HUGE hostel that has a bar. So it's pretty much a nonstop party place until 5am. Luckily our room was muffled from the sound so it was easy to sleep at night. While staying at Gilligan's, we met quite a few minor league AFL players who were staying there on vacation. Talk about a lot of boys to a small amount of girls! We had a room of them next door to us, and we definitely got along with them pretty well :)

Day 1: BUNGY JUMPING! So much fun and so intense! It was 134 ft in the air, with basically a huge rubberband attached to your ankles by a rope and a harness around your waist. They were impressed with how well I could put on my harness. Must've been all those years on the ropes course! Anyway, my first jump was forward. I was so nervous and scared to jump! They count down backwards, 5,4,3,2,1 but when he got to 2 I kept say no,no,no and then I just jumped! It was so amazing, and such a feeling. The ending was the worst because you spin like mad as your bungy is loose. The second jump was a little more intense. I decided to go backwards. And almost blindfolded. But we skipped the blindfold. I had to lean back while the guy held on to me. He told me he had me, but of course I kept asking. Leaning backwards is NOT a natural thing to do, so I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and slowly started to lean. He told me to wave to the camera, so I did. Then he started counting backwards, but stopped after 4 and said "wait, alright. Wave to the camera again!" Then he dropped me as soon as I started waving. CRAZY DUDE! but totally wicked! I'll see about uploading the videos later.

Yeah, it was pretty high

Me with the sign

Day 2: Fitzroy Island. Such a pretty island, and we had to take a ferry to get there! We got to the Island around 10am, and were there until about 4pm. We went snorkeling, paddleboarding and jumped on a trampoline in the ocean. I bought a waterproof bag for my camera and took some awesome pictures while snorkeling! It was a great day of relaxing on the beach that was made of pure dead coral (it was hard) and playing in the water.

Map of the Island

Me paddleboarding! I was standing at one point, but decided it was easier on my knees.

The sweet trampoline

I followed this little guy around. He was so colorful and pretty!

Ashley and I snorkeling

Part of the Island

Day 3: Passions of Paradise: Snorkeling, Diving and Sailing! BEST DAY EVER! This was the day I went diving for the first time and LOVE LOVE LOVED it! We first stopped at Michelman's Cave, which is where I went diving. My dad convinced to go, so obviously I did. It was absolutely amazing! Such pretty colors and definitely a whole new experience. I saw many cool fish, held a crab, and ran my fingers through what felt like wet spaghetti. Ew. But still cool! I did find Nemo on my dive! That was the best part! He was in his anemone just hangin out. Then we had lunch which was a huge spread of delicious food. SO GOOD! Then it was back out into a different part of the ocean, called Paradise Cove (I think). We found different looking Nemo's there, and followed one of the guides from our boat to look at cool things. We saw the drop off, which was unreal but still really cool! After we were done snorkeling, it was time to head back to land. While on our way back, one of the guides was doing magic card tricks. They were pretty neat, and none of us could figure out how he was doing them. We also had tea, coffee and cookies for the ride back. I got a certificate for doing an introductory dive. Overall it was a fantastic day!

Me! So much fun!

The crab

Nemo!

Drop off into open water

Carolyn, Ashley and I (thanks to our guide OJ!)

Day 4: Uncle Brian's Rainforest Tour! Craziest.TourGuide.EVER. Literally crazy. He looked like Captain Jack Sparrow and even acted like him. It was exciting though. We first went on a short little walk through the rainforest to see what it looked like and take some pictures. Then it was off to the fun part: the rock slide! The water was absolutely FREEZING but you got used to it after a while. We made 2 chains of about 7 or 8 people long and went down the slide. We kind of failed at staying together, but we still made it work. While on Gus the Bus, we played a game with matchsticks and a lifesaver. We had to pass the lifesaver only using the matchstick, which we put in our mouths. Quite a fun game if I do say so myself! After that, it was off to lunch. Lunch was seriously so good. We had cous cous with chicken, mud pie with ice cream, bread and salad. YUMMY! After lunch, we went to a waterfall and took pictures like the Herbal Essences models and a "'massage" from the waterfall. The pictures were quite interesting to take, and the water was even colder than the rock slide water. The pictures did turn out quite amazing! After the waterfall, it was off to a volcano lake, but that water was also cold. So we didn't get in. After that, we went to see if we could find some platypuses. We saw a few, but then it got dark and it was time to head home. On the way back to Gilligan's, we listened to some old jams and of course had sing-alongs!

Carolyn, Ashley, and I flipping our hair back

Ain't nothin' but a hair flip.

The chain we tried to form

Me going down the rock slide

After all the fun events, we did have a few fun nights out! We danced on tables, had a few drinks, and I even got my face painted our last night in town! We went to Gilligan's and Woolsheds the most. In fact, our first night in Cairns, we went out, came back and went to bed, and Nicole and I were dragged back out with our roommate a few other boys. We had a great time and definitely made some new friends!

Me, Nicole and Ashley at Woolshed's